Everyone needs to be silly sometimes, it is good for the soul.
One thing we have discovered is Basil has a weakness for plastic bottles. One night, I flattened an empty 2 litre plastic drink bottle ready to go in the bin, and Basil came dancing up, looking interested, and tried to take it off me. I played at chasing him along the sofa with it, then he grabbed it and charged around the room killing it.
This was unbelievably cute - the bottle was as long as the dog - and unbelievably funny - Basil attempted massive leaps with the bottle between his teeth and somehow always made it, and it was impossible to watch him in action without laughing so hard it hurt.
The game was entertaining enough that I hardly needed reminding to play it again the next time we finished a bottle of drink. Basil bounced around in full on crazy mode and we laughed and laughed, and when he dropped the bottle I pounced on it and threw it for him and he did it all over again.
The game has developed over time, and one day he brought the bottle back to me. We played tuggy, but I didn't make him let go, and when he "won" he was ecstatic at his own cleverness and strength, and came straight back to see if I would tug again.
The plastic bottle game is now one of Basil's favourite things, and he still starts every game with a few laps of all the furniture and making as much noise as possible. Then I have to pretend I want to steal it, and stalk him along the sofa with my hands. I play chasey-chasey with my fingers, shuffle my feet, and pretend I can't see him, he puts on his stupid ears and plays hide and seek at 900 miles an hour around the furniture, crashing the bottle into the legs as he goes.
The thing with the plastic bottle game is it was always meant to be silly, just pure fun, it never had any rules or any purpose. It's not as though I didn't play with Basil at other times, on his walks, in the field, we would play fetch or tuggy games, but they didn't initially tap into his silliness in the same way.
His sheer joy at being given a plastic bottle to race around with brings a smile to my face every time. Not for nothing is one of his many nicknames "Basilly".
Silliness is great.
One thing we have discovered is Basil has a weakness for plastic bottles. One night, I flattened an empty 2 litre plastic drink bottle ready to go in the bin, and Basil came dancing up, looking interested, and tried to take it off me. I played at chasing him along the sofa with it, then he grabbed it and charged around the room killing it.
This was unbelievably cute - the bottle was as long as the dog - and unbelievably funny - Basil attempted massive leaps with the bottle between his teeth and somehow always made it, and it was impossible to watch him in action without laughing so hard it hurt.
The game was entertaining enough that I hardly needed reminding to play it again the next time we finished a bottle of drink. Basil bounced around in full on crazy mode and we laughed and laughed, and when he dropped the bottle I pounced on it and threw it for him and he did it all over again.
The game has developed over time, and one day he brought the bottle back to me. We played tuggy, but I didn't make him let go, and when he "won" he was ecstatic at his own cleverness and strength, and came straight back to see if I would tug again.
The plastic bottle game is now one of Basil's favourite things, and he still starts every game with a few laps of all the furniture and making as much noise as possible. Then I have to pretend I want to steal it, and stalk him along the sofa with my hands. I play chasey-chasey with my fingers, shuffle my feet, and pretend I can't see him, he puts on his stupid ears and plays hide and seek at 900 miles an hour around the furniture, crashing the bottle into the legs as he goes.
The thing with the plastic bottle game is it was always meant to be silly, just pure fun, it never had any rules or any purpose. It's not as though I didn't play with Basil at other times, on his walks, in the field, we would play fetch or tuggy games, but they didn't initially tap into his silliness in the same way.
His sheer joy at being given a plastic bottle to race around with brings a smile to my face every time. Not for nothing is one of his many nicknames "Basilly".
Silliness is great.
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