Naked in nature
Buck took a perch on the mossy ledge and dangled his feet over the ledge to watch his boy. Every since he spotted the image online, his pup had been begging to go on this camping trip in the woods. Buck couldn’t blame him for wanting – a gay friendly nudity encouraged campground in the beautiful wilderness of British Colombia was the perfect weekend escape from bustling life in Seattle.
His pup Sharky was a water-loving dog, but their backyard wasn’t big enough for a pool. The novelty of a swimming hole was too tempting. Sharky had barely slept last night, so excited by getting camp set up and preparing for the hike the next day.
So why wasn’t he getting in the water? Buck furrowed his brow. At first, he thought Sharky was going to jump in, but then he crouched down and moved away. He stepped around the water, moving a bit like a crab, making concerned ‘rooo’ noises under his mask.
“What? What is it boy? What’s wrong?”
Sharky pawed at the water, seemingly wanting to get in, but somehow not able to. “Rooo~,” he complained, seemingly distressed.
Buck laughed at his pup’s dramatic behavior. “Honey what’s wrong? It’s not too deep.” He stood up and walked over to where Sharky was crouched, careful not to slip on the slick rocks as water rushed over his ankles. “Well it’s not that cold. Feels pretty good, actually, considering I’m sweating buckets from the hike. Why don’t you want to go in? You begged me to come out -”
Sharky began barking loudly, staring intently at something in the water.
“Good lord what is it?” Buck said, exasperated. He stared at the water, and then he saw motion. “…Sharky, are you scared of the fish??”
Sharky howled at them and pawed at the water, splashing it everywhere.
Buck clutched his belly and laughed. “You big scardey pup! You’re afraid of a few little fishies? Spent too much time in the city did you?” he slapped his knee.
Sharky did not look amused and grumped, sitting with his haunches down by the lip of the pool.
“Well don’t you worry. They’re not going to eat you. They might nibble if they’re curious, but you are too big to be fish food. Your splashing will likely scare them off.”
Sharky gave him a look like he didn’t believe his Master. He was really thinking about it. Buck sighed. Well, considering how much Sharky barked at the moths by the camp last night, this shouldn’t have surprised him.
“Ok, I think I know what to do.” Bucky went back to the moss ledge and ruffled in his bag for a cookie. “Hey – hey Sharky, Look what I got.”
Sharky looked up. He began to wag his tail and made an ‘arf’ sound.
“No, stay. Stay. Sit, Good boy. You want a cookie huh?”
“Arf arf!”
“But you’re not being a good boy are you? You begged me to come out here after you saw this swimming hole online, and you won’t even get in. So I think you don’t really deserve this cookie.” Buck crumbled a bit in his fingers and threw it into the swimming hole.
Sharky went mental at his Master disgracing the cookie. He paced back and forth in frustration, ‘roooo’ing up a storm.
“Roo roo roooo!”
“Yep, the fish are going to get the cookie. I was going to give you one for being brave and trying new things, but since you’re not in the swimming hole to get it, the fish are going to eat it instead.” He threw another piece in.
“ROOOooooooooo!”
Buck smothered a laugh. The desire of Sharky’s physical body was clashing with his mental block “I have half a cookie left.” He broke off another bit and dangled it over the water. “I think the fishies liked the last bits…”
Sharky looked up at the half of the cookie and whimpered. He couldn’t stand it anymore. He turned around, and while looking over his shoulder a thousand times, gingerly slid into the swimming hole backwards. He paused, as if to make sure the fish weren’t going to attack, then he slid down to his waist.
Buck watched from his perch up on the mossy rock. “Oh that’s a good boy!” he said. “Yeah, look at you go! You’re halfway in! Yeah, that’s it. Come here, come get the cookie!”
Sharky glanced at the water, just to be safe, but Master was right – the fished moved away from him. Sharky stuck to the wall and circled the pool, finding fingerholds in the rocks. He stopped right under where Master Buck was sitting, smiling. “Good boy.” Buck lowered his fingers and Sharky lifted himself out of the water to grab the cookie with his teeth. “Arf!” He used wet fingers to push it in his mouth and devour it. “Arf arf!”
Buck gave him another cookie for being adorable. “That’s all for now. Go swim. Go play, boy.”
“Arf arf!” Deciding the cool water actually felt pretty good against his body, Sharky got bold and dog paddled in circles. Buck watched him explore and navigate, experimenting with diving down first and then with floating on his back.
Buck found this delightful to observe. He felt strangely content. Life was pretty great. He snacked on dried fruit and took plenty of pictures of Sharky for his scrapbook.
The heat began to get to him though, and Buck walked down to the pond and joined his pup. When he showed Sharky the tennis ball he pulled out from behind his back, Sharky’s enthusiasm for the water -and water fetch- returned. He forgot all about being scared.
Hell, Buck had a hard time getting Sharky out of the water and had to reach for the cookies again.
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Captions are fictional. Captioned with permission. OP is @the-furry-bin. This nudity-allowed gay campground really exists in British Colombia, Canada. It’s called Shadow Falls Gay Campground.