Jasper and Water

I love to watch dogs playing in water.

Henry could swim with such strength and had such stamina that when we lived in San Diego, he would often surprise the surfers who were out there beyond the break, looking for the next big one. Henry could catch those waves and ride them in, bodysurfing all the way to the shore. He could also put his head under water, looking for rocks. He’d hold his breath for up to twenty seconds, and sometimes he’d come back up with the rock we’d just thrown in for him. We took him swimming as often as we could.

Henry was an excellent swimmer.

Since Henry loved the water and was a natural swimmer, we thought Jasper would be as well. Not so much.

His first experience with water was at three months old at Ari Fleischer’s annual Fourth of July party in Pound Ridge, New York. Ari, another former White House press secretary, said we could bring Jasper, so we took a drive up to visit. I was keeping a watchful eye on my dog so that he didn’t steal anyone’s food or get underfoot amongst the guests.

The Fleischers had a new swimming pool, and a few people were having some summer fun.

I tried to let Jasper explore without saying no all the time, so he was in front of me trotting along when all of a sudden he was close to the edge of the pool but kept walking. He didn’t recognize water and so he just plopped right in. I gasped but didn’t want to make a scene. So I reached in and pulled him out by his collar. I held him away from me and kissed his face, not wanting to get wet but wanting him to know that it was okay. He looked stunned.

We went to find Peter.

“What happened?” he asked.

“Tell you later. I need a drink,” I said.

Later that night, Peter got Jasper into the pool and helped him try to learn to swim. The dog paddle is never pretty, but with a three-month-old puppy, it sure is cute.

Jasper and I before Jasper’s disastrous first swim. Well, disastrous for Peter, who had to jump in the lake to rescue him!

Jasper played in the water later that summer in Annapolis, but it was October before he had his next chance to swim. It didn’t go that well, either.

We went to visit Ingrid Henrichsen, a new friend whom I’d met in the city, and her husband, Ward Marsh. They invited us up for a day to a country area near Kent, Connecticut, where Jasper could run around and have a swim in the big pond.

I was excited to have some time with Ingrid and Ward. She and I became close quickly. We call each other sister-friends.

We arrived in this beautiful spot with lots of the autumn leaves still on the trees. It was the day before Hurricane Sandy, and the weather was still, as if taking a deep breath before the historic storm.

The first thing we did was walk down to the water’s edge, making small talk.

Jasper scampered around, and Peter picked up a stick and threw it near the water’s edge a few times. Jasper would bring it back, playing a proper game of fetch.

Gradually, Peter tossed the stick a little farther into the water. It was shallow, so Jasper was only getting his legs wet.

And then Peter threw it just a bit too far.

We all had our eyes on Jasper as we talked, and we saw how quickly the water became deep, because all of a sudden, Jasper was splashing and trying to reach the ground.

We called him back to the shore, offering encouragement. He splashed more. And harder. His little legs were working like crazy to keep him up.

I was getting nervous but wasn’t panicking… yet.

Jasper instinctively knew what to do and tried to dog paddle, but he was completely vertical, so instead of moving forward, he was just slowly going down. Farther and farther.

“Peter,” I said, in that mom voice that alerts a dad.

Peter didn’t make a move.

“Peter,” I said more firmly and urgently.

I saw Peter had already taken the car keys, phone, and money clip from his pocket and removed his shoes. But to the nervous mother he was in slow motion, and I thought my puppy was going to drown.

“PETER!” I screamed, and just then Peter plunged into the pond and grabbed Jasper, setting him at the correct angle so that his natural swimming instinct took him back to safe ground.

Jasper wasn’t fazed. He just ran around with his stick, apparently very proud of himself.

Meanwhile, Peter was coming out of the water, gasping for breath. He was freezing and soaking wet.

Ingrid went into action, demanding that Peter get up to the cabin and take his clothes off.

“But Ingrid, we’ve just met,” he said, keeping his sense of humor.

We got Peter dry and thankfully Ward had an extra set of clothes. Unfortunately for Peter, Ward is much taller and bigger than he is, and so we had to roll up his pants and use Peter’s belt to cinch in the waist. The polo shirt was so big it nearly came to Peter’s knees. He looked hilarious, and we tried not to laugh but even Peter got the joke.

Peter in Ward’s clothes after jumping in the lake to save Jasper. Can you tell Ward is taller than Peter?

And that was the beginning of a beautiful friendship with Ingrid and Ward. And our visits often involve Jasper and swimming in some way.

The next summer, Jasper was reluctant to get into a friend’s pool in South Carolina. The young teen boy that lived there, Thomas Gulbin, tried to coax him in, but Jasper was too nervous. It was pitiful, and I was sad because I’d hoped he’d love the water as much as Henry had.

Thomas was undeterred. He asked us if he could take care of Jasper the next afternoon, and we said sure since we were on vacation and wanted to go to Daufuskie Island.

Later that day, we went back to pick Jasper up and we were shocked. There, with Thomas, was Jasper leaping several feet into the air and plunging into the pool. In under an hour, Thomas had taught Jasper to love to swim, and now it’s his favorite thing to do. I love to post pictures and videos of his dives, and friends of mine thank me because their young children love to watch the “woof woof videos” on their phones.

Despite his early misgivings, Jasper is now a true water dog.

Oh the joy of summer! Jasper and our friend Macy jumping into the water in South Carolina.

A close-up of Jasper jumping into the pool—look at that focus!

Peter is my “Jasper Jump” photographer. He took this shot from inside the pool.