Boat Dog
Among our adventures so far this summer was an unplanned trip to Maine, to which my parents and my sister’s family have both relocated. And how could we take a trip to Maine without taking the newest family member out on the lake?
Finn took to the boat like an old hand, totally unfazed by the rocking of the floor, and making a complete nuisance of himself by stealing towels, chewing ropes, and being the cutest puppy in the entire world.
And yes, he’s wet in this picture. We had anchored the boat to take a swim, and I encouraged him to jump off the front deck to join me…which he did!
I was so stunned that I grabbed him right away and did’t give him time to find out if he could really keep himself afloat—it was deep water after all.
But as soon as we put him back on the deck, he barked and made as if he wanted to jump in again. We’ll try swimming again in some shallower water before we give him the chance to jump off the boat again, but it’s yet another example of how profoundly brave this little guy is for his age.
There were actually two boat trips over the weekend, and it was during the second one that he jumped in the water. That second trip also featured a short burst of rain and a spectacular rainbow.
Finn’s gets his name partly from the eponymous fish in the Elizabeth Bishop poem, so it seemed pretty apropos that everything was “rainbow, rainbow, rainbow.”