Callie talked me into playing soccer with her when she was eight weeks old. In this photo, she’s a few weeks older, but not many. As you can see, she’s not much bigger than the soccer ball — which is only about 2/3 inflated. I would kick the ball, and Callie would race across the yard to trap it under her tummy.
As Callie has grown, her soccer skills have improved. She still invites (begs!) me to play soccer at least once a day — and sometimes more. She still races across the yard and traps the ball. Sometimes, she puts one of her front paws on the ball and poses, as if to say, “I am the conquering hero!” The other difference, now that she’s older, is that she does “nosers.” If she were a person, you’d call it a “header,” but Callie’s nose gets in the way of her forehead, so it’s a “noser.” Here are a few photos of Callie doing nosers.
It’s amazing to see the ball literally “pop” off her nose. It makes a loud sound, because the ball in under-inflated. I try not to overdo it, because I wouldn’t want Callie to hurt her nose. It was never a problem until about ten days ago. I kicked the ball high for Callie to do a noser, and she jumped up, but turned her head away from the ball. After she did a few of these, I decided her nose needed some rest. Fortunately, it rained so hard in Southern California that we couldn’t play soccer for a few days, anyway. After things dried out, we tried a few gentle nosers, and, sure enough, we’re back in business.
To fully appreciate a “noser,” you have to hear one; we’ll get some noser video up on this blog in a few days.
The thing I love most about my soccer games with Callie is that it’s her thing. I love playing with her, but it was her invitation originally, and she still invites me to play every day! What better form of dogbonding?
