BALL in QUOTIDIEN

We found it!
Some time ago, we bought Beth (our German Shepherd) this over-sized tennis ball. When she first came to us, Beth had never played with a human. She had NO clue. Fetching, something that is as natural to dogs as eating is to humans, was a complete mystery to her. And for the first few days, I would toss the ball then take her with me to go get it. I'd put the ball in her mouth and make her carry it back to our starting point.

And I remember the day it all clicked in her head. It was much like that scene in any Helen Keller movie when, under the water's flow, Helen spells out WATER and actually says, 'Wahwah'.

Since that day, she's been spelling with her....no no no.... Since then Beth has been eager to chase Ball and even hunt for Ball, until one day, Ball just up and disappeared.

We hunted everywhere we could think of and finally, we just gave up. We were going to buy another one, I swear! But it's that thing you go to the store for, then buy 20 OTHER things, and forget why you went to the store to begin with.

Anyhow - I'm picking up a sock (I'm told they walk themselves into the living room from the laundry basket) by the recliner (which is reclined, also all by itself) and what do I see but the neon green of Beth's Ball.

I pulled out the toy, held it up and AHA'd. Beth's reply was to jump up from her spot in the kitchen, ears perked so forward they were almost horizontal, dropped her front quarters and barked.

So today, we've played BALL and DOT. She was quite perplexed when SPOT came to a stop on BALL. She did the head-tilt, WTF look. I had to stop. It was just too cruel.

The good news is that now that Ball is back, Beth doesn't freak out about disappearing Dot. Hmmm......wonder if there's a connection there.