Life lessons, Dog Lessons

Never Hide Your Dog’s Ball Under Your Head

It is common knowledge that canine or feline comfort can reduce one’s stress and enhances one’s joie de vivre. Here is one such example with an unintended life lesson.

An almost-senior citizen regularly plays with his long time companion, a Border Collie mix named Abby. Often they are on a walk about in the neighborhood getting dog biscuits and beer at several welcoming pit stops.

Sometimes they stroll in the river valley with the senior’s wife. Sometimes they are at the farm repairing equipment or loading a bobcat onto a flat bed for a local job in Edmonton.

The master is often interrupted from his work to play toss the ball at the urgings of an insistent and impatient canine. The dog and the old guy are content and enjoy each other’s company immensely. They are buds.

A dose of teasing is especially fun for the old guy. The almost-senior citizen liked to teach life lessons to people and dogs in a distinctive fashion, that is, make your student, dog or human, work for the answer.

Lately, a morning routine has developed for both: the senior hides a dog biscuit and the collie performs a relentlessly entertaining search of the premises for her treat. During this game the old guy smiles more than the dog.

One Sunday afternoon the senior and the collie were playing ball in the living room. In true fashion of play and teasing the senior lays down on the carpet hiding the dog’s ball under his head.

The famous Border Collie stare lasted about three seconds followed by a two-footed pounce on the said target.

The senior learned his lesson for the day.