Annie learns to swim

Spaniels are supposed to love swimming. I keep seeing pictures of deliriously happy cockers, including Annie's parents and sister, splashing about in streams or doggy-paddling across lakes and rivers. Annie has so far shown no inclination toward this hobby whatsoever; the nearest she'll get to water is paddling in a puddle, and even then she prefers puddles that are more mud than water. So while we were at the fishing lake today I thought I'd try a more radical introduction to the wonders of swimming - I chucked her in. She swam. However, on struggling out of the lake up the bank, she ran away from me and it took ten minutes before she would come near me again. I apparently have the only spaniel in the world who doesn't like swimming.

There is a bit of a recurrent theme with non-swimming pets. Obviously the cats are averse, but none of my dogs or horses have liked water either. The fluffies are understandable as if they tried to swim they'd probably get waterlogged and sink, like giant powder-puff covered sponges. The arab probably still thought he was in a desert and found even dipping a toenail in a puddle unacceptable. But my other horses also preferred to steer clear of or leap over the tiniest drop of water, and my irish setter hated the stuff. None of these creatures showed any other signs of being infected with rabies incidentally. It's always been a bit of a disappointment to me as I imagined riding my horse through the breakers on a beach or gambling with my dog in the shallows of a lake. Instead, I have spent many frustrated hours knee deep in water at one end of a lead rein with horse planted stubbornly and unmovingly on dry land at the other end, or repeatedly throwing sticks into a pond and shouting "fetch" to a bemused canine.

So Annie, fear not, I get the message and won't subject you to enforced swimming practice again.