Ode to a Good Boy

As summer winds down, I thought it only appropriate to reminisce a bit about......my dog.  For those who know Winston, he is a sweet, velvet-fur yellow lab, that has a strong opinion about things he likes and things he does not like.

One thing that he loves and could do all day, is swim.  This past weekend, with the temps in the 80's, I finally braved the chilly waters of Lake Washington and went for a swim.....with Winston.  The only problem with swimming with Winston is he likes to be held in the water and if you are not standing in shallow water, it is slightly impossible to hold a 75 pound lab and stay above water.  Nonetheless, it is a blast to swim with him as I have done for the past 8 summers.

The past few months, Winston has also been the big dog on the block.....serving as the baseball retriever during baseball games, recipient of squirts from squirt guns, official watcher for cats, and a de facto garbage can as he is constantly on clean up duty of all unattended food.  He strikes me as having that perfect balance of needing some love, but not being overly needy.  He loves to lay down next to you as much as he loves to lay in cool, wet grass, surveying the entire scene.

Winston has been a constant companion for the entire family for the past 8.5 years.  He came to us a broken, emaciated dog, and has been nothing but a pile of love ever since.  He is getting older, but pull out a tennis ball or walk past some swimming spot and he turns into a puppy again, and that is the way it should be.