Hillbilly Bone

I am glad that we have a very tolerant dog. Dean is, well - he's special. He's smart (but not all the time) and he is obedient (some of the time) and graceful (hardly ever). But at the very least, he is tolerant of the growing interactions between him and his little brother from a different mother.

For instance, when he was just a pup I taught him to calmly play catch while laying on the floor across the room from me. He lays there and I roll the tennis ball towards his snout. He catches it, chews on it a bit and rolls it back in my general direction. He'll do this for about a half hour before he starts to lose interest (which is about 5 times longer than I'm willing to do it). Recently, this dog-bility has worked well with Jack's newfound penchant for throwing things. Jack sits on the ground and rolls the ball to Dean; Dean rolls it back to Jack. This usually only lasts for a few minutes, since Jack's new throwing skills usually end up in a errant toss behind his back or over his head (we're still working on his release timing).

Last Saturday, we were sitting on the floor playing and watching hunting shows on VersusTV (which is fast becoming our Saturday morning routine when Doc is working). We topped it off with a little country music in the background. So it was fitting that Jack and Dean's newest game - Dog Bone Keep Away - was fit to the soundtrack of Hillbilly Bone by Blake Shelton. Jack would taunt Dean with the bone, Dean would lick it and try to take it away. Then Jack would triumphantly remove it from Dean's snout. And then try to lick it himself (but I stopped the game right there). For most dogs, I think the kids life might have been in peril at that point, but not with Dean. Good dog, indeed.