It was time for me to leave the comforting coolness of our air-conditioned house to face the glaring sun, trying successfully to make its presence felt through thinning layers of cloud, for I had to turn off a water pump down in the paddock next door. For years we have pumped water from a kindly neighbor’s sizeable dam (tank? man-made pond?), rather than from our smaller ones, up the hill and into a holding tank for later use on our now drought-stricken gardens. Liquorice insisted on going outside with me. She wandered out onto the lawn where my little darling had an enormous and apparently a most welcome leak. Following that Liquorice had an equally enormous drink of cool water running slowly from the hose into my cupped hand. Rather than wanting to go back inside where Keaton was snoozing and the air was cool Liquorice surprisingly declined the offer! She trotted jauntily by my side, dying grass crunching under our feet as we passed. Liquorice knowingly stopped as we approached the single-wire electric fence that has been turned off for many months as our cows have enjoyed the hospitality of that same neighbor since we ran out of grass for them. I lifted the single wire over my head allowing Liquorice to pass unmolested by that unforgiving wire. The day was not overly hot, barely in the 90s, and Liquorice it turned out, had one thing on her mind, as she headed for one of our little dams!
This was surprising as Liquorice has a “fear” of deep water stemming from her junior puppyhood when, on a foolish whim, I allowed her to enter a small dam that had roused her curiosity on one of our strolls together. I should have thought more carefully and taken my little darling to another dam without steep sides for while Liquorice entered where the bank was a gentle slope, she then walked along in the shallows veering slowly to deeper water but heading to where the bank was steep. Eventually Liquorice reached her “depth”, floated/swam with seeming contentment and all was well until she decided to leave the dam where she found the embankment was steep and slippery. Liquorice was heavier with the weight of water on her coat, and as it drained the “shore” became slippery too. Liquorice panicked and slid back into the water a couple of times before I could reach down to where she was and haul her out. She has not swam in any dam since and becomes extremely anxious whenever Keaton goes swimming.
But now Liquorice headed straight for the dam, a couple of interesting scents creating only minor detours before “plunging” straight into the dam. My little darling “swam” across the dam then back again, around in circles and figure-eights, thoroughly enjoying herself! Leaving Liquorice to her idle pleasures I climbed through the fence and turned off the pump in the neighboring paddock. As I climbed back through the fence Liquorice watched from her position, half in half out of the dam, with a look of sheer rapture on her face! Liquorice had conquered her fear of the dam! Again she “swam” across the dam and “paddled” about the center for a time before climbing out, without problem, and returning up the hill to the air-conditioning once more. Liquorice pushed through the backdoor and headed straight to Keaton where happy, seemingly congratulatory licks were exchanged in abundance! It was as if Liquorice was telling Keaton about overcoming her fears! She flopped down tired, but happy.
And what of the muddy footprints slopped across clean tiles and carpet with trails of dirty water draining from her saturated coat? Well that presented no real problem, you see, owing to our drought that dam had dried up weeks ago!
Arthur Witten
Liquorice – I went in the dam! The water was lovely and dry!
Keaton – You woke me up for that!