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Playing With My Dogs

Decor changes when you have a puppy. Wrapped around the antique table that stands by my husband’s chair is mesh designed to keep the deer away from our bushes in winter. Indoors, it serves to keep the puppy away from the tangle of electric wires beneath the table. By my chair, we’ve added a small table between it and the window, with a small wastebasket under it, which prevents Tegan from accessing more wires. Behind the chair, a baby gate and another wastebasket block the way that way. The magazine rack that holds our recyclable paper has been repositioned to keep Tegan from dragging all the paper out to chew.

Scattered at random are three balls, two chew bones, a squeaky toy, and two plush toys. Well, really, that’s one complete stuffed toy and one “skin.” After four months, Tegan finally destroyed the “squirrel” stuffed toy. It might have lasted longer, but we played some fierce games of tug-of-war and ripped some stitching, causing a hole near where one of the legs joined the body.

I noticed a few wisps of white stuffing one evening and I always worry that a dog will swallow some of the stuffing, which is something synthetic. I pulled all the stuffing out, as well as the disk that makes the squeaking noise, and gave the furry outer shell back to Tegan. We can still play tug with it, but I’m not sure how long the tail will remain attached to the body.

I wasn’t sure how Tegan would be with a stuffed toy. Hayley was the gentlest of all my Corgis, and would just carry a stuffed toy around, hardly chewing it at all. Griffin was the worst. He went right for the squeaky and could disembowel a stuffed toy in about twenty minutes, depending on how tough the outer shell was. I always supervised closely when Griffin had a toy. Tegan fell in the middle, with the toy lasting four months.

Tegan enjoys the balls and will play fetch with them in the evening as we watch television. You’d think “fetch” would be a relatively quiet game, but Gael wants to play, too, and she barks as she plays. Actually, I’m not sure “play” is the right word, because she never gets the ball. Oh, she’ll chase it, but she won’t put her mouth on the ball.

Rhiannon loved to play ball, indoors and when we got puppy Gael, Rhiannon made it very clear to the puppy that she was never, ever to touch a ball in the house. Eight years later, Rhiannon is gone, but her lesson has stuck with Gael. She will chase the ball with Tegan, but will not pick it up. Tegan always wins. He picks the ball up and drops it at my feet, I throw it, Gael barks like mad, beats Tegan to the ball, then steps back and lets him get it.

Outdoors is a different story. Gael will play ball for as long as anyone will throw it. I use a throw stick which makes it easy to pick up the ball and, I don’t have to touch it when it’s covered in saliva. Now that Tegan is here, our outdoor game is a bit more complicated.

I use a white ball for Gael and a dark blue ball for Tegan. I hurl the white ball in one direction and as Gael begins the chase, I throw the blue ball in another direction. With luck, Gael gets back to me a bit earlier than Tegan, and I snag her ball with the throw stick. I can’t use the stick with Tegan because he thinks it’s a toy and grabs it, so, I kick his ball away. Sometimes, both dogs arrive with their balls at the same time. I kick Tegan’s ball, and Gael knows the difference between the balls and waits for hers. Tegan seems to know the difference, too, which prevents two dogs claiming ownership of one ball.

I’m not sure what I’ll do when the snow flies. I generally retire the white ball because it gets lost in the drifts. I have other colored balls, but I’m not sure if dogs can distinguish between dark blue and dark green. I guess I’ll find out when winter comes. Maybe we’ll have an open winter and I won’t need to find out. Meanwhile, with a little fancy footwork, I can give both dogs some exercise with games of fetch. I’m just glad I don’t have three dogs.

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