River Aussie's!

Last weekend was a hot one. Since we haven't taken the crazy Aussie's to the river yet this year, we figured we better get them down for some playing and swimming, and to also check the river out. We loaded them up in the truck and drove the few minutes to our private river access. We have to keep them on leashes, well, Bailey has to be kept on a leash, if he was loose we probably would never see him again. He'd want to go to the woods to stiff and play. Sadie, with her insecurity issues, won't leave our sides, but I kept her on a leash for awhile. We wanted to check out how the river had changed, it changes every year. Fishing season is coming up on us fast, we have really good fishing in September and we are planning on doing a lot of it! The dogs were very excited that they got to go on this journey with us.



When we first moved here 8 years ago, this log jam only had around 20 logs. It now has thousands. It just keeps getting bigger and bigger. In the winter, this log jam is under water. You can't even get to the river during that time of year.



The dogs see the water, they are so excited! They couldn't wait to drag us in that direction. I don't blame them, I wanted to get in the water too!



They finally get us to the water.



They insisted on walking in the water, while we walked on the rocks, which are hard to walk on, especially with flip flops on!



We notice some changes to our beach right away. There is now an island that we wanted to take the dogs too. We braved thigh high water to walk across, the dogs did not want to swim. But we made them. Even though Sadie is a water dog, she likes to just get her legs and face wet, but when it comes to having to actually swim, she said no way! Bailey was even worse. Once they figured out that they could swim, they followed along behind us. We make it to the island. My OH is checking out some new fishing spots.



We think this hole is going to have some really good fishing! Across the water is a new beach that has never been there before, which is good. It gives us even more places to fish.



After we waded back across the water to the mainland, with dogs in tow, we headed to the new beach. I am now standing on what is our new waterfront fishing property. I am getting really excited!



A nice looking beach, don't ya think? Across the water you can barely see our island we were just on.



We decide to head on over to another one of our favorite fishing spots. It's a huge rock formation, that we just call the "Rock". Bailey was very interested in the rapids. When we go river rafting, we have to go through these rapids. It's really the only "white" water rapids we have on the long stretch of river we raft on.



I never realized I had a camo dog. She blends in with the rocks quite well.



Bailey is really checking out the scenery. There were people across the river on another beach. We could also see river rafters coming down.



Bailey decides he wants to get his paws wet again. He wanted to keep going, but we called him back. The river goes through here pretty fast and we didn't want him to get swept away. That has happened to us before with another dog we use to have. He was out swimming and the current took him away, he ended up on the other side of the river and my OH had to walk and swim to the other side to get him back. I don't think that dog ever swam again!



Way off in the distance are some river rafters. You can't see them in this picture. But Bailey noticed them.



We hung out until the rafters came through the rapids. Here they are on the other side of our island.



I was able to get a family picture, without me.



On our way back, I took Sadie off the leash. It is so hard to have both dogs on the extended leashes. Since I knew Sadie wouldn't leave me or my OH, we let her run. I don't think Bailey was liking that too much. We decided to head back over to our island. But I left my camera and cell phone on the beach this time, before we waded through the water. One thing I can not be without would be my camera and cell phone! The dogs weren't as scared to swim back to the island. Once on the island, we took Bailey off the leash. We knew he wouldn't swim on his own to get to the other beach with the trees. But he sure tried to find his way off the island. Bailey and Sadie ran up and down the beach, played in the water, rolled in the dirt. At this point I really wish I would have brought my camera with me. But I didn't want to wade back to get it. We stayed on the island for around 45 minutes and let the dogs just run. Than it was time to put Bailey back on the leash and swim back to shore.

It was so much fun, the dogs loved it and we found some great new fishing holes. I love this time of year!