My Water Baby (NOT)

We lowered the kayak into the water at the edge of the lake, then climbed in and settled ourselves into place. Once that was done, we coaxed Jade to board in front of me and sit down, which she reluctantly did in spite of her insecurities.

Who is Jade?

Good question.

Jade is my 90+ pound Rhodesian Ridgeback mix. Being that she’s not only my friend, but also my service dog, she is not afraid of anything – except water. In fact, she hates water, so I was extremely pleased when she trusted me enough to go on the water with me in the kayak. She was nervous in the beginning but relaxed rather quickly when nothing bad happened to her. So, we enjoyed the day, cruising along for hours, exploring areas of the lake and basking in the sunshine.

That day was relatively uneventful – which gave us great hope – and we decided to get her in the water. Not at the lake though, that would be too much, she needed to start slow.

Over the next few months, I would encourage her to just put her feet in the water and she became accustomed to getting her feet wet. Then, one day, I suggested that we take her to a shallow creek in a nearby town.

On the morning of our “swimming” trip, we got everything ready, buckled Jade into her seatbelt, and drove to the boat dock. After leaving our phones and wallets in the trunk of the car, we walked casually down to the edge of the creek. It was a sweltering day, and the water was shallow and warm. Because of the law, we couldn’t just let her off of her leash so, I clipped her to a very long leash that I could control the length of if need be.

She was okay with stepping into the water because we had been practicing, and I slowly led her further along, reassuring her, until she was elbow deep. The deepest part of the creek was just about waist deep on me, and surely every dog can swim, right? She just needed to ease into it. It was going to be great! We’d walk out into the water – inch by inch – together and she’d discover the love of swimming.

Right.

I coaxed and begged, tugging gently on her 15-foot-long leash, guiding her ever closer to the deepest part of the creek. At first, the creek bed was covered in small rocks, then thick sand as we went along. Walking was a challenge for me, but she seemed to be doing fine. I was so proud of her. By the time the water reached her chest, the sand had become littered with large boulders that were hidden beneath the water’s surface. We were churning up the water until it turned brown, and I was forced to feel around for the boulders with my feet.

Before too long, we left the boulders behind and the sand bed quickly dropped down several inches, removing it from under Jade’s paws. She began to dog paddle, and I was so proud of her, then she panicked and started thrashing around in the water. Her long legs rose up, then lashed out at the surface, trying to climb out of the water but finding nothing to grab onto.

I tried to calm her, and the sound of my voice drew her attention to me, and I became her target. She splashed her way violently in my direction. I saw her coming and tried to keep distance between us, but I couldn’t move fast enough through the waist deep water. When she reached me, she attempted to climb out of the water by using me as a ladder. Her nails dug and slashed at my chest, arms, and shoulders while I tried to push her away.

Once free, I turned toward shore. She was still thrashing in the water, with intermittent moments of dog paddling, all the while pursuing me as her point of exit. I slogged through the water with her in hot pursuit, when my foot hit a hidden boulder at the exact same second that her front paws/claws connected with my back. I was immediately thrown over the boulder, landing upon it on my stomach, with my face underwater.

I must have resembled a teeter-totter, and she promptly mounted my back as if sitting on a padded table. I raised my face out of the water and shouted that no one had better take a picture (I regret that now). There was nothing to do but wait for help, which luckily did come in the form of my life companion, and she was pulled off of me. She instantly sought refuge by climbing up my rescuer, clawing a gash down his arm that began to bleed, but he was able to get us both safely to shore.

We were all exhausted and decided to stop for the day. Jade was more than happy to be back on dry land, and I desperately wanted to shake the sand out of my shoes and do what I could for his arm. I wasn’t badly hurt and found it immensely funny afterward (still do). Will we try it again next summer? You bet! Only, next time, I’ll have a different plan – maybe even have another story to tell.