Floating Frenchies (with video!)

Hey everyone!  Brutus here!  

Before I get to the post, mom wanted me to say thanks for all the heartfelt comments on our last post.  Fans of the page may come and go, but we have some wonderful followers who will just eat up anything about me (Seriously, can you blame them?).  The blog will therefore continue as is, posting about what makes me Brutus (and Carmen be Carmen, and Mason be Mason, and so forth...).  Those of you who prefer to read about our "normal" (ha!) everyday lives, there will be more of that.  We will also continue to post about the highs and lows of my agility and obedience undertakings, since it seems that there are enough of you out there that enjoy that too.  I'll try to get mom to title the posts more obviously, so if that kind of thing isn't you cup of tea, no hard feelings if you want to "mark as read" those posts in your readers.  Rest assured we'll post when we can, so no one will have to be treated for Brutus withdrawl!

Ahem.  On to the post.

It's been SO stinkin' hot here all summer.  WAY too hot for walkies.  Every time mom takes us somewhere, she has this whole checklist of stuff that has to come along - a cooler full of ice packs,  thermoses with water for us, cooling wraps/cool coats, as well as our battery-powered fans.  It makes getting ready to go outside seem like we're getting ready for a spacewalk or something! 

Well thank goodness for our friend Courtney.  Not only does she have an awesome house and yard with lots of room for us to run around, but she also has this enormous water bowl that mom calls a "pool"!  Instead of drinking out of it, mom says you are supposed to get IN it to cool off.  And apparently Courtney doesn't mind cleaning little black hairs out of the pool filter, because she's invited us to paddle around in it a bunch of times (we posted some photos a while back about one of our first day at the pool).

So life jackets firmly buckled on (we Frenchies aren't the most buoyant you know), we headed over to Courtney's last weekend.  This time Mason even got to come (although he firmly denies being a so-called "water-dog").

We don't swim very long, as it is really intense exercise for our little bowling-ball bodies - but it is great exercise.  I started by doing few short laps to practice my technique (thanks for the lift, dad).

Then Courtney got the idea it might be fun to watch me & Carmen race.  Being the competitive guy I am, I was happy to oblige.  Even gave Carmen a head start, and I STILL beat her!  HA!

I'm no Michael Phelps, but for a dog who's supposedly sinks like a stone, I'd say it's pretty impressive!  Not that I'm venturing anywhere near the water without my lifevest....  

Hope you got a kick out of watching us paddle around!  Mom promises to be back soon with some new material, including a bunch of stuff from home, as well as some short agility videos.  Gotta go dry off before I get all prune-y!  

Later, taters!

Brutus the Floating Frenchie