I’m ushering in the new year with a photo with an interesting–if somewhat harrowing–story behind it. I took a photo very similar to this yesterday, and with hopes of recapturing it for today’s photo of the day I returned to the spot on my morning walk with the dogs. As I was shooting down into the ice-ringed water, I noticed the calm water start to ripple and then–panic–see Seamus (our 5-month old whippet puppy) walking towards the edge of the ice to get a drink of water. In what seemed like a split second, he had plunged into the frigid water. Without a second thought I dropped my camera on the pavement and raced onto the ice, retaining enough calm to remember not to walk, but rather to crawl flat on my belly, on the thin ice. Edging up to the very ice pictured here, I grabbed the puppy’s front paws (he was clinging to the edge) and dragged him out of the water. Heart pounding, I grabbed the camera and ran full throttle back home with the dogs in order to dry off and warm up the puppy.
It took about an hour for my heart to stop pounding, but Seamus was completely unfazed, and after a good toweling off he had a good nap and was ready for another walk after lunch. Needless to say, this time I leashed him as we walked by the icy lake.
I guess there are two morals to this story. One, I’m going to be far less conscientious about my photo of the day and far more vigilant about my dogs when they are off-leash. Two, crawl–don’t walk–on thin ice.
I hope you all had a calmer start to the New Year than I did!
