I’ve just come in from playing ball with Daisy. She loves playing ball – not just a little bit love, a LOT love! She would actually opt to just look at her ball rather than eat her food, and playing with it is just the best thing ever!
She is the only dog we’ve ever had who has enjoyed fetch – although admittedly, it’s more difficult for our blind and partially sighted dogs.
She prefers Ian to throw the ball for her, probably because he can throw so much further than me. When I throw the ball she’s generally passed it before it hits the ground. So I bought a flingy thing from Amazon. It’s great! I didn’t have high hopes as it was only 3 euros, including the ball, so I was expecting something that lasted for one throw – but it is excellent quality and I can throw the ball much further with it. There’s a bit of a knack – but the ball undoubtedly goes much further.
It all goes wrong though when Charlie comes out to play. She can’t see the ball (her eyesight is extremely poor – she unfortunately has the worst of all worlds – she can see a little bit, but hasn’t developed the other self-preservation skills that our blind dogs have) – and all she is aware of is Daisy running around.
Poor Charlie then thinks that Daisy is having the greatest of games, and runs round after her and mayhem follows.
I take a ball out for Daisy in the morning too – and she will find it if it gets ‘lost’ in the undergrowth, she sniffs it out. Again, something we’ve never had a dog do before. They are used as truffle hounds in the north of Spain, so perhaps they do have a good sense of smell.