Tennis Balls, Tennis Balls, Tennis Balls

My friend Pat, who lived with an amazing border collie for some fifteen years, commented to me in a recent email "Have you bought stock in tennis balls yet?" I had to laugh, and responded with another question: "Gee, how did you know that Olive loves tennis balls?"

There must be something about border collies and tennis balls. While taking Olive for a walk a few days ago, she somehow found an old tennis ball at the side of the road and picked it up, carrying it as if it were a prize trophy. I took it from her and put it in my pocket, promising her that I would take it with us the next time we went to the dog park.

My friend Carol some weeks back gave me a scoop designed for throwing tennis balls. I take it along whenever we go to the dog park. I take Olive off her leash, and use the scoop to throw tennis balls to chase after. I find we can burn a lot of border collie energy without my even breaking out into a sweat. With the scoop I can throw tennis balls a long way without much effort. Olive loves that game so much that she loses track of how tired she is getting. When she shows signs of being tired, I start moving toward the dog park entrance, then call her. She always comes right to me and lets me put the leash back on. This morning she was clearly exhausted, and needed to stop twice during the short walk back to my car. I didn't mind so much the stops, but the mosquitos are especially brutal right now so that I didn't relish standing still and being mosquito food. When we finally got back to my car I had brought along her canvas water dish and a bottle of water which I poured for her. She drank much of it, still clearly winded from all that exercise.

Again, I was very pleased with Olive's behavior at the dog park. When we first got there someone had a small yapping dog that snarled at Olive. Fortunately they were leaving; Olive ignored him/her. Later someone came with what may have been a shepherd cross, though this one was friendly. Olive was a perfect lady.

Last Tuesday my sister, who Olive seems to have taken to, took Olive for the afternoon while I went to Amherst MA for a fiddle lesson. I went to my Tuesday supper group from Massachusetts and got back to my sister's house around 9:15. Olive's training of my sister and her family seems to be going well, as my sister, brother-in-law, and nephew seemed "border collied" out. When I got Olive back to our house she immediately wanted to play "catch" with the ball some more. Well, border collies are clearly  not for everyone, but this one is certainly for me. I am also thrilled that she is so comfortable with my sister's home and family, though I suspect my sister and brother-in-law are not always so sure.