westiemum Posted March 26, 2016 Share Posted March 26, 2016 Yesterday morning a group of 5 westies and an honorary westie (toy poodle) walked for kms along Semaphore beach here in Adelaide to celebrate the two younger westie birthdays. We had a wonderful morning, made even better by my courageous puppy farm rescue boy Andy taking his first swim!! A bit of background... my puppy farm rescue boys, Andy (and the late Mac) have never enjoyed the beach - they seemed to hate the feel of the sand on their paws and didn't like those 'enormous' waves having no early experience with the beach. (Sarah of course loves anything social! And yesterday she said hello to everyone with four legs along a 3 km stretch of sand!). The contrast between the rescue westies behaviour around water and the non-rescue westies is really stark. The non-rescues wade, play and swim in the water and race on the sand like lunatics - the rescues barely tolerate it and certainly don't swim!!! Anyway, under Sarah's tutelage, Andy seemed to decide yesterday maybe the beach wasn't so bad after all - ears up and trotting along seemingly quite happy. On the way home heading back down the beach, I waded out to a close-in sand-bar (about 4 or 5 metres away - so not far). The younger westies followed loving it all. My brave older little rescue man decided he was going to follow me come hell or high water and waded out and then started swimming across the short stretch of water! He turned back twice when he obviously got frightened but with the cheer squad on the sand bar shouting encouragement he twice turned back towards me and kept going until he reached the sand bar!! It was quite a sight!! All these lunatics shouting encouragement to him as they all realised what a big thing this was for him. Unfortunately I didn't get any photos of his first swim but I couldn't be more proud of my 10 year old! Just had to share and I'm sure those of you with rescues will understand how thrilled I am for him. Go Andy!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loving my Oldies Posted March 26, 2016 Share Posted March 26, 2016 That is wonderful, Westiemum. I am going all goosy and feeling the emotion of your story. CONGRATULATIONS ANDY :champagne: And to Sarah too for being such a great role model. (PS: Your photo is up the right way, too. :flower: ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karen15 Posted March 26, 2016 Share Posted March 26, 2016 Go Andy go! One of my deciding factors getting my puppy desexed earlier than I would have liked was the worry he'd be stolen for puppy farming..... Not sure I'd be game to let him loose at the beach, don't think I'd ever see him again. He went out for a play with another puppy at agistment and it was going swimmingly well until he saw a horse, then he was in the paddock having a whale of a time racing around and getting chased (highly undesirable!). He thought the horse loved him and would not get caught. We'd been practising at park and he's good at being caught there now, but when his blood was up and Maxevil came out, all the rules disappeared. Maxwell has since been trained to sit and get caught by the collar so hopefully Maxevil won't show up again! Working on high excitement situations, but consistent at home and off lead in calm situations, so that's a start. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loving my Oldies Posted March 26, 2016 Share Posted March 26, 2016 LOL, Karen15. :laugh: :laugh: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westiemum Posted March 26, 2016 Author Share Posted March 26, 2016 That's a gorgeous story too karen! Well done Maxwell. Yes I know having a swim at the beach is a relatively non-event in most dogs lives, but for Andy, who was caged and had very little early experience of the beach for all those years, this was an event of Olympic proportions!! And you should have seen him! I'm sure I wasn't imagining the slight swagger in his step and puffed up chest afterwards! I think he was as proud of himself as I was! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
persephone Posted March 26, 2016 Share Posted March 26, 2016 woo hoo!! go little legs : ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westiemum Posted March 26, 2016 Author Share Posted March 26, 2016 Perse 'little legs' is it!! He's a bit barrel-shaped at the best of times so yes he did look a bit funny with wet skinny little legs and his chunky body!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Two Best Dogs! Posted March 26, 2016 Share Posted March 26, 2016 Awww well done to the little old man! I imagine he must lose contact with the ground quickly XD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westiemum Posted March 26, 2016 Author Share Posted March 26, 2016 (edited) Yep Thistle he sure does!! I imagine that that 4 - 5 metres was probably like an Olympic 1500m for my little man!! I'm still smiling just thinking about it!! And the adults on the sand bar all shouting encouragement at him must have looked like a crazy bunch!! Edited March 26, 2016 by westiemum Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scottsmum Posted March 26, 2016 Share Posted March 26, 2016 YAY Andy:heart: We've been teaching Scottie to swim this summer. I understand what an accomplishment this is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loving my Oldies Posted March 26, 2016 Share Posted March 26, 2016 This doesn’t need to be made into a movie. Your words bring it all to life, WM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Two Best Dogs! Posted March 26, 2016 Share Posted March 26, 2016 He's got half the height so has to do double the work! A great job :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westiemum Posted March 26, 2016 Author Share Posted March 26, 2016 YAY Andy:heart: We've been teaching Scottie to swim this summer. I understand what an accomplishment this is. Go Scottie!! Thanks SM - DOLers are so special that way we all celebrate our wins - little wins as they probably seem to others outside. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westiemum Posted March 26, 2016 Author Share Posted March 26, 2016 This doesn't need to be made into a movie. Your words bring it all to life, WM Thank you DD . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westiemum Posted March 26, 2016 Author Share Posted March 26, 2016 He's got half the height so has to do double the work! A great job :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tdierikx Posted March 26, 2016 Share Posted March 26, 2016 Awww... my eyes are leaking a bit now... Way to go Andy!!! T. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogbesotted Posted March 27, 2016 Share Posted March 27, 2016 a huge smile and a few tears.. what a brave brave lad Andy is.... H Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lugeanjaam Posted March 27, 2016 Share Posted March 27, 2016 What a brave little dude! I had my first real interaction with 3 Westie's this weekend, what awesome little dogs! They were the resident dogs at a farm stay we spent the weekend at. They happily ran with all the farm animals and greeted every guest with a madly wagging tails and demands for belly rubs. It was raining heavily last night and one of them made his way into our cottage, where he cozily slept the night at the feet of my daughter. His owner said that it was nothing unusual as they are such social dogs. What well balanced and calm dogs they were. They converted me over night, they are definitely on my wish list now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westiemum Posted March 27, 2016 Author Share Posted March 27, 2016 (edited) Thanks T, H and sujo. I still haven't stopped smiling just thinking about it - it was such a big deal for him - so next weekend we might head to the beach again. sujo I know I'm completely biased - but they really are a fantastic breed. Spunk, personality, not at all yappy with an occasional stubborn streak. My Sarah is the social butterfly of the westie world - the more people and puppies the better she likes it. She is genuinely the most smiley, waggy tail, happy girl I've ever met (and yes others say so!). Edited March 27, 2016 by westiemum Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karen15 Posted March 27, 2016 Share Posted March 27, 2016 My pup is my first westie and he is everything I wanted. Cheeky little munchkin :) My guy isn't so keen on swimming westiemum. But the cocker I rehomed to be his buddy is a water baby and where she goes he follows. The two of them are very popular on our walks and get lots of "aren't they gorgeous" comments. Definitely a smile inducing duo :D Can't wait to hear how Andy goes on his next beach trip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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