Callie Golden Retriever first “invited” me to play soccer when she arrived at my home at age eight-weeks old. She spotted an under-inflated practice soccer ball in the back yard and ran to it. Frankly, I’m not sure why the ball was there or where it came from; it’s part of Callie’s mystery, I guess. But Callie ran to the other side of the ball, scrunched down behind it, looked me right in the eye, and said, “OK, Fred, show me what you’ve got.” I gave the ball a kick and Callie ran and trapped it under her tummy. She was such a tiny puppy that she could hardly get all four feet to touch the ground. Here’s what she looked like:
Almost every day since then, for over three and a half years, Callie and I have played soccer. She’s graduated to doing “nosers.” If she was a person, you’d call it a “header,” but when you’re a Golden Retriever, your nose gets in the way, so it’s a “noser.” Here’s a recent demonstration of Callie’s “noser” technique:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=woArYgPKbKU Callie Show off Her Soccer “Nosers”
