April is a time of transition here in Tucson. The characteristically hot weather of the desert makes its first annual appearance in April, with some days reaching above 90 °F (32.2 °C). Other days are still mildly spring-like, but the overall warming trend is inevitable, and the increasing daytime temperatures will reach 100 °F (37.8 °C) in May and can top 110 °F (43.3 °C) in June.

The swimming pool is one place to cool off, and my dogs usually begin swimming in it during April. If he gets too hot from chasing Bounder around the yard, my dog Sammy likes to take a couple of quick, refreshing laps in the pool.

My dogs aren't very toy oriented (they prefer shoes and socks), and since I don't particularly want to toss my footwear in the pool, my dogs used to only go swimming when they were hot and not to retrieve things. With the wonderful invention of a battery-operated swimming fish for your pool, I can finally get my dogs to play in the water.

They love the swimming plastic fish and view it as the real thing… Prey! My dogs get very excited when I tell them that we're going to play "Fishy", and they will enthusiastically compete to see who can capture it first. Solomon, my Golden Retriever, is shown above chasing down "Fishy".

Since the plastic fish is prey to them, my dogs aren't very nice to it, and as a result there have been several incarnations of poor, doomed "Fishy" to keep them entertained.