Tuffy, Zoom!

Your Monday Photo Shoot: Get a shot of your pets at play. A new shot is good, or if you have an older shot (that you haven't already used for an earlier photo shoot), that's good too. Humans can be in the picture, but it can also be of your pet (or pets) by themselves. The important thing is to catch them at play.

Note the window, smudged from the constant
application of a dog's nose to the glass.

Tuffy doesn't really play very much. She's afraid of balloons, doesn't care for rawhide or toys, seldom chases her tail, and has no other dog to roughhouse with. Poor Tuffy! The highlights of her day are watching the street, the front yard and the driveway from "her" window, greeting us with yelps and whimpers when we get home (mostly because we'll probably give her a dog biscuit, but also because she feels more secure with us around), and checking out the back yard, from which other dogs can be heard, telling of someone or something in the alleyway.

You aren't leaving, Karen, are you?

I don't go in the back yard much, because it's ugly and inhospitable, and usually hot. When I do go out there, Tuffy gets all excited. Usually she starts running back and forth, playing the one game she does occasionally indulge in. I call it Zoom.

Check it out! Tuffy's a ghost dog!
You can see through her!
This is really because the camera
started to expose the concrete
and the fence before Tuffy
ran into the shot.

I egg her on, bowing in my version of doggie body language (meaning, "let's play"), running a few steps myself, sometimes making a grab for her, calling out, "Zoom, Tuffy, zoom!" She runs away, turns around, runs toward me and past me. We especially like to do this after she has a bath. I grab a towel and try to towel her off as she goes by. Sometimes I play matador with the towel.

Tuffy leaps past me! Zoom, Tuffy, zoom!

These photos are from today. Tuffy was dry, but glad enough to get excited when I came out back. She knew I would reward her with dog biscuits when it was all over.

Dog biscuit?

Karen