Water Bark at Spring Lake.

The swimming lagoon at Spring Lake Park has always been a somewhat dubious attraction in my opinion for swimming. The water in the lagoon is filtered, chlorinated and monitored by park staff and is said to be safe for swimming but the ubiquitous presence of geese, and goose poop, has always put me off. Last year the whole park was closed due to Covid but this year the swimming lagoon was open again from Memorial Day to Labor Day.

They did reinstate another popular tradition, the Water Bark, a benefit for the Sonoma County Regional Parks.  At the end of the season, the lagoon goes to the dogs, and they love it. It is always a frenzy of every size and brand of dog chasing tennis balls, frisbees and each other.  Some love the water, some avoid it. All the humans get wet even if they have a dog that doesn't. When they are not on a leash dogs seem to have a perfect ability to work things out and I have never seen any trouble.

We took Spike this morning where he met Angelina whose father, Frank,  is the trainer of sniffer dogs for the police. Angelina  was instrumental in our acquisition of Spike when it was discovered he was blind in one eye. Or other neighbor, Ramon came with Spike's 'cousin' Ruby who also came from Frank and Angelina. Apparently she got her head stuck in the hole she was supposed to put her nose through to sniff different scents, and wouldn't have a thing to do with it after that...

Spike, like every dog there, had a blast, even though he had trouble retrieving the ball in the melee. There were tennis balls everywhere ,and without being able to hear it land or smell it in the water, he had a hard time trying to figure out which one was the one we had thrown for him. Undaunted, he would swim around for awhile and then pick up whatever ball he happened to run into and bring it back. Eventually, he and Ruby formed an interesting partnership. We'd throw the ball for Spike and while he was trying to figure out where it was, Ruby would come blasting out of nowhere and retrieve it. Spike would follow her around knowing she had his ball and eventually she started giving it to him. 

In extras is a picture of the one dog who might not have been having a splendid time....And I thought John was being an overprotective dog parent....Given half a chance, dogs are very resourceful at working things out for themselves.