Charlie’s new obsession is swimming. Swimming is all he talks about anymore. When are we going swimming again, can I go swimming again, look at my new diving cap, daddy watch me practice my doggie paddle, on and on and on…it’s cute, but seriously, settle down. Apparently he was trying to learn valuable swimming techniques on the internets. He is learning through research because I am awful and never let him go swimming anymore. Charlie seems to have stumbled across this other Mountain Dog that does more than just swim. This dog surfs. And not just some lame ass dog on a surfboard for a split second while someone snaps a picture. This dog is pure surfer dog. He has all the traits required, shaggy hair, appears stoned, and hates tourists.

This video Charlie found is extremely impressive. I dare say that my video of Charlie is even more impressive. The surfing dog is simply a video of someone doing something they already know how to do…big deal. That is like a video of me doing math, very unimpressive. My video of Charlie is an un-staged video of an impromptu moment in time that could not be recreated, even by a collaborative effort of Peter Jackson and James Cameron. A handsome dog jumps into a pond while that dog’s unsuspecting best friend has his back turned. This dog has never swam before, but somehow survives the terrifying debacle known as, “Learning how to Doggie Paddle”. The drama writes itself!

Enough of my nonsense, here is what Charlie can not stop watching:

I have been working on this multi-cache (a geocache with multiple stages) in Slower Delaware since the middle of the summer. It is called Gone Fishin’ and is centered around lesser known fishing spots in southern Delaware. They are all near ponds. I found the first 5 stages and then got stumped on the 6^th a couple months ago. I found myself driving down south yesterday for some work errands and it seemed like a good time to give that stage another look. I took my trust geo-hound Charlie along with me for the long day of driving and adventuring. We got to the pond area and started to look around. There was nobody else anywhere to be seen, so it was plenty safe to have him running free. I was deep in a briar patch that he could not get into. I had my back turned on him for a couple minutes, but could always see him if I turned to look. Out of nowhere, to break the still silence of the beautiful area I hear a loud SPLASH! My immediate reaction was “no way”….Apparently, way. I turned and ran toward him only to see him splashing around in the water a good 20 yards off the bank of the water. This is a mountain dog that has never been in the water, other than baths in the tub and mountains of frozen water also known as snow. I was caught somewhere between terrified and thrilled. Obviously not too terrified as I had time to grab my phone and set it to video record. It was obviously apparent that he had no idea what swimming was supposed to look like. I always assumed that doggie paddling was an inborn feature to canines. What he was doing looked more like a dummy paddle. I was a bit panicky, but luckily I kept it together well enough to continue recording. He was swimming parallel with the shoreline and not coming any closer regardless of how loud I yelled for him. I finally decided I might have to go in after him, his head never went under water, but he was definitely not treading water properly. I was only a few seconds from going in after him when I noticed he had started coming closer to the land and also gotten some footing in the shallower water. I am relieved all is well, but would not ever count on Charlie to rescue me if I was drowning, unless of course I had dog biscuits in my pockets. What an exciting day for the Sellers men. And yes, I did find that stage of the geocache and go on to complete the entire series later that day. I am glad Charlie was with me to help run through the woods and celebrate our achievement. Ridiculous video below.