Dogs Leap at Having Fun

Dogs just like to have fun.

Sam and I came across a lady and her dog at the park yesterday and Sam wanted to play with the other dog. Unfortunately, the other dog did not care to cavort in the grass with Sam. The other dog just sat in his lady’s lap while Sam barked and jumped around and cajoled with all his little Shih Tzu heart - to no avail. I felt sorry for my poor pooch. Sam got sufficiently wound up he wanted me to play with him when we arrived back home. All I wanted to do at that point was take a nap. Sam was still wound up this morning and was reluctant to settle down on the couch with me while I drank my requisite three cups of wakeup Joe.

I had another dog years ago by the name of Daisy Mae. She liked to have fun too, but I was not crazy about some of the things she did for fun. She was a mixed breed, looked a lot like Sam and had this long curly yellow hair. Daisy thought it was fun to escape the house, run down the hill behind us, and roll in the manure pit of a local dairy farm. Maybe she thought the manure was good for her hair - made it glossier or something. It sure didn’t get the kinks out. In fact, poor Daisy Mae had very little hair left by the time I angrily scrubbed that dried manure off of her.

I had a little cocker-mix dog when I was a kid who liked chocolate chip cookies and jumping off her dog house roof. I called her Cookie. Remember the old Rin Tin Tin TV show when Rusty would yell “Yo Rinty and Rin Tin Tin would leap through the air to nab a bad guy? I used to direct Cookie to jump up on her doghouse roof then I’d yell, “Yo Rinty,” and Cookie would leap off her dog house - especially if there was a chocolate chip cookie for a reward. Occasionally, we kids would let Cookie out of the yard so we could chase her down the street. We’d yell, “Mom! Cookie got out of the yard,” and take off in hot pursuit before our mom could even raise her voice in protest. That was fun.

My brother-in-law had a black Lab that liked to have fun too. Charlie, the Lab, loved to retrieve things - almost anything. He would dive into water in pursuit of a duck or stick time after time, until your arms were literally sore and worn out from throwing. One time my brother-in-law and I took Charlie duck hunting with us. Oh! Charlie wanted to retrieve ducks so badly. Every time he heard a shotgun blast along the canal where we were situated, he’d look up to the sky, and if he saw a duck falling, he’d be off faster than speeding buckshot. Finally, my brother-in-law tired of Charlie running off to help everybody else, so my brother-in-law put Charlie on a leash and tied the leash around his leg.

In a few minutes, a small flock of ducks flew directly overhead and I popped up and nailed one. As the duck was falling I excitedly yelled,” Go get ‘im Charlie (not Yo Rinty),” and Charlie took off across a field of corn stubble in hot pursuit. I had forgotten that my brother-in-law was attached to Charlie and I laughed so hard watching my brother-in-law’s skinny 6-foot-5 frame bounce across that field of corn stubble, cussing at Charlie to stop, I’ve often wondered how I managed not to shoot myself.

Dogs like to have fun. And that’s no poop!