Saturday, January 17, 2009

Mixed Company


We're walking along the beach at Padre Island National Seashore and Jacob makes a new friend. To do so, though, Jacob had to gain his freedom.

Freedom for Jacob means he's untethered, from me at least. Today we
let him romp on a fake leash: a long cable attached to him on one end
and a five-gallon container lid at the other. (In the pics, the lid is bright orange, to the right inone pic and at the bottom of the other.) The lid acts as resistance to his unpredictable bolts.

The effort works. Jacob prances, dances and leaps, but never runs away.

He does, however, run in circles, playing with his new best friend, a
bird. For real.

A bird (I'll find out tomorrow what kind), waits for Jacob to get
daringly close. Then it flies out over the ocean, with Jacob leaping
through the waves to catch him. The bird then circles back over the
land, with Jacob still in tow.

This cat-and-mouse circling game continues for 20 minutes. The circle
gets wider, then smaller. Finally, the game ends and we continue our
walk.

No other bird engages Jacob like this; they act like birds and just
fly off.

I hope Jacob's friend returns tomorrow. To play again.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

That's a great idea about the lid! I have three standards, a black, red and apricot.

I have a website all about Standard Poodles, check it out at:

http://www.standardpoodlesusa.com

Unknown said...

That's a great idea about the lid! I have three standards, a black, red and apricot.

I have a website all about Standard Poodles, check it out at:

http://www.standardpoodlesusa.com