# Play ball!!!!



## Bruce (Dec 17, 2016)

No one told me GPs like to play with balls!

Now before anyone gets into "LGDs are guard dogs, not 'go fetch' dogs", I did NOT buy him a ball and try to get him to play with me. 

He chose to stay out in the snow this morning while I was working in the barn. I looked out the window and he was lying (sorry, alertly guarding) in the snow just behind the barn. The next time I looked out to see if he was still there I saw him digging in the alpacas' poop pile.  OK, kinda gross. Then he reached down into it and pulled out a ball of frozen alpaca poop. OK, REALLY gross. He proceeded to throw it and then pounced on it. I didn't watch to see if he was going to eat it   He's getting as much food as he wants (the same kind he was eating at @purplequeenvt's) so I assume he wasn't looking for "nutrition".  

Anyone else's GPs, or LGDs in general, play poopcicleball??


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## Ferguson K (Dec 17, 2016)

Our girls have a lizard they carry around. They play with it, steal it from each other, etc. They even hide it from the goats. 

When they see me watching them they pretend they didn't do it. 

9/10 though they're working. .... that 1/10 is usually pretty comical.


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## frustratedearthmother (Dec 17, 2016)

My dogs love, love, love to play.  Mostly it's with each other - but sometimes they find a toy.  Gracie, the English Shepherd, is a bad influence because she IS a go fetch dog and she rubs off just a tiny bit on Cowboy.  He will at least pick up a Frisbee and crunch it a time or two before he lets her have it back, lol. 

I did catch Cowboy playing with some rope the other day....the rope we used to tie down the tarp over the round bales....


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## Bruce (Dec 17, 2016)

He was just helping, making sure they were tight!

Is there anything I should consider giving him to play with? Like one of those big rope chew things? After all, the "ball" he found isn't the sort of thing he can dig up year round.

He tried to get the alpacas to play a few mornings ago. Classic "puppy" jump up and come down on forelegs with butt in the air, tail wagging. They weren't going for it. I'm not sure what GP/Alpaca play would look like if they had taken him up on it. Maybe I'll find out one day. I'm pretty sure though that having your LGD playing with its charges is not a thing to be encouraged. In fact, isn't that something the LGD pups have to be taught NOT to do?


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## purplequeenvt (Dec 17, 2016)

He's used to having his brothers around to play with. One of his brothers will carry a tennis ball around, but doesn't have a clue what to do if it's thrown.


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## Bruce (Dec 17, 2016)

Better a tennis ball than a frozen ball of alpaca poop!


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## CntryBoy777 (Dec 17, 2016)

Better to give 'Ear Scrubs' than to receive 'Kisses' IMO!!


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## Bruce (Dec 17, 2016)

Certainly in this case!!! Interestingly he has never tried to give kisses. I don't know if @purplequeenvt trained him out of it or he is just not a kisser. OK by me, he has a big sloppy tongue.


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