My neighbor’s have their grandchildren visiting them for the next few weeks – two darling little girls, Kendra and Brook. This isn’t a new occurrence, the kids have visited at Donna, Diane & John’s house during past summers. But this year there is Holly! From the moment they spotted each other outside, the fence served as a magnet drawing girls and dog together. A friend of mine recently shared story about a dog that had a dislocated tail from wagging it so hard so for a few moments I had thoughts about restraining Holly’s tail and saving her from injury. Kids and dogs have a way of figuring how to have fun by coming up with their own games and activities. It didn’t take long for the girls to realized that Holly followed them side by side as best a fence allows. So the game began, running up and down the fence line side by side, girls on one side and puppy on the other. Back and forth, back and forth. They would change their pace but Holly knew the game, she stayed right next to them. If they stopped, she stopped. The girls actually outlasted Holly, which had John very proud! Then a game of fetch was created. Holly, in her customary way, pushed the ball under the fence to the girls who took the cue and tossed it back into my yard. I wasn’t sure if that was happenstance on Holly’s part or if she was deliberately enticing them to throw the ball for her. Silly me. Her first trip back the ball was dropped on the ground and given a nose push so it slid under the fence directly to the girls’ feet on the other side. And the endless game of fetch had started!
The girls had to be called to come into the house by their mom a couple times this evening. It was their bedtime, but Holly was still bringing the ball back to be thrown. It was also approaching my bedtime so I gathered Holly and said good night. Everyone went into their houses, and I am betting everyone slept well!
Later, Donna was apologetic about the girls pestering Holly so much; and I was asking her how much they would charge me to rent-a-grandchild!
During the afternoon, Holly and I went to Chester Creek to do some trail hiking. She still has tendency to pull more than I like. We keep working on it. She seems to enjoy the trails – the sounds and smells are all so different. We did about a 1.5 mile loop with some hills, both up and down. Going down was the scariest for me, Holly’s pulling and my poor choice of footwear was making it treacherous. I began pleading with her to go ‘easy’ and be ‘careful’. It must have been my tone and her instincts because she softened her surge and became fixated on me, not what was ahead. She gently led me down the hill, then proceeded to pull in high drive across the level area.
Obedience classes start this week. Someone might be in for a rude awakening!
When Will They See Me
Fence Friend
Chester Creek Trails
3 Toy Hold
