The Biggest Water Bowl Ever!

We have been back in the land of Ice and snow for only a week and a half, but our dogs have seen and experienced more things than they ever have. The funny thing is that despite me attempting to socialise them the best I could while in Scotland, there were things I missed. Not because I wasn't paying attention and definitely not for lack of trying, but more because the lifestyle is different. We've gone from living in a capital city with wee flats and wee cars to living in a small Northern Ontario town with bigger living accommodations and even bigger trucks. We've had more visitors in the past ten days than we have in a year and we've left the wee dogs at home alone more than they have been in all of their lives. We're just more social here and have more places to go. Despite all of the changes, they're starting to settle in. Otis is much more vocal than he used to be, but I think it's insecurity. Once he feels more comfortable, and once he gets the big "snip snip," a lot of those behaviors will go away. But his barking is not what prompted today's post. Aside from the bigger houses and bigger vehicles, Otis and Hermione, and Nala too, have seen the largest water bowl ever.
Yesterday, we loaded up my mom's SUV, one of those bigger vehicles I'm talking about, and drove part way to meet Mr. K's mom. It's our nephew's birthday this weekend and Mr. K is off to spend some much needed quality time with the K klan. We met up with Grandma K and everyone got to meet her. Roscoe knows her very well of course and he was so excited to see her. It was just a quick exchange as no one wanted to drive in the dark and Mr. K and Grandma K were off. Mom hadn't eaten so we ran through a drive through and parked in a docking area. There's an island you can take a ferry across to in the little town we met Grandma K in, where no motorized vehicles, except emergency vehicles, are allowed. Everyone travels by bike, foot or horses. They also have some of the best fudge you will ever eat. It was a gorgeous day and we sat with the sun shining in on us while mom ate. We then found a paved walkway and took the remaining three dogs for a short walk. They loved it.
there were tons of people out walking, sitting on benches, reading books. There were even a few other dogs. The walkway ran along side a beach that lead down to Lake Huron, one of the five lakes that make up what we call "The Great Lakes." Otis was completely taken with the waves. He is certainly food motivated, but if I could train using water, he'd be the best trained dog on the planet. He will do anything for a drink of water even if he's not thirsty. He kept staring at the water rolling in and trying to pull mom down to the shoreline. Eventually, we did trudge over beach grass and sand to get down to a little pool to let the dogs drink. It was a warm day, especially for October, and we both figured the dogs needed some water.
Nala was excited and instead of drinking, initially, she tried to drag me closer to the actual lake so she could go swimming. I finally have a water baby for a guide dog.
Hermione promptly started drinking, trying to keep her precious paws dry. She didn't seem to mind her ear feathers dipping into the water though.
As for Otis, the little guy was in Heaven. Mom kept a tight grip on his leash as she has been lectured a hundred times by me about how easily Frenchies can drown. The pool wasn't deep, but I was worried he might try to bolt towards the area with more water which was deep. He happily thrust is little squished face into the water, up to his eyeballs and didn't even notice when waves washed over his face. He drank and drank. He was so excited about having so much water and mud at his disposal. Of course we didn't let him drink until he burst. He still had a longish car ride ahead of him. When Hermione was finished drinking, we decided that Otis was done too. Hermione actually drank more than she normally does and she was desperate to go by the time we pulled into my driveway.
On the walk back to the vehicle, Otis was even more adamant that he should return to the lake. This was his first experience with a lake and all I could think of while he tried to pull his Grandma T back to the water was:
"Grandma! We have to go back to the biggest water bowl ever! We have to! Plllleeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaassseeeeeeee!!!!!"