This weekend was too hot to do anything but sweat. The air was hot and humid, and us softies from southern California have little tolerance for this kind of weather. I basically crashed, burned, and skidded to a stop. My only other activity besides shopping included poodle diving with Kodiak, my standard poodle.

When I moved into this house, every single one of my poodles took their turn at falling in the pool. Kodi was the first. One day I looked outside, and there he was in the deep end, hanging on for dear life. I have no idea how long he had been hanging there, but I ran to his aid. I couldn't tell you how many times I have grabbed him by the neck, and pull him out since then. His dear friend Keisha use to butt check him into the pool all the time. She weighed 20 pounds less than Kodi so it must have been all in the timing that she could knock him in.

To avoid an unexpected sight of floating poodles (or would that be sunken poodles?), I taught them all to swim towards the steps to get out. This has worked against me a way. I can't keep anyone in the pool very long. Their only goal seems to be to swim to the steps to get out, then wait to be carried back in.

So now I have a standard poodle who loves to swim, but is afraid to get into the water. I use to get out of the pool, pick him up (all 65 pounds), and carry him into the pool. I grew tired of that after several seasons, and just started pulling him in. It is really hard to yank a 65 pound mass who doesn't want to move, so yesterday, I decided that we would try poodle diving to get him over his fear.

He would stand at the edge of the pool, I would grab him by the collar, put my other hand under his belly, and toss him in. At first I was really gentle with him, and tried to make sure he didn't go under water, but after a while I would toss him farther and farther out. Eventually, he started going under the water, but would pop up and start swimming (not bad for a water dog). He would climb out, shake off and prepare to do it again. Needless to say, he had a blast. I am hoping that someday he will jump into the pool on his own......