Callie is doing something that Jamie used to do. Sometimes, she’ll bring me a toy and then not let go of it. If we’re really playing “fetch,” I can pry it loose from her puppy mouth. And sometimes she lets go easily, or even drops the toy in front of me. But sometimes she just holds on, so that I would have to work hard to get her to let go. I don’t feel like I need to win all these little battles, so sometimes I let her have the pleasure of “winning” and she walks away with the toy. Someone might say I’m not being alpha enough, but I think it’s good for her to win a few little battles — if, in fact, it is a battle. It might just be a little game.
I really like it when Callie initiates play, which she does quite often. This seems to show some special intelligence, so I try to reward it. She will bring me a toy and invite me to give a toss so she can play “fetch.” She will often do this a dozen times without getting bored with the game. Then she takes the toy off to another place and plays by herself.
These little “toy games” seem to send some messages, but I’m not sure I always understand. One message is “come play with me.” Another might be “I am glad to share my toy with you for a minute, but I don’t want you to take it or throw it right now.”
This past weekend, Callie made several attempts to share her toys with Ishka. One time, she pushed a toy into Ishka’s face, clearly inviting Ishka to play. But Ishka, being 12 1/2 years old and a little grumpy, barked loudly at Callie. I don’t know that this was an alpha bark. It might have been an I’m-old-and-tired-and-you’re young-and-a-nuisance bark. Anyway, poor Callie raced straight to me for refuge.
Another time, Callie took her favorite stuffed doggie to Ishka and simply dropped it at Ishka’s feet and walked away. It seemed like an extremely signigicant wolf-pack kind of gesture. Again, I’m not sure if it was an intentional sign of submission, or a wonderful recognition of Callie’s sweet old friend.
At times, I’m amazed at Callie’s ability to entertain herself with her toys. There may not be much of an intentional message here, but her behavior certainly suggests that she’s happy playing with her toys. She has a few “fetch” toys that are made to be thrown and retrieved. Sometimes she flips them around really hard — at times so hard that she ends up launching them across the room. Like I’m supposed to be the retriever? At other times, she just seems to enjoy just chewing gently on a toy.
Jamie had several toys that seemed to be “snuggle” toys. She didn’t really chew on them or do anything; she just liked to have them close — like a few inches from her nose. For hours on end sometimes.
Finally, at the end of a day, when Callie is tired, she often spends ten or fifteen minutes just quietly and gently nibbling on a toy. She’s almost just “gumming” it. She often does this with her favorite little stuffed doggie. This is a clear sign that she is tired and ready to go to bed.
