there is an adage in our house which very simply states every time we think we’ve seen it all we haven’t. it has always proven true that each dog that comes into this house will at one point or another do something unique that amazes, amuses, and/or disgusts us. you would think at some point this phenomenon would run its course and there would be nothing new but you my friend would be wrong. for some reason i seem to be constantly amazed at the stream of odd behaviors these mutts come up with (perhaps if i stopped being surprised they’d stop trying to surprise me). when you’re the 1st or 2nd dog to enter a household this task is a piece of cake but if you’re the 17th or 18th it’s a much more difficult undertaking. carly definitely has excelled at this phenom but, oddly enough, this post is not about her.
since we’ve had reilley he has loved to chase one particular brand of red ball – you can buy other color balls or you can flush your money down the toilet – same result either way. i was always tickled by this, our silly reilley, lover of red balls and all. when flanagan entered the fold he had to up the ante. he loves to chase the red ball once and then the red ball is his and not you or anyone else is getting it away from him. the red balls are an important fixture here so when play is done they need to be gathered up and put away so they don’t just disappear. getting the ball from flanagan is virtually impossible so we basically just wait until he drops it on his way inside, sneak out and put it away (if he sees you pick it up then he realizes he dropped it and wants it back). the last few days i haven’t kept great track (dave is much better at this than i am) and we’re down 3 red balls, which sadly i was growing concerned about.
we have a fountain inside our front door that we’ve had for years and is basically a very large water bowl (it’s fantastically big so it only needs to be filled once a day). today as i was filling the fountain a little shot of red caught the corner of my eye. i reached in and found not one, not two, but three red balls – the exact number i had not been able to get away from flanagan. i’m guessing he had to make the decision between getting a drink of water or holding onto the ball and he was apparently pretty thirsty. in all the years we've had this fountain we have never once had to fish anything out of it - now i'm sure there will be daily fishing necessary. i wish i could put into words how fantastically odd flanagan is – he’s just this exquisite, lovely, oddball creature.
i love the new things that amuse me...they’re so much better than the ones that disgust!