play with my dog more

Got doggie a “Talk to Me” ball tonight—he is still sizing it up. It’s a wonderful little toy I read about that records and dispenses treats so doggie can play and use his noggin while I’m at work. I recorded “good boy!” into it. He REALLY likes that. I played with him with it for about 20 minutes tonight. He got all happy and jumped around and rolled on his back when the ball said “good boy”. It was verrrrrrrrrrrrry cute!

I recently read an article that talked about how important it is to stimulate doggie brain cells… It gave some suggestions on what kinds of things you can do, and now we have our brand new game: the shell game (you know the one – like from the Price is Right). We have played it a few times this week. I’ve done it with treats, with his dog food, and with filet mignon (I know, this was extravagant.) At any rate, he is not too good at the game. He watches me put the food under one bowl, watches me move the bowls around, and STILL goes to the place where I originally put the food—EVERY TIME! I’m a little confused about this, since I know dogs have such a keen sense of smell, I wonder why he relies on his sight every time. The filet mignon worked a little better, but I’m not sure if he’s really improving, or if the filet was just a better incentive. Hmmmmmmmmmm Oh well, we’re both having fun anyway.

I also got the new park authority catalog and plan to enroll him in a class. Now I just have to figure out which one…

OK—as promised, I have taken steps towards this goal… This morning, Rowdy and I had a wonderful time playing in the snow. We had a snowball fight. Well, he didn’t actually throw any snowballs at me, but he DID try to knock me down to keep me from forming the snowballs! When I threw the snowballs and missed, he would try to catch them and then not understand what happened to them when they fell! It was soooooooooo cute. He’s really a wonderful dog.

Rowdy is my sheltie and lab/chow mix. He’s an adorable “lil” guy with a sweet personality. I find it really hard to play with him in the winter - with the cold and the wet and the snow - so much for his outdoor agility class! I feel so bad that I don’t do more with him. But he LOVES hide and seek—I need to play it with him more and that’s something we can do indoors. I WILL work on this goal.