Fetch!

No pics of fetching so cute random pics will have to do

One of the funniest things I ever had the privilege to watch was the day Cooper taught himself to play 'fetch' with himself.  He had already taught himself to unscrew a bottle cap off a water bottle.  That was funny too, but not nearly as funny as this.

We were at Andy's house one of our usual three afternoons a week.  Cooper, still a puppy, would get a little bored after a couple hours of behaving himself.  I would give him little breaks from being well behaved and quiet.  If I gave him a toy, he could play for a little while.  When he got tired, he would wind down with a good amount of attention from me and Andy.  He was allowed to sit in Andy's lap sometimes.  He was scratched in all his favorite places by me.  When he was well-played-out and duly scratched he was ready to be quiet again.  I would put his toys away and indicate his behavior had to be quiet and well behaved again.  So Cooper would sleep...  sleeping is quiet, and one of his favorite things to do.  No objection or effort there. 

During his play breaks, one of his favorite toys was a water bottle.  He would tear the label off, bite it so it would make a crinkle noise, unscrew the cap.  This particular day, when he had the cap in his mouth, he dropped it and it rolled away.  What fun!  Something to chase!  He picked it up and dropped it again.  Chase, drop...  Chase, drop...   Then, in his excitement, he flung his head while he dropped the cap and the cap went flying across the floor.  He was so excited!  This was a BIG chase!  Fling, chase... Fling, chase... Fling, chase.  I was laughing so hard watching Cooper trying to figure out how to coordinate his head toss with his release of the cap in order to get the best possible FLING.  You KNOW I had to call Jesse!  Laughing, I almost couldn't dial the phone.  Once I got Jesse on the phone,  I was still laughing so hard I could hardly talk.  What a gift it is to have this memory still so vivid in my mind.   

Every time I gave him a water bottle for a month or so after that, he didn't care about tearing the label or crinkling the plastic. All he wanted to do was take the cap off and play 'fetch'.  Andy loved it too.  Each day, when it was time to give Cooper a play break, I would ask Andy if we should give Cooper a bottle.  He would nod his head and laugh. 

Cooper is a pro at Flinging things now.  My grandson, Logan, buys Cooper little rubber animals of a particular kind from gum ball machines.  Cooper loves them because they are irregular shapes and bounce in crazy directions when he FLINGS them.  Logan is a great supplier of these toys.  Cooper has two in his travel bag, two in his overnight bag, and more than five around the house.  

Cooper seldom ruins his favorite little rubber animals, but when he makes the mistake of biting one in half I like to throw them away.  I have learned however, that if I intend to throw one away, I had better do it on trash day.  If he smells one of his beloved rubber animals in the trash, he barks and wines and paws at the trash until we retrieve it for him.  As a result, we have a few half animals in hiding places around the house.  A clear message to us that these are HIS toys and he DOESN'T want them thrown away.  

Willing to pose

Ok Cooper, you can keep them.