Home to first in like nothing flat.

My dog and I happened to be walking today and we decided to take an off-leash run around the local fenced-in baseball park. We begin by making a lap around the outside edge of the park, alternating between racing each other and play chasing. We finish the lap and come back towards home plate, when doggy suddenly notices there are some large puddles in the infield. Most noticeably there is a large one near both home plate and first base.

He sees the puddle, and there is a fraction of a second of recognition before he SPRINTS directly into the water and begins splashing around exactly as you might expect an individual to do when he is having just about the greatest time of his life. He plays in the home plate puddle and challenges me to join him. He pretend charges me and then runs back to the home plate puddle and continues to frolic...

Then... he stops... as he often does while calculating the next move... He glances at the first base puddle and is OFF WITH A FLASH.... sprinting directly down the base line at top speed.. heading for that first base puddle.....

but he doesn't go directly to the puddle, which is offset a few feet to the left of the actual base.

instead, he sprints directly down the line, directly towards the base...

as he approaches the base he LEAPS... a perfectly timed leap on the very last step, landing on the base and then using the base as a springboard to propel himself into the nearby puddle.... where he continues to frolic and invite me to join him.

i just laughed because i knew it was yet another one of those moments that i'll be thankful to have been involved in. there are several every single day.

now, did he know it was a baseball base and the game involved sprinting from home to first?

well, he has watched some baseball, and he's very, very smart. but even so, i doubt it.

i find it funny enough that this puppy loves to play and frolic in dirty puddles on baseball fields, and loves to run from home plate directly to first base instead of going directly to the next puddle he wants to play in, simply because the base is a fun, soft cushiony thingy from which to jump into the nearby puddle.

that's funny enough, and if you doubt that he knew beforehand both that it was something he wanted to do, and that it was something i would find funny, well, all i can say is i truly think you're wrong.



GOOD BOY, episode something.