Exaggerated Play

Apparently Theo is as glad to have me home as I am to be home. I can't say I blame him. I came home at 11:30am to find my husband still in bed and Theo still in his crate! I've never seen him so happy to be let outside to pee. Poor thing. I was a bit peeved at Husband, but he insisted that Theo never cried to be let out. I called BS on that one. That man can sleep through anything when he wants to.

Anyway, Theo has actually been playing with me! When Theo's obsession with playing fetch sprung up, there was no time for our regular play anymore. He would just stand there and look intently at his toys until I threw one of them. Well not this weekend (don't get me wrong, as I type this I'm throwing a toy for him)! Yesterday I got him to actually play chase with me in the backyard (usually he just sits next to where we keep a tennis ball and stares at it until I get the hint). I love playing chase with Theo because of the way he exaggerates when he runs. He doesn't run like he does when I jog with him. He doesn't run like when another dog is chasing him. He runs like he's playing a game with his mommy and it is so freaking cute. It's hard to describe! He kind of kicks his front legs out extra far like he's really digging in to run. And he kicks out his back legs too. It makes his whole body look so...exaggerated as he runs. Does anyone else's dog do this? Maybe I'll see if I can get a video of him doing it (oh yeah, because that worked so well with the stretching thing :p).

Theo was playful with me again this morning! It started with a bit of indoor chase, which is totally different than outdoor chase. Indoor chase is basically where he lays in one spot as I move towards him, and as I get close he springs up and runs past me and drops to the floor again. Like if I were the bull in bull fighting. lol! When he's trying to fake me out he'll pop up for half a second like he's going to run left, and then he'll plop back to the floor. If I go left, he'll pop up again and go right. It's really cute because he ends up doing the front leg kick out again. When a get down to his level and bob my head a bit he goes wild and does the leg kicking thing more. It's so cute! And after a bit of chase we did some general play. You know, where you grab their feet and scratch their butt and they just go crazy? That's Theo. I'm so happy I trained him to have a soft mouth because now we can play this way. When I grab his feet and scratch his butt he responds by grabbing my hand with his mouth, but since he has a soft mouth, it's just playful, no painful! It's so cute watching him "gnaw" on my hand, where basically he's kind of chewing my hand, but not really because it doesn't hurt at all.

How do your dogs play with you? Do you only use toys, or do you get down and play with them too? Does playing with your dog make his/her day? Theo was smiles all morning, so I think it made his.

Update: Just as I finished typing this Theo did the cutest thing. Usually when I'm at the computer I'll play a bit of fetch with Theo because, you know, he always has to be the center of attention. Well I threw the toy out of the room and Theo went chasing after it and didn't come immediately back for me to throw it again like he normally does. Instead I heard the small cry of the little troublemaker. I went out to the hallway to see what the commotion was about and he was laying next to his bed with the toy right smack in the middle of his bed. Theo looked at the toy, looked at me, and looked at the bed. He did that about three times until I got the hint. He didn't want me sitting at the computer and throwing the toy. He wanted a serious fetch session. He wanted me to sit on his bed and throw the toy down the hallway for him. He is being seriously cute today!


PS: I just checked the mycorgi.com Halloween costume contest poll and Theo has pulled into second place! Woohoo!!! And the gap is closing. It was 23% to 28% , so all I need is 6% to pull ahead! I think I can! I think I can!