Ike the Flake

I love my dog.  Everyone knows that.  He’s my workout partner, my protector when Jake is out of town, and my best furry friend.  He is also the really big flake. 

Today we were running in a really nice subdivision that has a large lake in the middle.  South Carolina has been in a severe drought over the past two years so the lake is not so much a pristine, crystal blue oasis as a stinky, murky mud pit.  But, it was really warm out and the dog was panting and slowing down so I thought I would let him jump into the lake for a quick dip.  He was thrilled with the idea and proceeded to do the regular Ike in the water routine that involves lots of acting like he has never seen water before and he is totally out of his gourd excited about the experience.  All’s well until he shoves in face under water to rub it on the dirt and comes up with a six inch tall mud pie on his snout.  He is totally in shock and not happy.  He jumps out of the water and runs over to me and looks at me like “aren’t you going to do something about this” and just stands there.  It has to look ridiculous.  Some stupid lady in workout clothes when it is too hot to work out standing next to some dog with a mud pie on his head.  I know I am an exaggerator, but I am not kidding when I say it was a six inch tall pile of mud on his snout.  Sticky, stinky, bottom of the lake mud.  I coax him back into the lake and try to get him to put his nose underwater to clean it off, but that is not going to happen in Ike’s world.  He knows the last time he put his face underwater it was not fun so there is no way he is doing it again….he is also not going to let me do it.  He is all about cause and effect and has a better memory than me.  We put him in the bathtub ONE TIME in Manhattan and he still will not get within 5 feet of a bathtub, not even a bathtub full of steak.  So he is standing in the water just out of my reach and whining, while I am trying to toss water on him as he is trying to dodge the water…and looking at me like I am trying to abuse him.  That is the look I get all the time from that dog.  I was giving him a bath in the car wash area (people who wash their cars there have to love me doing that) of the apt complex afterwards and you would have thought I was trying to put acid on him.  Flaky, ridiculousness.

You know they say dogs are a reflection of their owners….poop.