Text from Dog: Living Dangerously

Tucker’s most favorite activity is to have someone throw something for him so he can bring it back and they can throw it again and he can bring it back again and… you get the picture. 

This is why we have a collection of Inside Balls: very lightweight rubber squeaky balls. At night, when Brian and sit down to watch TV, I set a plastic bowl next to me, so my obsessed terrier can put the current ball of the moment in it and I can toss the toy over my shoulder and into the kitchen.

It’s gotten so I don’t even notice I’m doing it. 

Tucker drops his ball in the bowl.

I throw it.

He brings it back and puts it in the bowl.

I throw it again.

At certain only-known-to-terriers moments, Tucker will pause to do one of several additional activities:

• Place the ball in something other than the bowl (a box, a dog bed, a cat bed, a cat tunnel) and then proceed to have inordinate amounts of fun taking it back out.
• Climb onto the couch, squeeze himself next to / on top of Jasper and then plop the slobbery ball on top of his brother’s back. Jasper will sigh, look at me, and try to ignore the intrusion into his space.
• Lie somewhere and squeak the ball, or, in case of reduced or absent squeakability, chew, mouth, play with or slobber on the ball. Unfortunately, he’s not too good with edge perception, my dog. So invariably, the shlorby orb will get too close and gravity will take over.

You would think Lilah has learned this habit over time. Sometimes I think she’s just waiting for the inevitable as an excuse to jump up, offer Tucker a piece of her mind, and then prance off, as if this was her plan all along.

A slightly chastened Tucker will wait awhile—maybe a minute or two, which is about eight days in terrier time—and resume play.

Sharing a house with various species and personalities is always entertaining.

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