That was crazy

As I went on my morning walk along the Charles today, I heard a woman calling her dog. As this is a dog walking park, I didn't think anything of it. I had my new little camera and was hoping I could get a shot of the swans if they were there. And they were. They were there, swimming right in front of me and they were being chased by a swimming dog. By that time, the woman, quite a ways away, was hysterical. "Lucia, Lucia, come here!" But the dog was having none of it and stayed in hot pursuit. Now, this is the Charles River. Its March. Its cold. And the swans headed right out into the middle of the river with the dog right behind them along with a gaggle of duck who just happened to be catching the action. I mean, we were all just open-mouthed.

As a dog person, I said to myself, "There is nothing I can do about this and I don't want to watch this dog drown," so I walked well past and continued out onto a point that extends into the river. The swans and dog kept right on swimming further and further out into the Charles, which is quite wide at that point. They started swimming towards me. I called the dog. "Lucia, come here. That's a good dog." and she actually perked up at her name and started towards me. But by then, the insanity had fully taken hold of her and she headed back into the middle of the river now chasing the ducks. The woman appeared at my side after running a long way, but now Lucia was a quarter mile away. It had been ten or fifteen minutes. I kept expecting the dog to go under.

But she swam back to shore and eventually made her way back to the woman, who, it turns out, was not her owner and really had no control whatsoever. Plus, she had four other dogs. Lucia had lost her leash and collar so I called her over and took off my belt and slipped it around her neck. She seemed like a very nice dog. Wasn't fazed in the least. Not winded, just wet. As, I say, seemed like a very nice dog.

I walked her back across the park to a car. And that was that!

Update: I checked my camera. Here's what I got. The dog was a long way away. Digital zoom with way too much happening to ever get a clear shot. This was before she swam towards me.