I took the pups on one of our usual morning routs today, armed with treats and poop bags. It's a nice loop. There are a few big grassy areas to sniff and 'go' on, some residential sections with lots of pee-mail, and commercial areas where they can pay better attention to me.
One stretch along a grassy spot has a plastic split-rail fence on one side, some flat grass beyond it for maybe 10 feet, then a hedge. Today, Maxwell suddenly dove under the fence and wouldn't budge. I stepped back a bit to give him slack, thinking he was pooping. He wasn't.
Maxwell had found a nearly-new tennis ball, bright green and electric orange, and he was damned if he wasn't going to have it. I let him grab it, and he happily carried it back under the fence to continue our walk. And he hung on to it. And he peed while carrying it it. And he looked around while carrying it. And he panted while carrying it. He was beyond cute.
The rare times he dropped it were for a vertical marking on a wall or to watch another dog. I just had to tell him to "go get your ball" and he'd snatch it right back up.
I think I've secretly wanted one of those dogs who happily brings a toy along on walks.
After a half mile or so he began to drop it more frequently. Then I had to encourage him to go get it again. After a few blocks of that, it was at the point where I had to kick the ball along for him to chase, grab, trot a few yards, and drop the ball. Finally, I decided it wasn't worth my effort, and I let the ball roll off next to the sidewalk.
Maybe some other dog will adopt it.
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