My Dog

Russell and I have released the inner dog from Athena. When we first got her, she made us a little sad because she didn't seem to have the activity level and spirit of a dog. We think that her previous owners didn't appreciate her and suppressed her active loving side. Those silly people thought she should be a house dog. No wonder they couldn't handle her inner dog when it tried to express itself.
Since we've had her, she has become a lot more interactive with us. She used to not care what we were doing. When we would try and get her to play with us, she would just stare blankly. But now she loves to play with us!!! Her favorite toy is a little silver and gray teddy bear. Well I guess I should say brown and gray since it's definitely NOT silver any more. She grabs it and flings it around. She wants us to play tug-of-war with her but we have to be careful with that game. If we get her too riled up, she has a hard time calming down. She'll come over and hold it in her mouth at our hands tempting us to pull it. We grab it when she lets go and throw it. She makes me laugh when she bounds off after it.
Yesterday I was trying to get her to catch a Frisbee. She knows what "catch" means when i say it because I'll throw her treats and say catch. Before she knew what we wanted she would just wait for it to fall and then get it. But now she'll throw herself up in the air after it. The problem is that in the house there isn't much room to throw a Frisbee, and thats where we were. I would throw it and she would jump and twist around in the air. It's rubber so it bounces off her nose too easily. One time i threw it up in the air and she jumped to get it, twisted, and then fell flat on her back. She grew a little timid of the game after that.
She does a lot of things that warm my heart. One of these is when I lay down on the floor, she'll come lay next to me and rest her head on my back. She always wants to be near me. Even when I am sitting on the couch, she'll lay close to my feet. I also love it when she can't control her excitement to see me in the morning or when I get home from school.
When she is sad or isn't getting let inside, she makes the saddest puppy face. She's good at looking pathetic, but I'm good at not giving in.