The Dog Blog: Lady played

Friday, August 5, 2016

Lady played

I saw something today that I hadn't seen in awhile; Lady played.

In the past, Lady has gotten in a playful mood, and she'd run around in circles. She'd stop; I'd stamp my foot, and she'd run around me.

Last year at the dog park, the 15-year-old Lady played about five minutes with a young dog that looked a lot like her puppy. She joyfully ran around in circles with him following her, and they spent some time with jaws locking, puppy playing.

Then today, I was walking through our dining room and came across a dog's toy that still had the plastic hook from the store. I took off the hook and laid the yellow-and-green rubber toy in the doorway to the living room, where Lady usually lays.

Within a few minutes, Lady found the toy, picked it up in her jaws, and began chomping it and swinging it around. She was playing.

She took it to the corner, with her back to me, and played with it a few minutes. She got up and went into the kitchen for water. Then she went back to the toy, first playing with it and then just laying with it.

Lady finally left the toy, and now she's in the hallway near the door to the office where I'm writing. She may go back to her toy, or she may not.

But it's there when she's ready to play again.

NOTE: I noticed that the toy is now in the hallway; she's still interested.

NOTE: Lady passed on Sept. 17, 2016; that was just two weeks short of her unofficial 16th birthday. We got her Oct. 1, 2002.

• Woof! (translation: Go away, kid; you bother me)