Friday, July 23, 2010

Lagniappe update

OK, so he doesn't walk so well. He still swims good though, so we went out swimming together today. For a while, I threw sticks into the river and he swam out to get them.

He doesn't bring them back to me, though--he never has. He takes each one to his own little spot on the bank and stacks them all up...sort of a strategic stick repository. He then guards that pile of sticks against all comers, me included. Those are HIS sticks, dammit.

So a game of "fetch" requires not one stick like you'd use for a normal dog, but a whole bundle of them; he lives to go chase them but you never, ever get them back.

Today we played another game, one I call "reverse fetch". This one works with me swimming out a bit as Lagniappe sits on the shore guarding his sticks. I dive down to the bottom of the river and find another stick, and when I surface and wave it so that he can see it, he plunges in and comes paddling after me to get it (because "all your sticks are belong to us"). I swim away from him as best I can while holding the stick out of water, but eventually he grabs it and a game of Tug O' War ensues, usually ending with me getting clawed on bare skin before I let him have it. Then he swims for his stick stash and I chase him and try to grab it back. We can do this until we're both tired.

And here he is, contentedly sitting guard on his stash o' sticks. Anyone but me approaching will be barked at; if I approach, he cries and tries to run off with as many sticks as he can pick up at once.

5 comments:

  1. very cool.
    Looks like a great swimming place too.


    Lagniappe's stick repository reminds me of my psycho cat, Stella, who tries to hide the canned cat food by "burying" it - problem is, the bowl I put it in is sitting on a hardwood floor that doesn't provide any cover, no matter how hard she digs and throws dust over it.

    I gave Ellen (Wormie) some squash tonight and advised of Lagniappe's illness. We both cried.

    so anyway, hope you don't mind.

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  2. Sorry to hear about Lagniappe. Looks like he still has a blast in the water!
    My Shepherd does that will all of her toys in the house.. Unfortunately we don't live in the Great Outdoors so we play fetch with the toys in the great room, she likes to stash them all in the corner then try and take her favorite and run off when I go to get another one!

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  3. That's why we love our dogs, they've got personalities and ideosyncracies. Each one is different.

    One of my huskies used to take a Milk Bone and go to a corner of the room and place it carefully deep in that corner--obviously still in plain sight. Then he would push imaginary dirt with his nose to "bury" it. When he was satisfied he would walk smugly away knowing that it was safely "hidden".

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  4. I am so sorry to read about Lagniappe's illness. Looks like he still really enjoys the water, though.

    I'm sure you have considered this, but just in case;

    http://www.ehow.com/how_6390672_make-wheelchair-paralyzed-dog.html

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  5. Och, he is still such a fine swimmer!! That Lagniappe - I laughed over that game of reverse fetch. Amazing how smart they can be...

    Ranger will also "bury" a treat wherever he can. But you must not watch. No matter that he hasn't exactly hidden it. If he catches you watching he will get it and try again. We kindly look away, of course.

    Silly damned things...

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