Friday Fun in the Sun

It's Friday, and the sun is shining! I basked in the glory of it all by going home during lunch to throw the ball around with Dasher-y-doo. Fetch is a newly found fun-time for this big guy. For the past year and a half, he has run after the ball when I've thrown it, rarely picked it up and never brought it back. I decided he was easily distracted and that he just isn't a fetch kinda dog. Then about a week ago he brought me the ball back, unsolicited! I did an enormous amount of energetic encouraging, and the concept seems to have stuck.

The pounce portion of Fetch.
June 2012

Somehow Dasher already knew "Drop It". No lesson required. He is gentle with the ball as he runs back to me and when he drops it to the ground. Sometimes he lays down to idly gnash on it, but he is careful not to tear it. That is a huge improvement from the first tennis ball I ever threw for him. He ran after it, picked it up and promptly began pulverizing it.

Drop It was the easy part.
June 2012

Fetch never lasts too long. A few throws, and Dasher has had enough. It's hot, he's tired and there might be critters to chase at any moment. He needs to save his energy for this potential circumstance, so he finds his way to the shade and usually gets a belly rub. Today, he let one of his best human friends adorn him with leaves. Why adorn him with leaves? I'm not sure. 

He's Greek!
June 2012

This leaf endeavor went on for about ten minutes, and Dasher didn't do so much as raise his head. He just didn't care. He wasn't asleep. He just simply wasn't bothered and, so, had no interest in what was going on with this silly human and the leaves. I am pleased by his response because it's an indicator of how he'll react when children try to do goofy things to him. Dasher didn't start out particularly interested in children when they came up to pet him. He has either sat completely still and let them do their thing or turned away to show he wasn't really feeling it. Lately, though, he's been a bit more proactive with kids. I think he's figured out they usually have some tasty bits on their faces because his favorite place to interact with them is at the ice cream shop. They pet, he licks their faces and everyone is happy, myself included. Another indicator that Pit Bulls are just dogs like any other, whose behavior is influenced by its upbringing and not its breed.