Journal Chapter 7 - The Trouble with Watson

[Watson]

I am a grown dog now, mostly mature and aware of being a not-so-good dog sometimes.

Good Dog. We all want to be a Good Dog, but sometimes we just can't. Imagine a 3 year old human boy with a wicked grin and no knowledge of the consequences of his actions. A wonderful feeling, that. Like stomping in a mud puddle with new shoes, or tearing off the wallpaper behind the comfy chair, or stealing a treat from the special jar.

Like jumping into the koi pond and swimming around and getting yelled at, only to come bouncing out all wet and doggy and grinning from ear to ear with a big soggy tail wagging with pure joy. Scolding doesn’t have much of an affect…I’ve forgotten what I did wrong in less than 60 seconds.

The first one was when I was about 6 months old. It was January, very cold, but I like cold. My Lady and I walked down to the Shenandoah River on a regular basis. I love it there; the moving water and animals and birds and interesting smells and sounds. That day there were lots of birds, big ones. They must have seen me coming because they burst into flight just before I could get to them. These are the same birds I would see flying, bunches of them in a V shape. Have you ever noticed that one side is always longer than the other? And you know why? Because there’s more birds on that side.

 So anyway, the birds flew off and landed in the middle of the river. I was told to STAY, but I charged down the bank and launched straight into the frigid, muddy, high and fast-moving water. I swam strong and hard and never took my eyes off the birds. My Lady called and called, very angry she was. I could hear her but I just had to get those birds. The water was very fast, faster than me. And I wasn’t getting closer to the birds. I was half way across the river before it occurred to me that this might be difficult. The waves were splashing over my head and my nose and I was swallowing water. Finally I heeded my Lady’s calling. I turned around and started back to shore, but I was being carried down and away from her. She ran along side of the bank, encouraging me to come to her. Finally I snagged on to a tree branch and pulled myself up onto the debris. She came sliding down in the slippery mud to grab my collar. I was safe, but very tired. And it wasn’t easy climbing up the steep bank in the mud. We were both cold and dirty and tired.

I never caught a bird. But it was still fun. I got scolded but it didn’t sound very convincing. I think she was happy I came back to her.

[Ruth]

That sounds very scarey Watson--especially when it was so cold.  I drove over that river today and went to the town where you are living now.  I was surprised to see how far down the water was on the rocks.  That river depth sure does change a lot and at times it seems one could almost walk across....depending on where you are.

If you would have caught the bird what would you have done with it?

[Ms JoJo]

Birdie loves to chase the birds but she never hurts them, she and the parakeets play a game of chase....  She's only five pounds..  Cricket and Butters caught my first parakeet once, only once because that was the end of the parakeet, it was a tag team effort.  (Butters is no longer with us, she's in dog heaven)... I was upset and I think she knew that, she has never went after my birds again... She's a very good dog...  

And for Cricketsand Butters defense that parakeet was chancing it, she would dive bomb the dogs whenever she could..