Dog decides to stays on dock while his family goes out in the boat — then quickly changes his mind
Dogs that have anxiety tend to avoid things that make them uncomfortable. For a dog, named Charlie, that was the family boat.
One day, though, he had a change of heart. Unfortunately, the family had left in the boat already, but that didn’t stop Charlie. He quickly jumped in the water and started swimming toward them.
Charlie had a lot of anxiety
Rescued by Randi Mendenhall’s family when he was only four years old, Charlie had quickly fit into the family unit. One of the issues Charlie had to deal with was an irrational fear of large objects, such as the family boat. So, while the rest of the family went out for a day on the lake, Charlie usually stayed behind.
“He typically gets really bad anxiety around any large moving objects,” Mendenhall told The Dodo. “He either waits at the truck or just goes back through the woods to get home. We never force him to get on with us to spare him the anxiety!”
Charlie had a change of heart
One day, though Charlie suddenly had a change of heart. As they normally did, the family would watch as Charlie got smaller and smaller sitting on the boat ramp as they headed out on the lake. But this time, as they watched, they noticed that Charlie had gotten in the water and was swimming toward them.
For some reason, he had changed his mind and decided to join them for a day of fun and sun on the water!
Charlie swam out to meet his family
“Once we got the boat out of the slip, we realized he was acting really sad this time, so we started filming because it was so unusual for him,” Mendenhall said. “Right before we started recording, we told my dad to turn around to go get him. We were in the process of trying to turn our big pontoon around in a no-wake zone, but I guess he was impatient.”
Charlie simply couldn’t wait
Rather than wait for the family to turn the boat around and come get him, the eager dog continued to swim toward his family members in the boat. Meanwhile, the family was trying, albeit slowly, to turn the boat around to try and meet him part of the way.
“It took him maybe 45 seconds to a minute to get to us,” Mendenhall said. “We were too scared to move the boat any faster and [possibly] accidentally hurt him, so we cheered him on! He’s a chunky boy, so we knew he wouldn’t be able to climb on, which is why my fiancé jumped in to hoist him up!”
Future days on the water with Charlie
Once onboard, Charlie was rewarded with a snack — his very own cheese sandwich. It seemed that Charlie had gotten over his fear and had been able to join his family. The family hopes that future days on the water will include Charlie.
You can watch the video of Charlie’s long swim out to the boat below.
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H/T: The Dodo