Smokey Gave Me a Heart Attack and Her 1st Swim Lesson.

We've had Smokey for almost 2 weeks now.  It's been an adjustment to say the least.  Haha!  S and I have both been doggy parents before, so, this isn't the first go-round.  However, it's been awhile since we've had a puppy!  Sleepless nights, potty training, crate training, biting and barking.  Fun times!  It's a work-in-progress and involves a lot of patience.  A LOT!
So, a little story.  A scary, holy crap story.  Here we go...
First, let me just say that Smokey wakes up early!  Very early.
Anyhow, last Saturday morning Smokey woke up and needed to go out, ahhhh, roughly 5:15 a.m.  So, I take her out of her crate, downstairs and outside and we walk the yard together.  She follows me around. Well, someone decided she needed to sit down, take a break, and inspect her girlie parts.  Oh, did I mention she's been checking out the pool since we brought her home, walks the perimeter, looks at the water but, hasn't touched it yet...  Very inquisitive to say the least!  She's a fearless lab, period.  She rocks too!
Anyhow, she decides to have her little "break" right at the edge of the pool... Yep.  Well, needless to say she got to close and fell backwards, head first, into the pool.  Backwards somersault.  My heart dropped.  I was right there.  I was 18 inches away from her and absolutely helpless.  In the matter of seconds that she fell in I had a million thoughts going through me head.  A million.  Do I jump in?  Do I wait?  What do I do?  Of course, I immediately lean hovered over the pool edge and see her go down a few feet and then watch her come back up...  Her little blue eyes came up, her tiny snout...then her paws.  Yep, she was using her paws to paddle!  I grabbed the back of her neck as she tried to reach the edge of the pool and pull herself up and out.  I pulled her straight up and out myself...and wrapped her in my terry cloth robe.  I was like oh my goodness!!!  Smokey didn't whine, cry, or bark, nothing.  She cuddled into me and looked up at me and licked my chin.  Gosh, I was so very thankful to be right there and grab her.  Phew, she was safe and ok. I thought, it's time for swimming lessons, immediately.
Well, that definitely woke us both up.  Needless to say we did not go back upstairs, I was W-I-D-E awake!!!  And my heart was beating about 100 miles a minute at that point.  I waited until S woke up to tell him that Smokey went swimming fell in the pool and explain what happen.  The look on his face was priceless.
The very next day, Sunday, S gave Smokey her first swimming lesson.  She did great!  He held her a few times and the very last time let her go and she swam all by herself.  She loves the water!  Obviously, natural instinct to move those little paws and swim.  We started her on the step.  She fell off the step and went completely under, S caught her and picked her up.  She was a little startled, no whining.  He took her out about 6 feet and let her paddle in and directed her towards the step, not me.  She wanted to swim towards me.  Well, we did that several times and she did great.  We were both pleasantly surprised.    More lessons next week.  We both feel slightly better than if a pool incident happens again and neither of us is right there she'll know what to do.  Mission accomplished!  Side note:  typically, she's not outside in that part of the yard by herself.

{Smokey swimming with Daddy!}

{looking up at Mom (me)}

{checking out the step and the whole pool}

{Smokey's head is down checking out the water}

Just had to share my crazy early morning Smokey story!  First swimming lesson, complete.  Anyone else have crazy puppy stories to share?