Cal is the best

People are always saying crap like, "dog is man's best friend." Every year you get a Christmas card from a family who sends along a picture of themselves with their dog. Dogs have been trained to do everything from reading to sniffing out bombs and drugs to sensing seizures before they occur. They are truly amazing, intelligent animals, and at times seem eerily human.

I took Cal swimming this weekend. Chesbro Reservoir is just a few miles from home, so we drove over that way for some fun times. I parked in a lot on the side of the road, and walked down the really steep boat ramp with Cal. For a good half hour I stood at the bottom and tossed a tennis ball up the ramp. Cal ran up it like it was nothing; he's so strong and fast. After that I started throwing it into the res. I threw it further and further and before I knew it, he was swimming! He is so driven; he'd dive right the hell in, swim out to his ball, turn himself around slowly, and paddle back with the ball in his mouth, staring at me. He is so intense.

Here he is swimming back to me:


Here he is "giving eye." Giving eye is the term used for the intense stare that herding dogs give to whatever they're working, whether it's sheep, cattle, or a ball.


After playtime at the res, I was headed back into Morgan Hill. It was raining, so I was just heading home. But just as I got near the dog park, it stopped raining. I took this as a sign that it was dog park time. We were the only ones there, and it was a sloppy, muddy, disgusting disaster. In short, Cal loved it. He was running and slipping all over the place. We played for about a half hour at the park and wore him out. Here's a picture of him when we got home (the mud isn't entirely noticeable until you look at his back legs):



So we promptly took him into the bathroom for a really long bath. It took about a half hour just to rinse the mud off. Then it was time for a double shampoo. He doesn't love baths, but he was OK with this one. I bet the warm water felt better than the cold dirty res water. A few highlights:





He's totally my baby, and sometimes I think he's my best buddy. He's so loyal and so happy all the time; he's a joy to be around and we have such a strong bond. Having a dog is so much work (I don't have kids and don't know if I ever will, but I imagine that this is at least kind of similar in that he's totally dependent on us and is pretty needy) but it's totally worth it. I also love that we rescued him from a shelter on his last day; he has no idea how close he came, but we do. I wish more people realized how wonderful shelter pets are; Cal is definitely a testament to the resourcefulness and resiliency of dogs.