Riley learns a new thing

When we brought him home, Riley had no idea of how to play. He had been locked in a back room, or thrown outside to fend for himself, with little attention of a positive sort being paid to him at all. Attempts to get him to play confused and even frightened him, but over the 2 years we have had him, he has learned a lot. He has turned into a very playful and nutty dog. [and really really brave – remember this?] He brings us toys to throw and loves playing keep away with tennis balls and rolling around on his stuffed animals in the livingroom. He gets the crazies at least once every day and races madly from one end of the house to the other, for no reason that we have ever been able to determine. He loves being chased and really really likes running up and down the hall with a certain small boy who calls him Ri-Ri.

Still, he was sadly lacking in one area and that was in catching. He just couldn’t do it. Treats lobbed in his direction either hit him in the forehead which caused him to regard us with an air of wounded betrayal or he ducked away as if you were throwing hand grenades at him. Just not fun. Some dogs simply cannot track and catch objects and Riley, it seemed was one of them. Sadie, his predecessor, could have given Major League pitchers a run for their money if they tried to get something past her, so it was kind of disappointing that Riley was not at all interested.

Then, about a month ago, we were hanging out in the kitchen, enjoying an afternoon snack of popcorn. Riley is always interested in food, so he came in and sat at my feet, just in case I should drop something that needed to be cleaned up. On a whim, I dropped a piece of popcorn over his head and he tried to catch it! Wow – what was this? I tried dropping another piece and again he tried to catch it. He finally made the third try though and numerous others since. Now, he is a champ at catching treats:

Can tennis balls be far behind?