The Best Dorkie Retriever Ever.

Between the intense heat in the summers and Neville’s health, I needed a safe consistent joint-friendly way for Neville to exercise. In this search, I found therapeutic swimming. At first Neville wasn’t thrilled, though he did take to the water naturally. He didn’t want to swim out from the ramp so instead his instructors would carry him and then he’d swim back to the ramp all on his own.

This went on for awhile until one lesson his new skill was unlocked. Neville has always LOVED toys so very much. We would play with toys daily for at least an hour each day. We discovered that if a specific toy, the bun of a dismantled burger toy, was thrown into the water (it floated), Neville would launch himself off the ramp with an absolutely adorable little jump into the water and swim for that toy. He’d grab it and swim back to the ramp. He loved this so much and never wanted to quit this game. He became so excited to go to his swimming lessons. He liked going before to see his human friends, but with this new skill unlocked, he was also thrilled to go for the actual swimming portion too. This is how he gained the title “Dorkie Retriever”. Dorkie being his two breeds, dachshund and yorkie.

Of course, his main favorite part of swimming was the very last part. After swimming, after getting towel and blow dried, after we checked out and made sure his next lesson was booked, he’d get some beef lung treats. He loved these so much and since he always had an empty leg to fill, he’d beg non-stop. If we allowed him, he’d have eaten the entire bowl and then some. I would hoist him up to the counter and expecting his reward for doing such a great job swimming, he’d drool (not a normal behavior for him outside of food-expectations). They’d call this his spiderwebs and keep a towel nearby to save the computer monitor from the spiderwebs he produced.

Neville swam for years, nearly ever Saturday. I protected these Saturday appointments very fiercely. I didn’t book any appointment or activity during this time. Over the years, friends learned that I wasn’t available during this time. I loved being able to give Neville this dedicated exercise time that he loved so much. It became our routine. We’d go early enough so that Neville could walk around the building and go potty and get warmed up by sniffing all the things before his appointment. Then afterwards we’d walk around the building again lazily, sniffing all the things, taking our time, just enjoy these moments together.

On the way there, he’d be so excited looking out the window and pacing (always tethered), but on the way back home he’d snooze for the 30-40 minutes until he sensed the car slowing down which was the indication to him that we were nearly home. I was always so surprised that when we got home, he’d get his next wave of energy and want to play again immediately. I would be exhausted from all the activity but would rally with him to start our next round of play and backyard exploration.