Rudy Doesn't Do Decisions

Rudy is relentless when he wants to play. Like most puppies (not just the gifted ones like Rudy), he likes to play keep-away and tug with his favorite toys and then fetch when we wrestle the slimy toy from his mouth and throw it across the room. In the morning, when I'm still in bed with my coffee and email, he will sit by the bed looking up longingly with his rag bone or squeeky bone thingy, tail wagging, big brown eyes expecting me to stop what I'm doing and attend to him. And of course I do. Problem is, he has much more energy than I have. By 9am, we've usually already got an hour of tugandfetch in and I'm shedding clothes because I've a broken sweat. He goes and runs the fence out back with Petey.

Yesterday morning he brought me his cute little snail. The snail is actually a bathtub toy he dug out of Zoey's bathtub basket. I love throwing it because it tends to bounce crazily and willy nilly. Watching Rudy change course suddenly is fun. (As opposed to watching him slide into the back door.) ( I promise. He has never hurt himself. This is the dog that can FLY, remember?) But, wrenching the cute little snail out of his mouth is increasingly hard. He is bigger and stronger now. SO, once I got it, I threw it and then quickly threw the squeeky bone thingy hoping to switch toys on him.

I wish I could have video taped his reaction. Stopped his playtime dead. He picked up the snail. Tried to get the considerable larger bone in his mouth, too. Dropped the snail. Picked up the bone. Tried to get the snail, too. Dropped the bone. Picked up the snail. Dropped the snail. Picked up the bone. This went on several times. He just couldn't get them both in his mouth and couldn't figure out which one he should leave and which he should return to me with.

He gave up. Went and curled up in his bed with a big sigh. Good thing he isn't a rescue dog. Or a sheep herder.