Thanks for watching, Holly, Rene and Karen. Yes, she loves it – the faster the better (for her, that is, not for my grey hairs...) An endless pool would be a fine idea because if the worst comes to the worst at least they have ends, sometimes I have horrors of her winding up in the sea. She throws in the ball herself, to be clear, and there have been some VERY hairy throws where I've had to grab her quickly to stop her launching herself into a white water gorge. And yes, her tail always wags when she's making mischief. She's a monster, but then you know that...

Awww, thank you all for watching and for your lovely comments and Rene thanks for posting the video of handsome Jerry. Yes, I see what you mean about him bobbing up and down. It's kind of like the front-legger Tripawd hop, but in water. Meg doesn't really bob up and down at all. Maybe it is a length thing, though she is very long for her height she is obviously not as long as King Jerry. I always assumed it was cause she's half otter... We do have a float coat , you may remember. She wore it for a time after her amp, and she would wear it still were she swimming in the sea or a bigger (deeper) river, just for safety. But where we walk there are just so many little streams and pools and she's in and out of them constantly, so she'd basically have to wear it for her whole walk, which is a bit of an encumbrance. The handle on her webmaster harness is extremely useful for hoinking up steep banks etc., though actually she does remarkably well on her own.

It's always been a tricky balance with Meg between giving her the freedom I feel she needs to be satisfied and happy and the need to keep her safe and out of trouble. In the early days this was because of her behavioural issues, now it's more her physical ones. I decided a long time ago that I simply could not keep her on a lead all the time (I'm lucky in that it's normal for dogs to be offlead here, in parks, countryside etc.) and that in consequence I would have to accept there was going to be some level of risk in allowing her to live the life I wanted her to lead. While I have obviously done my best to minimise the risks (and have basically spent the last nine years in a state of hyper-vigilance), I do acknowledge that inevitably the choices I've made for her do expose her to some. It's obviously a personal decision and depends on both the person and the dog (with Pie there wasn't an issue; she wasn't a trouble-magnet) but I do believe it was the right choice for us. 

With the stream in the film, though it was swollen from the rain and had a fast current (ideal conditions from Meg's point of view), it's not actually very deep. I know, because I have wound up in it several times – the last only a couple of weeks ago.  It was around mid-thigh and FREEZING, but not remotely dangerous, and my boots, trousers, socks and all the rest dry out quite quickly by the fire. There's no two ways about it, life with the Megsta is a right royal pain in the rear end, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

Thanks again for watching and lots of love to you all,

Meg, Clare and Angel Pie