Sep 21 2009
Adjusting the Pace
Golden Retrievers are remarkably intelligent dogs. We often think we have set the parameters of a game with Blaze, our 18 month old dog and then watch in amazement as he changes the parameters of the game.
The most obvious adjustment he makes is his rate of speed. If he and Josiah are playing keep away in the backyard, he zips around with bursts of speed high enough to outrun Josiah. Yet, when he and Zeke are playing keep away, Blaze runs just fast enough to stay barely out of reach of Zeke. He slows down and speeds up, so Zeke can almost, but not quite catch a hold of the rope. When Zeke has the keep away rope, Blaze trails behind him at pace until he can maneuver and grab his end and tug it out of Zeke’s hands.
Gabe goes outside with treats in his pockets to insure Blaze will drop the ball he retrieves during a game of fetch. The last time they played, Gabe could not find the ball, so he threw a stick. Blaze decided not to bother fetching it and searched until he found the ball. He then brought it to Gabe, but would not drop it until Gabe gave him a treat.
When I play fetch with Blaze, he will bring back the ball right to me the first few times, then he will begin to test my distance of tolerance. He will drop the ball 1 foot away, then 2 feet away, then 3 feet away, etc until I turn my back on him and say forget it. He then immediately brings the ball right to me to get me back in the game.
After he tests my distance of tolerance, he will test my time delay acceptance. I will throw the ball, he will fetch it, but he will not bring it back. I turn my back and begin walking towards the back door. He catches up to me before I get to the patio. The scenario repeats, but he allows me to get onto the patio before he catches me. Then he allows me to get to the foot of the stairs. Next time, to the top of the stairs. Finally, I just go inside and close the sliding glass door with him standing on the step, ball in mouth, sad look in eyes. An observer of this final scene would be convinced Blaze was bringing me the ball faithfully and I am just a poor sport.
Our neighbors have a female black lab and when she is out, Blaze loves to run up and down the fence line with her. After the first few dashes back and forth, Blaze decides to vary his route. He begins to run figure eights around bushes, stops to pick up and drop balls or carry sticks all at top speed in his attempt to impress the girl next door.
Dale finds Blaze’s rate of speed particularly galling when he attempts to take Blaze with him on a run. Blaze will fly around the yard at a full sprint in some imaginary game, but after jogging a quarter mile, he drops back and pretends to be exhausted. If Dale’s route is not one Blaze wishes to follow. Blaze pulls back and sometimes sits down and refuses to move. Blaze is actually adjusting to Dale’s pace. Not Dale’s current pace, but one Blaze has observed before.
Wait a minute. I thought I was slowing down so that Blaze could keep up.