Sage at the Farm

This past weekend, in honor of my dad's 60th birthday, Ryan and I packed up the girls and made the nearly 2 hour trek over to mid-MO to spend the weekend at "The Farm."  You might remember the Farm from last year's posts HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE.  Still no soybeans or cows, but as usual, the Farm was beautiful and refreshing.  We were so excited to take Sage to the Farm for the first time, to introduce her to my parents and to get her in the water for her first swim lesson.  Ryan was convinced that Sage would be a "country dog" by the time we left.

We arrived late Friday night and spent a couple hours catching up with everyone, unloading the car, introducing Sage to all the dogs and eating lots of frozen pizzas.  The next morning we Ryan was up bright and early with the pup and decided to take her to the pond to do some fishing.  As they were making their way towards the bank, Sage proceeded to lose her footing and roll head-over-heels all the way down the hill into the water.  We quickly found out that she can indeed swim.  Mission accomplished.

However, it was about this time when we began to question

why on earth we decided to get a white dog. 

At least she's not cute or anything.

After that debacle, she needed a little lovin' and comfort. 

She got kisses from her mama.

Kisses from her uncle Chris.

Kisses from daddy.

Mally blew her kisses from across the deck. 

She couldn't be bothered to get up.

Big sisters are like that sometimes.

After the swim, it was time to practice her commands.

She practiced COME.

Practiced SIT.

Practiced DOWN STAY.

Practiced BOARD CHEWING.

And most importantly, we practiced CUDDLING.

Sage is a master at that one.

And just when she got warm and dry, Ryan decided it was time to get in the water with her and do a "real" swim lesson.  Our friends' dog Prince thought he'd help out and show Sage how it was done.

After watching Prince, it seemed like she wanted to get in the water.

But then she'd back out.

Ryan had to eventually hold her in the water and let her swim to shore.

But not before Prince drenched them.

Poor Sage.

She eventually made it back to dry land, where she again needed some TLC from her dad.

All in a day's work.

It's hard being a farm dog.