[BowWowMeow]

This evening Rafi discovered where tennis balls come from...

We went for a walk in Buffalo's giant park and we were passing by the tennis court just as a group lesson was finishing. Rafi, of course, was carrying a ball. The court had about a hundred balls and lots of them were up against the fence or stuck in the fence. Rafi rushed over, dropped his ball and tried to figure out where to start...so many balls, so little time.

First he grabbed several of the balls stuck in the fence and tried to pull them through.

Didn't work so he put his nose at the bottom of the fence to see if he could get any of the ones there. No go. Back to the ones stuck in the fence. Still not working.

He was frantic, poor guy. How on earth was he going to get all of those balls?

The instructor saw us and came over with a ball for Rafi. Rafi put his paws up on the fence and tried to pull it through.

The guy threw it over and Rafi caught it. But there were still all those other balls so he went back to work on pulling them through. I cannot fault him for his persistence!

Finally I convinced him to continue on our walk (really I was enjoying watching this whole thing--his eyes were HUGE when he saw all of those balls) because the sun was setting. On the way back we walked around the court and found 5 balls!

So that's really where Rafi's tennis balls are from! For years I've been collecting them on walks because Basu always carried one too.

I can't even imagine what he's going to be like this summer when I play tennis at my cottage. I'll probably have to give him a sedative before we go to the court.

 

[CainGSD]

Ruth,

Thank you for the laugh and I can just imagine the look on Rafi's face! LOL

I had a Shar Pei years ago that always had a tenny in her mouth and could juggle as many as 3 in there. We had a similar episode while camping...we happened upon a tennis court there and she finally layed down after collecting as many as she could find and put 3 in her mouth. She had that same look OMG so MANY and so little time!

 

[DSudd]

LOL Ruth, what a great story. Our babies sure do love their tennis balls.

 

[luanne]

OMG, that's so funny!!!

I've been taking Gracie to work on distraction training 'in town'. There are tennis courts, skate park, baseball field and play ground all around the library parking lot. We had gone a few times and there were never tennis players there. One day there were. Forget it! She sat there, at attention, watching the ball go back and forth. Kind of wondered what her bubble would say..."what are you doing with that tennis ball!?!?!?"

Lu

 

[BowWowMeow]

I think it's so funny the way they imagine all tennis balls were put in the world for their pleasure!

And Rafi only will take one that I've touched so when he picks up a different ball he'll immediately put it back down like, "Hey, that's not MY ball!" Then, after I touch it, he's fine with it.

I'm waiting for him to figure out how to get more than one in his mouth at a time. Right now he puts one ball in his mouth and pushes another with his nose or paw.

 

[Kayos and Havoc]

Oh that is too funny!!! Good job Rafi!

 

[Bridget]

I love your story!! Once at a dock dogs event in Chicago, someone from their parks dept. came, giving away free tennis balls! Everyone dropped what they were doing and ran to get some. Only dog people.......

 

[Kayla's Dad]

OMG, tennis ball heaven! What's a ball addicted dog to do.

 

[pupresq]

What a great story! You can just imagine Rafi's diary entry for today. "Dear Diary, today the most AMAZING thing happened..."

Last year we took Grace to her first Dog Paddle - this is one of those things where at the end of the season, the pool is closed to people and dogs are allowed to come and swim and play for the day as a fundraiser for the friends of the dog park. They had put hundreds of tennis balls from the rec center in each of the three pools. Grace and I got there before it opened because my group was working it and the look on her face as she stared out across the sea of tennis balls bobbing softly across gorgeous blue water and it was all for her - I think she thought she'd died and gone to heaven.

 

[luanne]

Originally Posted By: BowWowMeowI think it's so funny the way they imagine all tennis balls were put in the world for their pleasure!

Um...you mean they weren't???

 

[Elmo's Mom]

That's a cute story. I can picture Rafi going nuts with all of those tennis balls.

 

[JenM66]

I can visualize it .... Gracie would be the same way. She thinks every ball on the earth is for HER and HER alone

Funny thing is, she doesn't play with tennis balls. She likes to chew them so I only let her have planet balls. They're so funny!

 

[BowWowMeow]

Rafi loves his Planet Dog 8 ball but I don't take that on walks because it's too expensive to risk losing! He is very good about not chewing on the balls. He just likes to carry them and chase them. If he feels like chewing I give him the Planet 8 ball and take away the tennis balls.

pupresq--I love the story about the pool filled with balls! That is such a great picture!

 

[Barb E]

I can so see that!


Back when I used to take Dante to the dog park someone decided it would be a good place to leave 100's of tennis balls. It was the "winter" area so smaller and sand based (and clear across the park from the tennis courts) and I was the first one there.

I swear when I took Dante in and he actually got a look around he had the little kid at Christmas look on his face. EVERYWHERE were bright green tennis balls.
It was hysterical. I think he must have touched every single one of those balls.

 

[GSD10]

Ruth...you must take a video of this next time you go by the tennis court!

 

[shilohsmom]

That is a great story!!!! Thank you so much for sharing!!!!