There's no artifice to dogs. Or cats, for that matter. They are who they are.
Last night, I was a bachelor. Wife kitteh was off taking care of the grandkittens, so the Catican Guards and I had the house to ourselves. I turned off the phone and the TV and laid down on the floor to play with the dogs. They were flummoxed. I threw toys for them and tried to get them worked up to play.
Leah, the wiggly one, chased the toys for a while and Lily, the chubby one, played along gamely, but after a very short while, they'd had enough. Leah wanted loving and Lily wanted to cuddle. This is just who they are.
I had felt guilty that I hadn't spent more time playing with them. They go for walks and all, but they don't get that goofy wrestling time that some dogs love so much. By the end of the day, I'm tired and my canine kids don't get my best.
They don't want my best. They want to be petted and cuddled. They've been getting exactly what they wanted the whole time.
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| Leah doing what Leah does. On the left hand side, you can see what Lily does. We've got gophers in the back yard and our chubby girl loves to dig for rodents. They're happy dogs and that makes me happy, too. |
Of course, as far as they are concerned, petting and cuddling them probably is your best.
ReplyDeleteWe've had several dogs that would do a bit of playing and ball-chasing and such like, but it was always clear that they were just humoring us and would quit after a while. They mostly just wanted to be with us.
What they really liked, though, was when we would dismantle brick heaps or wood piles so that they could chase the mice that ran out. They could do that all day!