[nagdu] Play time

[Tamara Smith-Kinney]

Cheryl,

Soccer!  And...  Soccer!  Doesn't matter what kind of ball it is, it must be
kicked!  Also, in a pinch, catch with a bouncy ball that she can catch in
her mouth.  If you  kick the ball so it bounces and she can catch it in her
mouth through astonishingly acrobatic leaps, that is the way coolest of all.
/smile/

The coonhound we live with likes to involve barking and treeing things.
Including the poodle.  She will play soccer, but only for a few seconds, in
the hopes that the poodle will come out to play by taking the ball and
letting the hound follow her around barking until the poodle lets herself be
treed.  So that the hound can bark at her.

For someone who is trying to do work or even constructive communication with
a screen reader, and who often ends up being the tree, this is not a
terribly fun game.  Why I am even necessary, I cannot imagine.  However, the
hound will bark at me to throw the ball to entice the poodle to come watch
me play with the hound so the hound can throw the ball to the poodle so that
the poodle can take it so the hound can follow her around and tree her.

Well, you did ask.  /grin/

I have to take the poodle to the park to play soccer so that the hound won't
steal the ball and bark at her.  We're working on that, and the hound is
slowly learning to play in the yard without barking and upsetting the
neighbor...  Sometimes I can play quietly with the hound in the house, which
is a big relief, since she's not socialized and simply cannot be taken to
the dog park.  Still, I take the poodle to the park to play soccer because
soccer is essential to life itself.

I can no longer see the ball, BTW, except sometimes if I'm lucky and there
is very bright direct sunlight.  The poodle has no mercy!  She does give me
sound cues so that I can find the ball -- whichever ball -- by sound and
touch it with my cane so that I can kick it.

People at the dog park with nice, sensible labs or golden retrievers
occasionally complain because all their dogs want to do is fetch.  I feel
haggard and even somewhat bitter about this.  Fetch would be so much easier!
/grin/

Tami Smith-Kinney

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Cheryl Osborn
Sent: Tuesday, April 20, 2010 8:12 PM
To: NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users
Subject: [nagdu] Play time

Hi everyone,

Thought it might be interesting to find out what you and your dogs
like to do for play.

My dog likes to play keep-away and wrestle with a toy. And, sometimes
tug-of-war.  My last dog liked to play hide-and-go-seek. My first dog
was Kong crazy.


-- 
Cheryl in Mexico
chapalacheryl at gmail.com

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