Sometimes things go well, sometimes they don't. Our kettle seemed to be on the verge of reaching the end of its lifespan. I don't know what it is about kettles these days; they certainly don't last as long as they used to. And of course, you can boil water without one, but for everyday use (read here, my daily cups of tea), I find a kettle ten times more convenient than an old-fashioned kettle. So to avoid being without a kettle, we got a new one BEFORE the old one completely gave up the ghost. And that shopping trip turned out to be one that made Skipper absolutely thrilled.
Waiting at the gate for Boss to come home seemed to take longer than usual. And well, I can explain a lot to my big boy, but telling him that Boss will be home a little late because he's driving to the store to buy a kettle after work just doesn't make sense to him. He had no choice but to wait for the Boss driving the car onto the driveway. Even if I didn't hear it myself, I'd know it immediately. As soon as the car pulls into the driveway, he starts wagging his whole body. He stands up, waits a moment for my partner to call "Hey Boy!", and then he comes running towards me, his whole body wagging in excitement. He nudges my arm or leg with his nose and turns around again. It's the same ritual every day. He gets a five-minute frenzy and runs joyfully around through the garden like a maniac.
Yesterday, however, there was a different surprise for him. Just as he was turning away from the gate to tell me that Boss had come home, he heard something bouncing behind him. Hallelujah! Boss had thrown a beautiful, big, bright orange ball over the gate, and it was there just bouncing around. Skipper, completely happy, enthusiastically chased after the ball. We could see him enjoying it. What a surprise!
Now, Skipper wouldn't be Skipper if he didn't work really hard to make that toy a little more appealing to him. So today, that ball already looks a little less like a ball. It's not even 24 hours later, and he's already managed to slowly let the air out. The perfectly round ball is already a bit less round. You can dent it, and it won't be long before all the air is gone. You might think, "Oh, what a shame!", but that's not true. Skipper doesn't care at all; the ball just got more fun to him! Today, he can do something that seemed impossible to him yesterday. He can now carry the ball in his mouth!
So now there's a new ritual as soon as we go outside. It starts, of course, with swinging the door open for him. He can do a lot, but thankfully, he doesn't open doors. As soon as he runs outside, he looks for his ball. As he runs past, he grabs it with his jaws and looks at me very proudly. "Look, Lady-boss! I have MY beautiful orange ball!" Of course, I praise him profusely and admire his beautiful ball. He then carries it a bit further and lies down in his favorite spot by the gate. You'd expect him to play with his beautiful, big, bright orange ball, but nope, not Skipper. He puts the ball between his paws and guards it. He's a Shepherd dog after all! When you see him lying there with his ball, so proud. His chest puffed out, his ears perked up, and his gaze alert... there's absolutely no one to take his ball away from him. Don't tell anyone, by the way, but this whole attitude is just a pretense... we can snatch his ball away at any moment, and he loves it. Guarding is his job; a ball is for guarding AND for playing with that ball. But playing together is absolutely even more fun.
After playing outside, it's time to go back inside, of course. It's no longer midsummer, and the days of being outside all day are over here... we're slowly starting to find more things to do indoors. And when we do go back inside for a drink, Skipper consistently demonstrates that he knows the rules perfectly. He picks up his beautiful, big, bright orange ball, walks to the back door with it, and drops it without us even saying a word. Outdoor balls stay outside, indoor balls are for inside. Skipper has learned very well that outdoor toys really do stay outside. We hardly ever have to remind him of this; it's one of the rules he follows almost flawlessly. And you understand, of course, why the emphasis here is on the word "almost."
No matter how exemplary Skipper is, and how well he always remembers that rule, there is one exception! He makes that exception for tennis balls. Just like many dogs, Skipper absolutely adores tennis balls.
Now, it's not that he's never allowed to play with them; quite the opposite. He has a whole assortment of tennis balls. But tennis balls are for outside, and he doesn't agree with that. Now and then, he tries to sneak one inside. Very subtly, as if we wouldn't notice. Too bad for him, he almost always gives himself away by keeping his head down when he walks inside. So it seldom happens that I don't notice; then it takes a bit of persuasion... but eventually, he drops the two tennis balls in the utility room anyway.
It's not that I wouldn't let him play with tennis balls inside. The problem with those things is that they always roll under the cupboard or sofa. And when that happens, our big German Shepherd suddenly starts acting like a tiny dog. He taps me, he sighs, he whines softly, and this continues until one of us finally retrieves the tennis ball from under the cupboard or sofa. Then he's completely happy, until the same ritual begins a maximum of five minutes later. It's fun for a while, but when you're busy yourself, and your owners have other things to do, it just irritates you. And that's why we gave Skipper different toys for indoors. Toys that don't break, and that we don't have to retrieve from under everything every five minutes. Happy dog and happy owners. We play together indoors too, but with more suitable toys.
All his indoor toys are now lying idle in the corner because Skipper has a new favorite right now, and well, unfortunately for him, it's actually outside. His beautiful, big, bright orange, now semi-soft basketball is his current obsession. He plays with it, carries it around, and when he's done, he guards it as if it were his most precious possession. We'll see how long this obsession lasts, but for now, I love seeing it. Such a big, tough German Shepherd, so happy and content with something as simple as a basketball. It just goes to show how quickly you can make a dog happy.
And when I see that, that simple happiness, I often think people have a lot to learn from dogs. Every day, I see that Skipper has no special desires. He has no lists of goals and no worries about tomorrow. He has his food and water, his toys, his time to be outside, and of course, his time to be inside, all in the company of his people.
