If you haven’t seen the “Kicking Elephant” video on You Tube, you should. It’s really a kick 🙂 . This elephant can kick the ball both forwards and backwards. And he (she?) really gives the ball a THUMP! It’s amazing what animals can be taught to do.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xT8noVJcJfc
But I’ll still put Callie, my six-month-old (when this video was made) Golden Retriever puppy, on the animal all star team. Here’s some video of Callie playing soccer.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4jkyC40njo
After thinking about it a little, I’ve decided to put both Callie and the elephant on the animal all-star team. The elephant has some real kicking power, so we’ll put him (her?) up front as a forward. One caveat, though: The elephant has to quit playing basketball. Callie’s pretty light on her feet and she does a good job of trapping the ball, so we’ll make her a defender. So we need some midfielders who can take Callie’s passes and move them up to the elephant.
One huge difference between Callie and the elephant is that the elephant was taught to play soccer, but Callie taught me to play soccer. It was very much a case of me reinforcing something that Callie obviously liked to do, right from the first day she came to our home as an eight-week old puppy. Why not let your dog train you to do a few things? What have you got to lose? Think how good it will make your dog feel and how good it will be for your relationship. And you can maintain your alpha image while you do it, if you’re careful.
Now, on to the animal soccer all-star team. If you have some video of animals playing soccer, put it on You Tube, send me the link, and I’ll be glad to post it here. Who knows, maybe we’ve invented a new sport for our pets!
