My youngest sister's inlaws have a lovely cabin on Isleboro Island off the coast of Maine right on the water. We had the pleasure if spending some time on the Island back when my son Andrew was in still high school.

My sister had this large red dog which was half Irish setter and half Russian wolfhound named Max. Max was a large friendly dog who was so active that he could be a danger to people because of his size and exuberance.

One day we went down to the shore and were fooling around. Andrew picked up a stick and threw it way out in the water. Max swam out eagerly and brought it back. Andrew picked up a larger stick....about the size of a mans forarm and threw it out as far as he could. Max swam out and brought it back, no problem.

Andrew picked up a stick as big as an adolescent's leg and threw it out as far as he could. Max swam out and immediately brought It back.

Now Andrew found a log that must have been five feet long and as big as a good sized man's theigh with a couple of protruding limbs about 2" in diameter, dragged it down to the water, waded out into the water til it was waist high and heaved the huge log out as far as he could....maybe 12'. Max swam out to the huge log and swam around it looked it over and headed back to shore.....but halfway back he turned around and swam back to the log. This time he swam around it twice, studying it carefully. But once again he headed back to the shore.....halfway back he turned around and swam back out to the log and swam around it three times looking for a point to grab it..... finally he gripped one of the protruding branches in his big jaws and swam slowly back into the shallow water until it dragged bottom.

By this time we were all laughing and hooting in admiration of this wonderfully determined dog.

But Max thought we were laughing at him and went over and laid down.

After a while Andrew picked up a small stick and threw it out for max to retrieve but Max refused and refused any more fetching as long as we were there.

What a day. What a dog!

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.