Last weekend we threw a bumper or three for Storm so that she could get some exercise. She loves to retrieve and next to birds and her beloved Kong, training bumpers are her favorites.
You can see how happy Storm is in this video. She literally jumps for joy when retrieving.
We generally do not throw bumpers from right next to the dogs. We want them to look out and away from us because that is what they need to do when they are hunting. If there are two of us, I will walk a distance away (as much as allowed by the space) and throw the bumper. The only problem is that sometimes my throwing is a little off target.
On this particular day, I was trying to throw the bumper down a sort of narrow opening between the pine trees. You can see them in the above video. I bet you can guess what happened. Yep the bumper got caught up in the tree. So while Storm saw me throw it, she never saw it land. That is not a terrible thing because there are lots of times the dogs do not actually see a fall. They have been trained to mark the arc of the throw and figure out the fall from that.
I guess hubby did not see that the bumper did not actually fall on the ground either because he sent Storm to retrieve it before I could get the bumper out of the tree. Storm went to the area where the bumper should have been, but of course it was not there.
Eventually I got the bumper out of the tree and tossed it on the ground. Eureka! Storm found it. She picked it up but for her it was not quite right. She has been retrieving bumpers a long time (she is 9 years old) and she has not had a bumper tossed on the ground for her to retrieve since she was a young dog and still learning. She is used to finding and making difficult retrieves. Of course she picked the bumper up and started to bring it back to hubby. But something was still not quite right. When she got to a pile of bumpers that I had on the ground ready to throw, she dropped the one in her mouth and picked up one from the pile. For her these bumpers were more legitimate than one tossed in front of her face.
Storm is so silly. You cannot pull anything over on her.
Here is a video of Freighter. He needs a lot of exercise to burn off energy. He did a bunch of these retrieves. He would have done a bunch more.
What is your dog’s favorite way to exercise?
She is a smart girl and wants to work, not be handed something I guess! We often work better when our hides are more difficult too.
oh what a happy pup!!!! I threw a bumper in a tree too some days ago… it landed next to a frisbee… impossible to do that with purpose… either I’m very talented or the tree has magnetic power :o)
Storm reminds me of my students, used to a challenge and sometimes making things harder than they need to be because they’re expecting more!
That Storm is one smart lady! They both look like they are having so much fun, and getting some good exercise. I wonder if Luke might be interested in a bumper for chasing? 🙂
She’s a real working pup! I like it! My aim isn’t the best either…I’ve managed to throw a few toys up in a tree where they remain..unfortunately at a dog walking client’s. Oops.
What a cute story! I don’t always have the best aim, either. Our old agility gym was in an industrial complex and the ceiling had all kinds of metal bars running across–once when I was trying to throw the leash out of our way, it somehow ended up dangling from one of those bars . . .
Haha sorry but I laugh and love your bumper in the tree stories!!
It’s awesome, especially when you see your dog wagging their tails.
means she is happy like storm in that video 🙂 she is very energic , and fast runner too
Run, run ,run it’s a great exercise to burn calories.