What a dummy...

Just thought I'd share this with you - one of those situations that's really annoying at the time but you can't help but look back and laugh...

I took the boy out for a walk when we got back from the show and the long old drive home from Bournemouth. It was blowing a gale, but no matter - our little man had behaved very well at the show, strutting his stuff in the ring and doing us proud, so donning my winter coat and boots to venture into the great outdoors was the least I could do in return. Jet, being a true gundog through and through was of course completely undeterred by the inclement weather, leaving me trudging along the footpath against the head wind to get straight into the river. I'd brought along his newest dummy and since he was so keen to be swimming (mad animal!), I decided to do some water retrieves with him. Now James is always taking the mickey out of my throwing abilities (or rather lack of them..), but on this occasion it would've been with good cause. Whilst aiming for the middle of the river, I somehow managed to throw the dummy into the reeds near the bank. Jet went leaping in to the water in hot persuit of said dummy, expecting it to have gone further out and unwittingly pushed it beneeth the reeds in the process, rendering it no longer visible. To be honest I was fairly thankful of the weather conditions as it meant that I was on my own and no other dog walkers were about to witness the ensuing struggle to retreive the dummy from its underwater prison. After much gesticulation towards the site of the dummy saying "fetch it" on my part and much swimming around in circles in bemusement on Jet's part, I decided that the only likely sucessful course of action was to get the s*dding thing myself. Of course, as you'd expect in such a situation, the dummy was just out of arm's reach - and can a stick be found when you need one? Like hell it can! So there I am, crouching down, literally teetering at the edge of the riverbank, prodding at the dummy with a piece of reed that just kept bending in a very uncooperative fashion, the spineless plant! After a good deal of patience and perseverence, slowly but surely the dummy was brought closer. I made one final reach to get it and ended up immersing my foot and indeed my right leg in the water. Please note than when I said I was wearing boots, I mean the walking sort as opposed to the wellignton variety. Naturally...

Anyway, despite my soaking foot and jeans I'd got the dummy back so it was a worthy cause. I recalled the dog out of the water, made him sit on the bank and wait whilst I threw the wayward dummy back into the river (properly this time) and it went a good distance. What I had failed to realise was that there must have been a rip in the material, as no sooner did the dummy hit the surface of the water, it bl**dy well SANK!!!!!!!!!!!! Aaaarrrrgggggh!! This confused Jet no end and bless his heart he swam up and down, across and back in a tireless search for that godforsaken dummy. Eventually I managed to get him out of the river and we continued on our walk (step, squelch, step, squelch...). On the way back Jet made one last ditch attempt to find it, diving back into the river and doing a few more lengths just to make absolutely sure. When we arrived back at the car, whilst towelling off the dripping wet dog...yep, you've guessed it..joy of joys, the heavens opened and the rains came down with a vengeance - so then we were a matching pair (of drowned rats).

Never let it be said that I'm not a dedicated dog owner!!!!