Yes i'm crazy, but I think that's ok with me.

<span style="font-size:85">Over my christmas break I went to my best friend's house. She lives next to this huge, rushing river that everyone's afraid of, especially this month since it's been raining a ton and the river's almost about to over-flow, it looks like. We've seen trees being swept down the river without a problem, and one time a refrigerator. 0.0 Anywho, she and I were walking through a trail in the woods with her dog, Bogus, a little Rat Terrier, and we didn't notice that her brothers were following us. Bogus is always carrying his old tennis ball around with him, ALWAYS, I swear that thing is as old and dirty as that dog. -.- So were walking, and we get near the river, but we keep our distance and just listen to it. That's when her brothers jump out and try to scare us, but Bogus starts barking and ruins it for them. Her oldest brother, lets call him FOOL, gets mad at Bogus for ruining the "surprise" and yanks the tennis ball out of the dog's mouth, then THROWS THE BALL INTO THE RIVER. Bogus took off running after it before Emily could grab him and, believe it or not, freakin jumped into the river. Emily screamed for him and went pale. We all ran down to the river and looked in, but we couldn't see the dog. Em started crying and hitting FOOL and FOOL started yelling and panicking and saying that he didn't know "the stupid dog would actually jump in." -his EXACT words. We ran along the river side looking for Bogus, and still couldn't see him.. we were calling him too, as if he would hear us. -.- Em was still crying and I was still looking, when I saw his little head sticking out of the water. The only reason why I spotted him was because of the bright green tennis ball in his mouth, which he had actually caught! xD We started running to catch up with him, the current crashed him into some dead trees though, and in a matter of seconds we were close to him.. but he was still just out of reach. Emily started calling animal control to help us, when I decided that Bogus wasn't that far away and that he didn't have that much time before he was swept away, the dead trees weren't gonna hold. And Animal Control takes FOREVER here. So I took off my jacket and started heading in. They all just stared at me. The water wasn't that cold, surprisingly, but the current was definitely strong enough to sweep me away. I just held onto the dead tree branches (which was gross and slimey), and tried to quickly make my way towards the dog. About half way there I could feel the trees moving, and I almost had a heart attack. I thought the trees were going to give out. (What a good way to tell me that i'm fat and shouldn't be holding on to something so weak). xD I was pretty much frozen with fear, I didn't want to move just in case, so I called Bogus to me instead. And surpisingly he came. Usually dogs in this situation would also be frozen with fear. He barely got to me before the current got the best of him and he gave up, going limp when I grabbed him. When I got out of the water (a surprisingly easy task), Em just sat down and cried. She didn't even hug her dog. She just sat there, stared at me and Bogus, and bawled her eyes out. Her brothers all told me I was crazy and that she shouldn't be such a cry baby, then left. I sat next to Emily and talked to her, telling her it was fine, no big deal, everyone was okay. Even if it was a VERY big deal and her stupid brother shouldn't even be allowed near dogs anymore. Anyway, Bogus was ok, not cold, not traumatized, just fine. He still wanted to play and be outside, acting like nothing had happened. I wasn't even that cold or tired, the whole experience made me less afraid of water, although i'm well aware that it could have been much worse, and greatful that it wasn't. I threw his ball for him (into the woods this time), and he was the happiest dog in the world again. Emily stopped crying eventually and told me that she just isn't good with situations like this, she had owned Bogus since she was six, and thought she would be traumatized forever when she saw him jump in. We walked home a little while later and I changed, then put on a Snuggie. (I felt like I had to mention that for some reason). So yeah.. call me stupid, or crazy, or whatever. But heck, i'd jump into a river for MY dogs any day, dogs are people too. : D And if one day I die saving my dog for some outrageous reason, I died saving <span style="font-weight:bold">family</span>. P.S. After I got out of the water we sat on the bank for a little bit just staring, then we heard a loud crack and looked over, the trees HAD given out and were being swept down the river at an incredibly fast paste, I had only been out of the water for THREE MINUTES. NO WAY animal control would have made it in time. They did show up eventually though, she had forgotten to call them back I guess. 0.0 Way to go, Animal Control!! xD Eventually her brother apologized and said that he honestly didn't think he was capable of throwing that far and that when the ball had gone into the river he got scared too... I dunno about that one. He says he'll stay away from Bogus though, he never liked the dog anyway. -P.P.S.- Im not saying that anyone should jump into a rushing river for animals. I'm a psycho, so I'm allowed. 0.0</span><br><br>Thanks for letting me vent about brothers and rivers and crying... and the story of an incredible little dog that must love his tennis ball more then any other dog in the world. Because dang, he held on to that thing like it was his life. 0.0 And I will always admire him for trying his hardest, and looking at me with pure determination on his face when he was fighting for his life, a.k.a his Dirty Old Tennis Ball. <br><br>A picture of Bogus yelling when I stole his ball?? xD lol.<br><img src="http://i43.tinypic.com/x2p0cl.jpg"; alt="http://i43.tinypic.com/x2p0cl.jpg"; class="bb-image" />