Now I know what happens to an adolescent Kelpie who has had restricted exercise for 3 days. I will spare you the gory details, but barking figures prominently. I think I still have a husband…hmmm. I also unequivocally found that mental stimulation is no substitute for a good run.
I (not by choice) haven’t taken any of the dogs for their regular off-leash exercise this past week. All they’ve had is (hot) walks in the neighborhood and short (hot) training sessions in the back yard. It became more and more obvious with each passing day that Tess was beginning to loose her little Kelpie mind. Suddenly we had an emergency exercise situation. I piled everyone in the car at 6:30am. But, AUGH!!! Our usual exercise area was having a rain-delayed visit by a big mowing machine! Oh god, not today! I drove around for awhile (Tess pretty much barking the whole time), but it was soon too hot for the Aussies and the mowers still weren’t done.
Back home Tess proceeded to self-remedy her under exercised situation. All the dogs needed to run. But I have first hand experience… it’s actually not *safe* to play with one dog (or even all of them) when they are all out together. Or, even to restrain the under-exercised nearby (like indoors in crates) while trying to interact with just one or two in the back yard. That only works when everyone has their ya-ya’s out already. Instead, we all went in the back yard while I sat on the patio to chaperone the self-motivated activities. The weirdest thing Tess did was attempt to climb the 6ft privacy fence. I finally realized that she wasn’t really trying to get out. She was trying to retrieve a leaf-bejeweled twig that had fallen from an overhead tree and lodged in the top of the fence. I got it out and she happily destroyed it. The chasing of over-flying birds, racing up and down, leaping straight up in the air, and the climbing on every elevated surface are all normal.
The good result of Tess’s wacko condition was that Tess discovered water is fun. She’s been afraid of it. Really. No problem drinking it of course, but she’d even avoid that if she saw me filling a bucket with all that scary splashing water. Elli, on the other hand, is absolutely ga-zongas about water. I never saw a dog love water so much. That includes all the Labs & Retrievers I’ve ever known. I thought Mesa & Kaia were dead serious about water but, compared to Elli, they just kind of enjoy it. Mesa’s specialty is running water, but Elli will take it in any form. For Elli, running water is not to be played with, it is to be immersed in. Elli goes out of her way to trot through puddles on chilly days. You can only imagine what heat does.
When we do the off leash stuff, there has been a spray hose involved to ameliorate the heat. No matter how much fun ALL the other dogs were having, Tess wouldn’t come near it. If someone shook off near her, she’d dodge and run. No amount of provocation by her best friend (Elli) would entice Tess to join in the fun.
Until now.
Elli jumped into the recently rain-filled, defunct water barrel pond. [Defunct because we can't figure out how to keep Mesa from removing and dismembering the pump (running water!).] Ew. It had a load of leaves & dirt, then mixed with water….just, ew. I got out the dog’s metal water tub and started filling. Joe, Elli, & Kaia went nuts over the sprayer. They were playing, snapping, splashing…then here comes TESS. (“Wow”, I thought. “Good girl Tess!”) Tess came up close. Observed, investigated, circled ’round. Tess STUCK her nose in the trough! WOW! I cleaned & refreshed the water barrel so there was room for more canine fun. Next thing I know Tess is IN it…barking, jumping, splashing, digging, bitting. It was hilarious!
I missed the shots of her standing with all four paws on the edge, jumping on Elli’s head, laying down….amazing. The Kelpie turned into a kelpie.
You see Elli in the first shot? “Cumon! Everybody’s doin’ it!
Honestly, I still had to go back to the field to take her for an off-leash run. The speckled Aussies can’t handle the heat and were laying around in the shade, but Tess was still trying to dismantle the back yard. I took Tess and summer-hardy Mesa out in the hellish heat to chase tennis balls for as long as they could stand.
