An aquatic entertainment

In the distance you can see a canal boat. What you can't see is a small and energetic white mongrel dog. We encountered said mongrel a few minutes after this picture. Meg and he/she hit it off and went bounding up and down the tow path together.
I suppose it was inevitable, but the next thing I saw was Meg treading air with a perplexed look like Wile E Coyote just after stepping off the cliff, and a microsecond later she was treading water. I caught up quickly, reached in and hauled her out onto the bank, covering me, my camera bag and camera with mud and grotty water. Those of you with dogs will know what happened next; she shook herself, soaking the bits of me and my camera kit that she'd missed first time.
Meg spent the journey back to the car looking very sorry for herself. I can confirm that canal water in early January is exceedingly cold, and also that while Meg can swim, she isn't Olympic medal material.
I, my camera and its bag are made of sterner stuff (good old Fuji - good old Billingham) than the dog, and we cleaned up fine. Meg had to suffer the additional indignity of a bath when we got home, and then took mournfully to her bed,
Not a normal walk along the canal, then.