Playing fetch with Rocks

Catching a rock on the road

Louise really enjoys her walks, and for a dog that is no longer a puppy, she is still very playful. One of the things she likes to do is play fetch, but with a twist: She prefers to chase rocks, and the goal isn't to return the rock to me, but rather to carry it off to a spot of her choosing.

Because her eyesight is not so good, she prefers it if I throw the rock along the road, so she can hear it bouncing on the pavement. I really need a better camera if I am going to capture her chasing after the rocks but trust me, it's an entertaining sight to see.

Once she catches up to the rock, she then struggles to pick it up. I think she was a street cleaner in another life, because she seems intent on moving the rock away from the road, and onto a patch of grass, where she will then sit beside it, or play with it some more. For this reason, we try to choose rocks that are big enough that she can't swallow.

digging out rock from grass

Which reminds me - Louise managed to scratch one of her eyes about a week ago. We woke up, and her eyelid was swollen shut, and the eye itself was inflamed. We took her to her vet and they did all sorts of tests. The eye drops and occular lubricant we have been using seems to have cleared things up nicely - the inflammation is gone, and she is acting normal. There are still brown patches on her eyes, scarring from possible sun damage, or as a result of her condition of dry eye. (This is what we originally got the occular lubricant for.)

At night fetching rock on grass

As for Louise letting us put stuff in her eyes, it's a quiet struggle. We mostly accomplish it by offering a suitable bribe. (ie. she gets a treat after we put in the occular lube) It's getting to the point now where she gets excited if we bring out the eyedrops because she knows she will get rewarded afterward. Which is good, because we don't really want to have to fight with her to put in the drops.