Recess

On Wednesday, April 27th, I took our dog Moe to a Pet Therapy Day at a local college.  The day is hosted in the Spring and the Fall for students who are away from home and miss their pets, as well as anyone who needs a bit of "doggy" therapy.  This was Moe's first time to attend.  In past Pet Therapy days, I've taken Piper, our border collie, and Winston, our English Setter.



Moe in full slump.

 Moe was a standout favorite.  He is a smaller field setter, possibly mixed with some hound, a tri-color, and has the best face ever.  Plus, he is VERRRY laid back and after about his first 40 minutes of receiving adoring pats and comments, he showed just how excited he was by doing the Moe slump to the ground.  The Moe slump is this slow-motion roll to the ground that Moe does when (1) he doesn't want to do what you are asking; (2) he is very tired; (3) he wants you to pet him and spend some time with him or (4) he wants you to feel sorry for him.  He uses it well and wisely.  I always know that the Moe slump is unfounded if I can say the word TREAT and up pops Moe into a sitting position.  That's the "out" I used at Pet Therapy Day.

After our hour at Pet Therapy Day, to reward Moe, I took him for a walk to the park.  I put him on the long line we have so he could be freer and enjoy himself.  The park is just behind an elementary school in our area.  It was about 1:30 when I found myself on the part of the trail that is directly across from the school.  Suddenly I hear a bell and two doors to the building opened.  There is a playground behind the school, and the school is surrounded by high chain link fence.  Within minutes, about 40 kids came POURING at full speed out of the double doors.  I stopped to watch them run in all directions....some to the playground equipment, some to the soccer goals, some to the basketball court.  It reminded me of the time I watched a bunch of ants that had been having a large annual ant conference, run en masse in all directions after a dive-bombing bird spotted their convention.  Moe was transfixed as well.

The kids quickly gravitated toward whatever they needed to expend all of the energy they had harbored during their last interval of class time.  Swings were pumping, slides were mobbed, basketballs were flying and some, who were not quick enough to grab anything, were simply running around in circles.

I continued my walk on the trail, then doubled back.  I was just in time to see the children now responding to whistles, lining up, and walking as quiet as little mice in our rock walls when our cat Harry is around.

All of this got me to thinking about our dogs and RECESS.  Dogs are very much creatures who need to expend energy.  When you let our dogs out to the yard, you'd better stay out of the way.  In fact, you are probably making a huge mistake even uttering the word O-U-T.  You can't even spell it in our house.  You can't even spell it backwards.  But it's RECESS!!!!

They've sat quietly in the house, often dormant for hours, trying to please us in whatever we ask.  Taking their little dog naps, following us upstairs and down for some interim energy breaks....but it isn't until they go OUT that RECESS begins!

Here's a video of what happens when our dogs go out on recess at our house.     This was taken this past summer, and shows Moe and Piper having a great time expending their long pent doggy energy (this is about 3 hours of pent up energy).  And the end of the video isn't even when they stopped.  It went on for quite a while.

I've learned that you just have to let the dogs have their recess time quite often in order to have happy, healthy dogs.  Even older dogs need some enthusiastic times.  Our Winston rallies every time there is an OUT.  Maybe not for very long, but long enough to show he still values recess. 

And when recess is done, they all file in quietly, finding a pillow or comfy couch cushion to take a nap and be the wonderful, quiet dogs they are in the house.

Aaaarrrrooooooo