I remember vividly the day that my aunt went tearing out of the house into the rain to chase after her horse.
My prim and proper aunt, never a hair out of place, came back soaked to the gills
but she came back with her horse.
What you would do in order to rescue your animal?
I meant to tell you this story ages ago, but I never got around to it.
I have pictures because I was cataloguing the moment for a blog post that never came.
We were out at the lake.
The lake was very low that summer, as we were in the throws of one of the worst droughts.
Dixie doesn't love jumping into the lake but she will walk into the water.
She did it quite frequently during the summer of 2013.
Normally, the Sea Doos are on the lift but essentially every boat house on our side of the lake was dry docked.
Each time we were done with the water craft they had to be driven around the to boat ramp.
One person had to push the craft into deeper water before it could be started.
You can see Dixie in the water.
She really hates these machines.
I was on the shore in my clothes ready for the trip home.
Bill jumped onto the other Sea Doo and they took off.
I'm not sure why I was alone at this point, except that someone had to meet them at the ramp.
I think it took a while to get one of them started but when they were both running, Dixie wouldn't come out of the water and she swam after them.
I yelled and yelled and she continued to swim farther and farther away from me.
I dropped my camera and ran down the shore calling to her.
She just would not give up and come to me.
Occasionally, she looked like she would swim toward me but then she would head into deeper and deeper water.
I debated going back up and around to get a life vest but I was worried that she would get farther away in the meantime.
I knew it wasn't wise but I waded into the water and swam after her.
There was a stump near by where I was able to reach out and grab her collar.
I yanked her and myself to the stump to rest for a minute before I heaved her toward the shore.
Once she was headed in that direction she was okay and she abandoned the quest to follow the evil, water devils.
The whole time I knew that it was dangerous.
I knew that I was potentially at risk by swimming after a 50 pound dog without a life vest but I just could not stand on the shore and watch her struggle to keep swimming.
Dixie is our "empty nest" dog.
She makes me crazy sometimes.
She is our constant companion.
I talk to her when I leave the house.
"Okay, Momma has to go bye-bye but I'll be back soon."
She gets a "cookie" each time I leave the house.
I could not let anything happen to this dog.
I got back to the house, soaking wet and crying.
I was furious with her and scared for what might have transpired but I kept asking myself,
"What would Aunt Susan do?"
She would have jumped into the lake after the dog.
