After that Gimme and me went to the training areas and walked for four miles. I'm not sure what about this walk was so difficult, but my feet have been killing me ever since... my feet all the way up to my hips... It'll probably all be fine by tomorrow. Gimme enjoyed the walking, but sure missed her buddy Grafton.
Grafton developed inconsistencies in his recall due to some unfortunate circumstances that happened in a couple of walks, so he can't come out there with us until the retraining is finished. Gimme and Grafton get to walk around the lake once or twice a week, but its sure not like playing together off lead. So today, we went to his house and the two got to play in his nice back yard.
Grafton is a very gracious host. He ignored the fact that Gimme got in his food dish and proceeded to snarf up a bunch of his kibl. He didn't begrudge her the rawhide chew bone that she stole from his crate. He was appropriately forgiving when she snarked in his face after Mary dropped a treat and Grafton foolishly attempted to gobble it up when Gimme felt it had fallen within her domain (the whole freakin' universe IS her domain). Grafton was sweet about letting her hog his ball, even when she was being obviously rude and taunting him with it. We are hoping he didn't learn from her bad example when she put her feet on the counter, trying to get closer to the chicken Mary had cut up for training treats and actually licked the cutting board.
Gimme was not as enthusiastic about playing as she would have been had we gone over there before going to walk on the fort. However, Grafton is not without resources in the making-her-chase-him-whether-she-wants-to-or-not department. He basically torments her in ways that he KNOWS will get her annoyed at him. He does things like sneak up behind her and put a paw on her body or he gets in her face, teasing closer and closer. She screams and squeals and chases him around the yard and then they spin about and he chases her. If she ignored him (which she has in the past), he'd stop these obnoxious-boy-behaviors (as he did when she ignored him before), but what fun would that be.
They make me think of a little boy pulling the hair of the girl he's sweet on. The little girl always carries on and makes a big fuss... and yet the ritual continues. It may be noisy, but we've come to realize its how they show their love...
Here are some pictures that Mary had taken last year and finally sent to me. They show the two of them together - doing what they do best.
There is love there I think...
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