Monica Knits

The past two days Shaq has come up with a new way of telling me he wants to play. We have this thick branch that we place on a wide shelf about 3 feet off the ground and it is not visible to a dog standing on the floor. Shaq however, knows where the stick is. At first he looked at me and then at the shelf--I knew what he meant, but it was pouring rain yesterday and we were just going out for a quick bathroom break, not play. I wasn't keen on playing fetch in the rain! He must have thought I didn't understand the message. Shaq stood up on his hind legs, put his paws on the shelf and grabbed the stick--it was smooth and effortless for him and it surprised me. So we played fetch in the rain, but when we came in I moved the stick to a less accessible location -- or so I thought!
Read more...

I've mentioned before that my husband & I always check the yard for deer, rabbits, ducks, skunks, etc. before letting dogs out for a bathroom break. If we see animals we chase them out of the yard so that neither dogs nor other animals get hurt. Today while I was walking around the house doing the inspection, Shaq managed to retrieve the branch from its new location. When I opened the door to let him out, he ran out with the improvised toy in his mouth. It wasn't raining and he was so enthusiastic that we played fetch for a while before going back in.

His enthusiasm was infectious and needed to be rewarded!