Fetch? Who Would Have Believed?

Blarney's love of fetching a ball is a completely unexpected delight. He's on the way to becoming the best fetcher of any dog we've ever had. He even went in the ocean after a ball. Unfortunately his mouth isn't big enough to take the ball in a single gulp so his repeated snatches just made it float farther away.
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His blanket and a squeaky ball were the keys. For many days he always delivered the ball back to his blanket where after a little squeaking and playing he'd leave it. Short throws in the living room progressed to longer runs down the hallway or speeding trips down the stairs but always back to the blanket. When the blanket no longer was important, his retrievals became full scale gallops in the yard and road. When he arrives back, he squeaks it a few times before he leaves it. Our squeak from the ball is all it takes to grab his attention and get him ready to run. He has a cute way of placing the ball on the ground and pushing it with his nose to signal he's ready for another throw. He always pauses after the pickup for a suspicious look around. His journey back is often interrupted while he abandons the ball and sniffs something interesting. Other times he gallops back as quickly as the stumpy legs can carry him. If an annoying distraction happens, like the postman or another dog barking, Blarney will let off muffled barks with the ball still in his mouth, a little like a ventriloquist who doesn't move his lips.
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The ball we began with is still his favourite kind. It squeaks easily when he chomps on it. It's noise is so disturbing we've sometimes compared it to 'giving a small child a drum'. We're working hard to train him to work with a different type of ball and other objects. For now, it's great that the ball chasing is good fun and a perfect doggy workout.
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