Miscellaneous Ramblings Again

• Casey loves to have something in his mouth. When I head for the back yard, he scoops up whatever luscious-looking toy is in the vicinity. This is promising. If it's a dumbell-style squeaky, we can easily play tug of war.
  
• Casey seems to enjoy tug-of-war, and he runs like lightning through the tunnels and over the jumps, but as soon as I throw the toy afterwards, he scootches up onto the porch and hides so I can't make him exert himself again. I'm not sure whether it's the physical or mental activity that concerns him.
  
• Jake snores. Not a lot, but he always has and he does more--and more often--as time goes on. And he's not overweight, either.
• Before I started agility, I was amazed at dogs that would answer "the call of nature" on command. Now I realize that it's a necessity for most activities other than letting your dog have free run of the yard. And it wasn't that hard to teach. In fact, Jake can produce #1 or #2, even if in minute quantities, whenever he thinks he's supposed to. How come I can't train myself the same way?
• Jake and Casey have had a couple of spats since we returned from the Nationals. Casey had the whole house and everyone in it (housemate and two guests, one of whom slept in my room) to himself for an entire week. He was deliriously happy to see Tika again, and quite dismayed that Jake came with the package. I found a fresh scab in Jake's ear the day after we got back. And Jake was very concerned, too. They both stalked around the house, trying to avoid or intimidate each other, for about 2 days, and Jake acted more like the intruder--stuck close to me and to my bedroom, as though conceding that, for the moment, Casey was the primary resident.

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