[ Post a Response | Ripley's Retreat ]
Posted by ednaz
on 10/15/2008, 5:59 pm, in reply to "Aussie play style? Or Chinook just being Chinook..."
Funny. When Sam plays with me - we play knockdown dragout wrestling games - you can tell by the tone of his growling and snarling that he's putting it on. He'll grab my arm in his mouth, for example, and his stance, sound, and body movement looks like he's going to rip my arm off - but there won't even be a tooth dent in my arm. Big drama. However, it makes Foster crazy - if he can, he'll attack Sam with a vicious scold attitude.
When they play - and it's almost always Sam who flails around on his back, nips at Fozzie's paws, and otherwise invites mayhem - it's much the same. Sam makes overly dramatic wailing and growling noises, Foster sounds like he's serious and out of control even when he's NOT serious and out of control. And then, something in his head goes click and he's not so playful, but is suddenly truly aggressive. Sam will fall over on his side and give off a huge, sad sigh and wait for Foster to decompress. Sam will often lay there looking forlorn for a long time.
Makes Sam crazy. Foster's play, what there is of it, is almost completely due to Sam's patient teaching, but Sam wishes he had a buddy who'd flail around on the floor with him and knock things over for 20 minutes at a time. Even at his age, Sam will chest butt, neck wrestle, and otherwise play fight with dogs at the dog park for a half hour at a time. The Fozz just can't handle much of it.
Still, it's lovely and uplifting (really, can't think of a better word to describe how we feel when we see Foster being a real dog) when they do play, even for a few seconds. Seeing a foster entice real play gave me that warm and fuzzy feeling.
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