Fetch
Leslie here , at the Black Dog Diaries.
Deuce is beginning to understand the game of “fetch”. Up until recently, if you threw something for him, he would assume you didn’t want it, and would give it a look like, “good riddance”.
We tried a number of toys, balls and such, but it wasn’t until his ‘best ever’ stick got thrown that he decided to go after it.
It wasn’t one of those, “I’ll bring it back to you” types of fetch. It was more of a, “I really want that stick to chew on, even if you don’t” sort of fetch. He would get it, and take it off to the side of the yard and give it a good mauling. Then he would happily fling the little pieces into the air, and pretend that they needed to be pounced on and murdered the minute they hit the ground. All in all, a very good game, but not terribly people/dog interactive.
He has, in his older age (he’s about 16 months now) begun to like general praise, without necessarily the benefit of “cookie”. Oh, don’t get me wrong! The boy likes his cookie breaks! But he is beginning to realize that a ‘behavior’ equals lots of “good boys” and some scratching in the itchy places… something you have to be close to Mom to get.
Now don’t all think I have him trained to bring me the stick , drop it at my feet, and obediently sit facing me awaiting my next throw. That’s not quite what it looks like. I’m talking Deuce here. But he will actually go get the stick with some degree of enthusiasm, gallop back to me, all the while showing me the stick he has, use me as the backstop, and then give me a little wrestle with the stick before I get to throw it for him again.
He’ll do that three whole times. Then it’s game over.
Begin chewing.
What a guy!
pause,
Leslie
