Gotta learn to mind the gap!

After months of worrying about a dog going in at the dock we finally did ourselves in early one Sunday morning on our way back from the showers.  I had premonitions about not keeping Cassie's harness on and sure enough, the one time we left it on the boat, she went in.

We had successfully booarded several times during the weekend and established a nice routine, but I stopped unexpectedly along the finger pier to take a closer look at a smudge on the side of Litha wondering if it was just dirt or a more permanent fender rub. I may have stopped, but Cassie proceeded on and jumped toward the open gate as far as her leash allowed.  Coming up short, down to the water below she went, kicking and splashing back and forth to nowhere.

Luckily I was able to set down the shower bag, reach down with my free hand, grab her collar gently and reposition her to where I could grab a handfull of her hind quarters and hoist her back to safety. Cassie quickly expressed her gratitude by shaking off the water even before I was able to get back to my feet such that I received a face level shower of Back Creek water delivered at full labrador speed.

Once again we learned the hard way to keep focused on the task at hand and to do one thing well at a time.  Grateful that neither of us had hurt ourselves, we dried off in the early morning sunshine knowing another bath would need to happen once we got back home.