No, Really I am Just Fine All By Myself

You don't have to include me in your playtime, my feelings will not be hurt. The rest of me will be hurt if you don't take this wrestling match to somewhere other than between my knees.


The only one missing from these shots is Max. He is a small and white Westie. Picture the mix, one tiny white blur mixed with three large caramel colored dogs. I can't believe I missed that photo.

Sadie and Her Ball

The never ending game of fetch. That is until my husband sailed her ball over the fence and into the plums.

Until Willie Came, This was My Trouble Maker

She is tiny and cute and fluffy and EVIL: She is Milly!

All speed and bite and absolutely no manners. Every time Sadie went after a tennis ball, Milly would chase and bite Sadie on the bum. Now, Sadie wants a ball thrown almost a quickly as she retrieves it - she sometimes has a problem with releasing the ball to me and that is the only thing that slows down her game of fetch. I thought Sadie was going to let Milly just have it one of these times and in fact she did. In the past, Sadie showing her teeth, growling and generally looking pissed off has deterred every other dog that messed with her tennis ball. Not Milly, she went right back to treating Sadie's right flank like it was the tennis ball and needed retrieving.

Needless to say, Sadie and Milly don't get to be on the same side of the play yard now.

Milly treats all the other dogs in pretty much the same way as she did Sadie, a lot of chasing, a lot of nipping, and WAY too much barking. Fortunately, I have Tessie and Davey, who both suffer from the exact same style of playing.

Leo now has some competition over the tennis ball!

I was a bit worried that when Sadie arrived I would have fights over the tennis ball. Leo has been showing a bit too much aggression. He has been bullying the other dogs like he does his little sister. I found that as long as he was shagging down tennis balls he would leave the other dogs alone.

I have taken him on a couple of leased walks just to point out to him that he is no higher in the ranks than any other dog and that seemed to have helped.

But, I have Sadie coming and she might be even a bit more obsessed with tennis balls than Leo. She is also faster and better than Leo in retrieval of balls. This could get ugly, but I am relying on the shear number of tennis and racquet balls I have to throw. Leo it turns out can't let a ball go when there is another dog that can and will get it. So I had my solution, Leo gets the first ball and keeps it in his mouth. He still chases after anything thrown but he can't beat Sadie to it and with a ball in his mouth he can't get mad about it either. So we had a great game of fetch every time they were out for the past few days.

My arm is getting sore and my glove is a muddy mess.

We even had Gunda join in and she is giving Sadie a run for her money. Those two really race for the ball but they have no problem with who returns it. That is the sign of a good dog.

I have Lucky arriving on Saturday. And he is more obsessed with tennis balls than Sadie and he might even be faster. This should be a interesting weekend. I'd better patrol the outside of the kennel for all the racquet balls that have gotten away. There should be 9 not 1 of them. I am going to need more ammo.

More Tennis Ball Obsession

Sadie also suffers from Tennis Ball Obsession. She was playing with the other dogs until she found a tennis ball. She brings the ball to me and then drops it. Unfortunately, she also re-catches her ball more often than she lets me kick it. This makes for a very slow and frustrating game of fetch for me. I have to be extra careful because often I have to hold off kicking the ball because she have swooped in an grab it again.

I kick the ball for her, one, because it is disgusting and two, because I can never bend over fast enough to get a ball.

Well, I managed to kick her in the nose yesterday. She seems completely fine and was right back at drop and re-catch, drop and re-catch, drop and finally let me kick it. I however have a bruise on top of my right foot.

Remy is one of my big ball chasing dogs.

And this is how she stares at her toy until I throw it again, or until BB or Daisy steals it away.

I am thrilled that I can now play ball with Remy, Sadie, Daisy and sometimes BB since they will ALL now return balls to me. BB still needs some work, but I honestly think she prefers to chew on a toy over chasing after it.