A beautifully lazy, hot summer day.  Not a lot of dogs walking with us today due to holidays and moving. 

Today we said good-bye to long time friends and really my first customers Miles and Penny Barker.  Miles and Penny moved with their owners back to Texas.  Hopefully we will see them again.  I know I will miss them very much.

The morning group went to Southland and it was hot already.  The dogs were a little distracted when we first got to the park. After several attempts to leave the parking lot area I finally had everyone's attention and we were off. 

Riley, Everest, Rover, Whistler, Ryder and Copper tried to get some water time but since Rover thinks all the beach areas are his own private domain he was not pleased to share with the other dogs at the park.  He was OK with his pack being on his beach but no one else was welcome.  As you can imagine this did not go over very well with the river users and we had to move on frequently so as not to make enemies. 

The afternoon group ended up at Southland as well.  Gabby, Pina, Sam, Copper, Taylor, Wilbur and Everest got to enjoy more river time.  We still moved through the four main swimming holes just for variety not to avoid icy stares.  Everyone, except Taylor, got into swimming and fetching balls.  Even little Wilbur went after several balls all on his own.  It was so cute to see him try to stay afloat and pick up the ball in his mouth.  Several times he had to duck his end under water in order to get enough force to pop the ball in and then swim back.  Gramma was very proud!  Taylor doesn't know what she is missing.  She only went in up to her knees but managed to find others of like mind to stalk and chase along the river's edge.  The five retrievers obviously dominated the waterways.  Our group is definitely full of hearty swimmers. 

Seeing them all so happy, wet and excited is one of my favourite things in the world.