Cinder's Got Game!

     Last week was nothing remarkable throughout the week.  We didn't really do anything special and nothing new was added to Cinder's repertoire until the weekend.  My time was spent attending appointments and preparing for the Easter weekend.  

     Easter Sunday, in the early morning hours, we were having coffee in the living room while the dogs played.  Suddenly I realized that Cinder had another growth spurt - legs, she's all legs right now!  At four months old, she is a nice sized girl. I can only imagine what her biggest brother, Storm, must look like now! As I watched silently, I noted that her coat is changing.  Her coat is getting thicker and she's developing feathering on her legs and backside; she's getting a rough; and she already has tail feathering.  Her soft, fluffy, puppy-smelling coat is now being exchanged for a real dog coat. My puppy is now officially a teenager.

     Gilley and I began a game of ball.  He LOVES playing ball in any variation.  Out of the corner of my eye I spied Cinder watching intently. She stopped playing with Buzz to watch Gilley and I play ball. She sat down and intently watched our every move-still as a statue except for her eyes darting side to side. Gilley and I continued playing ball when suddenly, Cinder darted across the room, careened into Gilley; grabbing the rolling tennis ball just as it went under a kitchen chair. She grabbed the ball, turned around, and brought me the ball!  Then she nudged me and nosed the ball as if to tell me, "Hey, I wanna try now!"  I rolled it and she retrieved it, bringing it back to me again.  The next time, I opted to do a close little ball toss to see her response.  Imagine my surprise at her catching it in her mouth, first time, first try!  After that, it became clear that rolling the ball on the floor was not interesting, but tossing it led to her trying to jump into the air to catch it rather than sitting or standing and waiting for it.  That was the first time Cinder's show n any interest in balls or playing with them. I guess we can now say she's interested in playing ball, but not if it's only rolled along the ground.  I guess in her world, she subscribes to the "go big or go home" theory. After all, why sit on your butt when you can vault into the air and snatch something mid-air? I guess the mid-air jump and snatch is more fun and definitely more entertaining. I'm just excited that Cinder's got it - Cinder's got game!

 
 

     The irony of the timing was appropriate because the day before, I said I have the only Border Collie puppy I've ever known or heard of that doesn't have any interest in balls of any kind. It didn't matter in the scheme of things, but being able to play ball with the dogs is fun for them and me. 

     I finally got to play ball with Cinder for the first time - on Easter!  Gotta love the little darlin' because she's keeping me guessing about what she'll do in her future. That's the highlight of another week raising Cinder.

Cheers!

Chris