Representative image showing swimming pool.
Credit: iStock Photo
Summers are warm and sunny in their city, and the lake-front is a halcyon place to be in. They take dips in the water, not going too far out, as their swimming legs are not seasoned yet. Their four-year-old tags along, but she does not like the water. No amount of cajoling or coaxing makes her go near the water, and they decided to do something about it. After all, children as young as six months old are taking to swimming like fish to water.
First, they increased bath days and put her in a full bathtub, but
she protested so much that they stopped the training.
They then started showing her videos of her best friends frolicking in the water. She would watch the videos with interest and enthusiasm, reacting happily to the sight of her friends.
But she still refused to step into the water. There are umpteen videos of her walking confidently at the lake-front, but the minute she senses her folks are leading her to the water, she makes a dash to go as far away from the water as possible.
Next, they tried playdates at the waterfront with her friends. Her friends would run into the water and have to be coaxed or scolded to exit after the allotted time, while she would stand far away like an ice princess with her nose high in the air, as if to say she is the wisest of them all.
Her parents joked about how she took after her grandma, who did not dip a toe into the water, even while grandpa was scuba-diving in Havelock Island in the Andamans and walking on the sand dunes in the Bahamas. They said she seemed to be like a cat in her dislike of water.
One day, her parents decided they would have to use shock tactics on her, or she would never overcome her fear of the water. My son picked her up and carried her into the lake while my daughter-in-law recorded the event. After a few minutes, he gently put her down in the water.
Well, K took to swimming like a champion swimmer—kept her head up, paddled with all four limbs and made a beeline for the shore, reaching it in record time. She then scampered away. My son says that as she swam, she used her bushy tail well.
K had proved that, like all dogs, she could swim instinctively but continued to stay away from the water.
She wags her tail and looks up at us with those dark brown melting eyes, as if to say, “No, thank you!”
Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author's own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH.