The timing of the resurrection of this thread is interesting. I talked with my brother earlier this morning about dogs we missed and I mentioned a Lab/Rottweiler cross named Patience that I had who died 20 years ago. I still miss that dog.
She loved backpacking, canoeing and pretty much all water. If there was a tractor rut with a puddle in it she'd hop right in. And on hot days she spent hours every day in our farm pond or one of the two creeks that crossed the place.
She was forever hopeful that she could out-swim ducks and geese so I had to keep talking softly to her when we paddled past them or she'd do a pretty good imitation of a competitive dock dog and be gone overboard in a flash. She did roll the canoe a time or two in the process but as she got a few years on her she calmed down a good bit when in the canoe. She had been abandoned and on her own for a few months when she showed up at our place so she was very food driven. Just having a few kibbles in your hand would pretty much rivet her attention until the birds were far enough away to let me relax.
She had her own pack and carried all her food and such along with a fair bit more. And she loved pulling wagons and such so much that the kids tried to rig a harness for her to pull their two person sea kayak on its cart. The dog made it clear that pulling a cart around the yard was fun but that the kayak was a non-starter. She just sat down and wouldn't budge.
Lance
