Nico's reason for being, his delight in life, is the game of PURSUIT. He really does not even want the object I throw...the ball, the stick, or the rock. It is the game that lights him up! The chase. Something to seek. Next. More. Go. Again! Within the personality typing system of "The Enneagram" he is a beautifully pure type 7. Type 7 is often called "The Enthusiast."
Nico is my dog and is an 18 month old Golden Doodle. Last weekend we took him camping near a river. We played fetch down in the water. I switched back and forth from throwing sticks to river rock. River rocks really were irretrievable, but only gave him the thrill of the chase!
He preferred the rocks and let me know this eventually by abandoning the sticks he could have easily retrieved. Instead his stare and eager body language begged me to go back to throwing rocks. The rocks made a "plunk" sound as they hit the water and connect with the other rocks there just beneath the surface. They skipped across the water. When a rock would skip across the water Nico would end his search where the rock was last seen. It was like he understood the final destination.
As we continued throwing rocks for an hour his search area expanded. For each throw he would sniff where the rock was last seen, and then go beyond that. He expanded to way further down the river bank eventually. It's like what he really wanted was just to explore! But maybe he needed a purpose, a pursuit, a rock, a reason to expand his explorations?
Nico's joy in the repetitive game of river rock pursuit is like my joy in the repetitive game of connecting with my Man. It is the same game over and over, but brings me joy, delight and a feeling of fulfilling my purpose each time. For Nico it is throw the rock, every time it is just as much fun, if not more, than the last time, even though the result is ultimately the same. No rock found... do it again, just do it again, just do it again!
Pure joy of fulfilling his poodle/golden retriever DNA purpose. He was born for this. It's in his bones. Witnessing him in this state made me hum and purr a little inside.