Yesterday we did a little quiz about our weekend escape to dog camp, and many of you weighed in. We asked — which of the five statements below did not really happen?

Some of you thought that Chick could not possibly have had a fun-hangover, others were certain that the Dude did NOT tow his daddy up a mountain. Well, here’s the real scoop:

(a) Doodlebug conquered his fear of water and learned to swim;

TRUE. The Dude was pretty skeptical of the lake at first, but when he went for a stroll with his daddy to watch the kayakers, he bravely started to investigate from a safe distance. That safe distance got shorter and shorter until he was in up to his toes . . . then to his knees . . . then to his chest . . . and then he was swimming! He went kayaking too, and even jumped off the boat for a swim, paddling alonside the kayak all the way to shore. What a brave boy.

(b) Chick had so much fun on Friday that he had to stay in most of Saturday to nurse his fun-hangover;

TRUE. As you may recall, Chick and mama went out to camp early, so Chick had a whole day of fun before Dude and dad even got there. And Chick partied way too hard. On Friday he ran a Lure course (chasing a fake bunny that darts back and forth in a big loop on a giant field) and was the fastest dog of his session, he kayaked and swam and swam, he did some agility, learning to run the tunnels and chutes, ate a bunch of raw chicken bones and other treats offered by various trainers, and learned several new tricks. When Saturday morning at 4am came around, Chick re-deposited some of those snacks in a messy pile, and we knew he was in for a fun hangover. He spent most of Saturday cuddled up in his crate in our room while we worked with the Doodlebug. Poor Chick!

(c) For his kayak ride, Chick chose the standing “siren” pose at the front of the vessel;

TRUE. He wasn’t too sure about the kayak at first, but once on, he took to it like a fish to water. He didn’t just do the “siren” pose — he tried all the other ones, too. He started out curled up in mom’s lap, then sitting facing mom and laying facing mom, then finally sitting facing the front of the kayak and standing on the mast in a proud siren position.

(d) Doodlebug took his daddy on a pack hike with some other dogs and towed him up the mountain in a harness;

TRUE. While mama was helping Chick nurse his hangover in the shade, she sent the Dude and dad out on the same hike that she and Chick had done with the huskies on Thursday. There were eleven dogs hiking with their people, and the hike took them up onto a woodsy plateau overlooking the camp and surrounding natural area. The descent wasn’t extraordinarily tall –after all, this is Central Texas — but it was a steep, serious climb. Dad was doing his best to keep Doodlebug in a loose leash walking position, but it was obvious he wanted to go, go, go. So after a switch of equipment (to a pulling harness configuration and a waist belt), Dude was hike-joring (pulling dad up the mountain). He had great determination and did a fantastic job, even with all of the other dogs passing and being passed. Doodlebug was on a mission! At the end of the day, we had a very pooped Dude.

We’ve already ordered our own joring equipment so we can teach him to tow us while running up hills and also on our sailboat!

(e) Chick was nearly kidnapped by several other campers who fell in love with his dashing good looks and ample charms.

TRUE. This one is obvious, right? Everybody loves Chick, and we got zillions of compliments on his beautiful furs “His patches are so vibrant it looks like they are sewn on!” and his facial handsomeness “I love his squinty eyes” and his perfect physique “I would never guess he is nine!” and his charming demeanor “What a sweet baby!” plus the expected threats “I’m going to steal him when you aren’t watching.” Luckily we escaped all of his fans and stalkers at the end of the weekend, and Chick wound up safely home with us.

That’s right, we tricked you all — They’re all true!

Later this week we’ll tell you about the very special agility award that the Doodlebug won at camp. You won’t want to miss it!