He takes being a frisbee-obsessed Border Collie to whole new levels of obsessive Border-Collie-ness. If I am not actively throwing the frisbee, than he is actively trying to get me to. Can you feel the stare?
Connor can hold this pose and keep up this level of intensity for HOURS. He can outlast any attempts to ignore him. I distract him with walks and other jobs and he'll go off happily and do them, but when we come back, he will pick up exactly where he left off. I took the frisbee away and hid it behind the couch once - a year ago - and he still checks back there. Every. Single. Day.
Connor's attempts to make me throw the frisbee include leaving it in my path and then moving off into ready-launch mode until I pass by it. Every now and then though, this backfires on my crazy Border Collie because the one toy Ben likes to play with is the frisbee. He especially likes to play with it if he can taunt Connor with it at the same time.
Yesterday, Connor left the frisbee right in my path, but someone else got there first.
Ben generally ignores Connor, but he always watches him and will not let him come onto the donkey side of the fence. Connor knows better than to mess with the donkeys and Ben knows better than to go after Connor, but he is not fond of dogs and he sure would like to. Beneath that placid, phlegmatic surface lies a fire-breathing dragon and dogs make the dragon appear.
When Ben gets his hooves on the frisbee, he loves to tease Connor with it. Yesterday, he found the frisbee right where Connor had left it for me to throw, picked it up and waved it around and all the while, poor Connor laid on the other side of the gate in appalled horror, whining and quivering. Every time he inched closer, Ben dropped the frisbee, stood on it and puffed smoke at my poor dog.
I swear I could see a little evil smile on Ben's face the whole time. Tormenting the dog is his idea of a good time.
This is Connor's idea of a good time.
That is too funny!
ReplyDeleteHilarious. Love interspecies interactions. I had a pet rabbit that lived in a spacious little barn and outside fenced pen. She knew she was safe from my dogs. She'd go up to the fence and taunt them by running along the fence line to get them to chase her.
ReplyDeletePoor Connor. I can just hear the wheel's turning in Ben's head.
ReplyDeleteDonkeys...nothing but trouble! You would never see a sheep or cow do that, maybe a llama, but never a chicken or pig either. Poor Connor. No wonder he likes to come over to my farm!!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the laugh! I needed it. I do feel sympathy for poor Conner, tho. That inferior, smoke breathing dragon with such a precious possession - - sacrilege!
ReplyDeleteI guess if Benn can keep the frisbee from Connor, Ben gets all of Mommy's attention! LOL!
ReplyDeleteBen definitely knows how to get his share of attention:)
DeleteThis was priceless. A lift I sure needed today. Great photos. Conner is very, very Frisbee focused dog. I have a shepherd that loves her ball but she is nowhere in his league.
ReplyDeleteNo one is in Connor's league and you should be very grateful, it can be hard to live with:)
DeleteGosh, Bosco was the same way, except he didn't like the frisbee! He had a rubbery plastic squirrel that I would launch high and far and he would run and catch it and bring it back, end-less-ly. One autumn, his jeaklous sister Molly--a sheltie mix--picked up the squirrel and dropped it in a pile of leaves. (Bosco had taken a squirrel break to help me herd them with the rake.) I found it and saved it once, but she must have done at again, cos Mr. squirrel never showed his face again. Of course, we found other toys after that, but he never loved a toy as well as he loved that squirrel. I miss him so much. he used to come up on the couch, on the pretense of wanting petting, and then he would turn that laser stare on me for a cookie. he knew begging never worked, but also figured out that happy border collie face worked every time. So, he'd smile and stare and I'd try to resist but finally I would laugh and say okay, and he would spring off the couch to the kitchen to receive his cookie.
ReplyDeleteI wish we were half as good at training them as they are at training us:)
DeleteActually dying laughing here.... hahahahaaa
ReplyDeleteWhat fun! Not the teasing part but the obsessed BC part:)
ReplyDelete