The Trickster

Remy lulled me into a false sense of secuirty this week. She's been nothing but the model perfect dog, but it seems she's smarter than expected. Or, maybe I'm just dumber than I thought.

Thursday evening a friend and his dog came over to visit. We were outside and he called to Remy, I let go of her leash and she went right to him. We repeated this again, this time with me calling to her. No problems. As it had recently snowed, and I could tell Rem wanted to run around in it so badly, I figured I'd let go of her leash so she could frolick with the other dog. And seeing as how he comes when called as well, I figured there'd be no problem getting them back.

Mistake!

As soon as Remy knew I let go of the leash, she bolted directly into the woods behind my apartment. Whoops! It took me a few minutes of coaxing to try to get her out, but eventually I had to trudge in there after her. So, I'll only trust her in fenced in, non-wooded areas for a while.

Friday night I took her to a coworker's house. (The same people that found her for me in the first place.) They have three cats and two dogs and a fenced in back yard. Remy had a blast running around in it. She's really quite fast. Also, I took a tennis ball with me so we could play.

The first time I threw said ball, I expected it to bounce, forgetting that in snow no such thing happens. So, I toss a ball, the dogs don't see it (it's dark out), and it sinks into a pile of snow. We humans have no idea where it is. We tell the dogs to find it. They're too interested in one another to care about a silly ball. There's chasing to be done!

So, we start searching the yard. After a few minutes I decide I don't really care about it and will see how Rem plays with a tennis ball some other day. I mean, it'll be easy to find in the daylight when the snow has melted, right? However, my persistant friend is still looking. So, I continue as well. The dogs run and frolick about.

Still no ball. It's weird that it could disappear so completely! We start making a grid on the ground and walk over the snow. Eventually we'll step on it, right?

It's then that I look up and see Remy dash off in the yard, tennis ball held firmly in mouth. I could swear she's laughing at me.

How long did she have that thing!?

She's a trickster, I tell you! Trickster!

I think I've trusted her to quickly. There's some mischievousness in her still. Though, I do blame myself for yelling, "Play with me!!" Obviously we have two different ideas of what exactly that means.


End Blog.


PS - I would like to note something I find utterly hilarious. Rem's afraid of cats. Afraid! She won't go near them, avoids them at all costs, actually jumps when surprised by one, AFRAID! It's too funny. Poor girl. Something traumatic must have happened in her puppyhood.