Monday, February 03, 2014

The Indoor Canine Games

Seems that the dogs are sick of being housebound, too. They now have their own games that they play amongst themselves to burn off excess energy.

1. "Chase". This is a game that Belle loves. She has several ways in which she baits Murphy into chasing her around the house, and once it's on, the two of them tear from one end of the Lair to the other and back, knocking over tables, skidding on floor rugs, bouncing off walls, and once, falling down the stairs in tandem as the result of a poorly-thought-out tussle at the top of the stairs. But they both got up, shrugged it off, and gave me that "we meant to do that" look when I poked my head out of my office to see what the hell they were doing.

2. "Top Dog". The first time Murphy walked up to Belle and put his head on the back of her neck, she spun around and bit him. Hard. The "head on the neck" thing is all about dog dominance. But now Belle will prance over in front of Murphy and practically beg him to do it, and he does. She'll accept it for a few seconds, then she'll whirl and try to climb up on his neck, which he doesn't allow. Immediately, both dogs rise up on their hind legs, each one trying to grab the neck of the other. They tussle and things get knocked over. Murphy usually wins, but it looks like Belle's letting him. (Playing hard-to-get, but not too hard.)

3. "Come and take it." Murphy has a toy. Belle wants to take the toy just because he has it. Murphy is now playing a game where he drops the toy in front of him then stands over it and dares her to try for it. She'll rush for the toy and he'll grab it up, give her a play growl, and head-butt her aside. Again, things in the house get knocked over as she keeps trying to dart in and dodge away.

The whole ideas of getting Murphy a pet was so that he'd have someone other than me to play with all day. Well he's got that now, and I'm reminded of that old adage about being careful what you wish for. They're having fun together, but my floor rugs and end tables are paying for it.
"What? We ain't doing nothing!"

5 comments:

  1. Would have been safer if you'd gotten chihuahuas.

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  2. Just be thankful you don't have Mastiffs... :-)

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  3. Anonymous7:31 PM

    They look like a couple of innocent babes :)

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  4. see also: why we're waiting until Miss Crazy is at least 2 before bringing another into the house. by then there will be less furniture to destroy and no more carpet, i hope.

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