I thought the day Nickey had to undergo emergency surgery was the worst day of my life. After today, that has officially moved to the number 2 spot.

I usually let Nickey out into the backyard on his own to do his business. Since he has a habit of barking to be let back in even before he's had a chance to go, I usually ignore him until he gets the idea. This usually has never caused a problem- he frolicks around, goes potty, and then barks to be let back in. I usually don't bother to check if he hasn't been barking, thinking he'll eventually bark. This is what happened today- I let him out, he yapped, I ignored him, and he went off to wander around & go potty.

However, for some reason today I realized he hadn't been barking and decided to go check on him (something I don't usually do). Upon standing up to go outside, I looked out the kitchen window and saw a beige body flailing in the deep end of the pool. I ran outside (and I mean ran) and there was my little guy desperately trying to tread water to save his life. If you don't know Nickey's water skills, well, he has none. Despite what we think about dogs being able to swim, he has zero ability and because his body is so dense and his face is so flat, water is very dangerous for him. I don't know how long he had been in there, but he was still thrashing around trying to keep his muzzle above water (which he wasn't having much luck doing). Without question, I jumped into the pool, grabbed him, and swam w/ him to the ledge (all while trying to keep his face above water, which was hard because he isn't the lightest dog). Nickey was breathing really hard and kind of sprawled out when he was back on 'dry land', but eventually shook himself off and was fine. Afterwards, I rushed him inside the house, toweled him off, and fed him a little more extra for dinner, all the while feeling like the worst mommy ever.

I don't want to think about what would have happened had I not realized he hadn't been barking for awhile. I don't even know how he fell into the pool- my guess is that because it had been raining today, he slipped on the wet cement around the pool and fell in, but even this is strange. In the 2 1/2 years I've had him and throughout all the rainy seasons, he's never slipped on wet cement into the pool before. Goes to show you that you can never be too sure.



I'm sorry Nickey :( :( I hope you weren't too traumatized by today's experience. (He seems to be back to his normal self, but that won't stop me from coddling him even more than usual)