Joe is lost and found

Joe loves water, as much water as his webbed feet can have at. We usually walk up and over the hill to Lake Washington to tiny little coves. This little ribbon beaches are a few feet of pebble beach where it's possible to throw a ball for Joe to retrieve.

On a beautiful sunny day, there is a lot of competition for lakeshore and all our usual spots were taken. We headed further down the lakeshore where the coves are cut away by cliffside. At that point, there is a boulder retaining wall. From above it looked to be only 2 feet (less than a meter) high, an easy leap up or down for Joe. So down he leapt and I stood above and threw the ball. He jumped out into the rolling surface of the lake intent on the ball, his shoulders rolling heavily with every stroke. This always amuses me, the way his shoulders pull at the water.

And he nabbed the ball and swam back. His paws dug into the dirt capping the boulder wall, and it became slick and muddy. His paws didn't find purchase and slid back onto the boulder. This for some reason frightened Joe and he wouldn't try to jump up from the lake onto the boulder wall. His eyes were wide with alarm. He circled whining and pacing in front of the wall but couldn't be coaxed into making another attempt to jump up. At over 75 pounds, he weighs too much for me to pull up, even a couple of feet. He was out of his head with fear. And suddenly I was too, as there was no way for me to get him.

I grabbed my coat and started to run down the trail to where the boulder wall was shorter. As I ran away from Joe his whining turning to whimpers and heart-wrenching cries, I couldn't see him but I could hear him crashing around in the water. Roughly 75 feet away, I found a place to get down, there was no choice but to jump from the wall into the snowmelt of Lake Washington.

I waded 10 feet from shore into the Lake calling to him before he noticed me through his panic. When he finally espied me, he was the very picture of joy as he bounded through the waves to me. I was soaked to the hips in icy water, my sneakers filled, my hands covered with mud as we clambered out of the lake. But I did have my puppy again and all the horrible scenarios that had run through my mind in the minutes I'd run down the trail were now receding.