Where the Wild Things Are

Last weekend I had the wild bunch come to stay with me.

We had every variety of toy issue that a dog can come up with.

Mine, Mine, Mine - leave me alone I am happy with MINE. This is Roxy, she gets a ball and can play all day, all by herself. She sometimes lets me play a little soccer with her, but mostly she is good if she has a ball to herself. She not particular about the ball either - tennis, the 8 inch softball that BB left last time she was here, the squashed dog ball, or the deflated mini basketball - all good as long as she is left alone.

Throw it, Throw it, Throw it! Now, Now, Now! That would be Packer of the mighty bark. He can chase until my arm falls off. You would think I would have developed a bicep like Arnold, or at least be able to throw something across the kennel without sending it over the fence, but no I still 'throw like a girl'. Packer is a labrador retriever and unlike my labs that can't get the retrieve part, Packer will just keep bring the toys back over and over again. That is if he can find the toy. Like my two dogs, who cannot find a piece of salami on the kitchen floor without having it pointed out, Packer is not a tracker. What he did learn is that if he cannot find his toy, Roxy always has one. Yikes.

Throw it, Throw it, Throw it! But I won't Give it, Give it, Give it! This is the most common of flawed dog logic. I want to chase it, I want to have it, if I give it to you, I can chase it again, but then I won't have it. This usually leads to me trying to pull a muddy, slobery toy out of a dog's mouth. This is usually the point where I rethink my career choice.

I Got It! Chase Me! This is Miss Daisy's thing. She wants to be chased and she figures stealing the toys is the best way to get attention. It doesn't really work. There are dogs that chase after balls but would never chase another dogs. We have dogs that chase but are never the chasee. Of course they never show up at the same time as Daisy, the ultimate chasee. I learned something new about Miss Daisy, she is a kennel toy hoarder. She has been dashing back out of her kennel when I try to put her brother in, grabbing a toy and stuffing behind their water dish. I counted 7 tennis ball, and 2 rope toys when I cleaned out her kennel yesterday.

Toy hoarding. There are a number of different styles to toy hoarding. Milly is of the 'Look there another one!' mentality. She grabs a toy and puts it in her designated toy spot, never the same place twice. Then she heads out for more. Of course while she is gone, the toys magically disappear. But this never bothers Milly, she just has the chance to collect and collect an collect and the pile never gets any bigger. I can't not say the same for my collections.

And then there is Moe. She is the pinnacle of toy hoarders. She wants all the toys, she is fast enough to beat any dog to any thrown toy, and she plans to hold on to all of them, forever. Moe sits on her collection. And when any dogs, including the ones that have no interest in Moe or her toys, goes by she shows her teeth and growls. This approach doesnot slow down her brother, Roo, at all. He just reaches in a takes a toy just to make her nuts. She has to leave her nest unguarded and chase Roo to get her treasure back. This proves that big brothers treat little sisters exactly the same regardless of species.

As you might have guessed, I had a long weekend of making sure Roxy has her ball, and to always have a toy ready to throw for Packer, being careful when I bent over to pick anything up, because Goofy would try to have his way with me. (Goofy, I'm married, besides these interspecies relationship never work out) But, now I know I just have to check Daisy's run for extra ammunition.