Sam and Bubbles go to the Beach

Sunday, October 9^th, 2011

Gary here, and better late than never, this is my first entry on the blog.  Our lives are so hectic that it was a rare treat for the four of us – Jessica, Sammy, Bubbles and me – to be able to spend a few hours together outside the house during daylight hours.  We gabbed our juice boxes, peanut butter, veggies and doggie treats, piled in the car and headed east to Lake County.

Sammy has always loved the water.  He was in the ocean at five months, and three years later was frolicking in Lake Erie.  The problem was, he seemed to know no fear in the lake, which he was powerfully drawn to.  It seemed to be another story in swimming pools, where we spent countless hours this summer.  He used to hang on for dear life, until he got used to making his way in the shallow water.  Fortunately, he seemed very wary about going in too deep.  But the lake, for whatever reason, was a different matter.  Being that we live just over 100 yards or so from the lake, and as drowning is the number one cause of death among autistic children, our single biggest need for a service dog was to keep Sam from making a run for the water.

Bubbles seems to be a great match for Sam in so many ways.  So it came as no surprise that she loves the water too.  We thought it would be best to introduce her to the lake without taking Sammy.  Plus, we wanted to discourage Sam from going down there from the house for obvious reasons. The first time we took Bubbles down to the lake, she was very tentative, cautiously dipping a paw in the water and jumping back as if shocked.  Before long though, she was straining at the leash to get in as far as she could go.  She excitedly romped up and down the shore, sniffing around furiously and occasionally stopping to nibble at the carcass of a long dead carp.

So it seemed on this beautiful Fall afternoon that the beach was the perfect place for a little family time.  As we drove east on Route 2, we considered stopping at Mentor Headlands, but decided instead to proceed a little farther to the quaint and likely less crowded village of Fairport Harbor.  It was a good choice, as we practically had the place to ourselves. 

Sam made a beeline for the playground, and busied himself with his favorite routine of carrying handfuls of sand (or mulch or whatever, but in this case sand) up the ladders (no easy trick) and dumping it down the slide.  Jessica, meanwhile, took Bubbles down to the water.

After about 15 minutes, I suggested to Sam that we go see mommy and Bubbles, and without protest he took my hand and we headed toward the water.  This is somewhat significant since Sammy usually puts up a fuss when we leave the playground.  He was interested in the sand and the water, however, and we made our way across the beach to where Jessica had Bubbles jumping around in the water, barking at passing boats, and shaking the water from her coat in torrents.  We all took off our shoes and walked in the shallow water, with Sammy and Bubbles loving it.  Sam took to grabbing handfuls of wet sand, and heaving them into the water.  Bubbles thought Sammy was trying to play catch, and lunged into the water trying to catch the clods of wet sand, occasionally coming up with a mouthful and swallowing it.

We kept Bubbles on her leash, partly because it was probably the law but mostly because we were afraid she might take off.  She was on sensory overload, soaking in the sights, sounds, smells and feel of a new environment.  Yet she adapted to it quickly, and in spite of all the distractions, seemed very protective of Sammy.  She seemed to instinctively know enough to keep in front of Sammy and prevent him from going in too deep.  This was impressive, as she had never been taught this.  She seemed to understand the concept of protecting Sam from possible danger. Even though she doesn’t know how to swim (I suspect she’ll learn that next summer) I got the feeling that had Sam gone into the deep water, she would not have hesitated to go after him.

As the sun set, Sam offered only token resistance as we rinsed off and got into the car to go home.  Both he and Bubbles were well tired and fell asleep early, Bubbles looking fluffier than ever after her bath in Lake Erie. 

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