Does your dog have any obsessions? With Megan it is football, she is well trained and reasonably obedient except when she sees people playing with a football, she has to join in and show off she is very reluctant to come back. The added complication is that she is deaf so I have to work with hand signals and it is hard to get her attention when she has a football. We are so used to each other that there are very few times when I have a problem getting her attention - except when she has a football.
My dearly departed Skylar, my heart dog, a Golden, had an obsession w/ tennis balls. She always carried one wherever she went. She would not go out a door nor come in a door without a tennis ball in her mouth. I would sit on my deck and throw the ball up in the air for her. She would run to wherever necessary to catch it in the air. She loved to do that.
When I was mowing the grass, she knew where to put the ball so I would have to stop mowing and throw it out of the way. When I made the next lap, there was the tennis ball right in my path. She always knew where the next mower pass would be.
I could not be in the back yard without her right there with me with the tennis ball. She would lay it at my feet and bark. If I moved, she would move the ball and bark at me.
I burried her with a tennis ball. God, I miss that girl.
Bill
http://www.skylarzack.com/rawfeeding.htm
Dogs are our link to paradise. They don't know evil or jealousy or discontent. To sit with a dog on a hillside on a glorious afternoon is to be back in Eden, where doing nothing was not boring-it was peace. - Milan Kundera
Bill, that was such a lovely thing to read, it shows just how deeply we feel about our pets and that we never forget them. I had a very special dog who loved to play pull games, he would hang on so tight that he could be lifted off the ground, he seemed to have limitless energy. I have loved all my pets but that little dog was extra special.
Yes it is true, they are all special, but some are extra special and we never forget them.
Ruby - squirrels - she would spend her whole time looking for them if we let her
Jakey - tennis balls - only his own thank goodness
Roddy - other dogs
Ruby would love our local park, it is full of squirrels and they are very tame, there would be so many to choose from that she wouldn't know which one to chase.
My sisters dog is obsessed with peeing on other dogs. He does it all the time when we camp.
This is an interesting question. I don't think mine do; at least, I can't think of anything that is so intense that I'd call it an obsession.