"Marinating" The Ball

As noted before, Pappy is nuts for balls. But not just any balls. Though he finds his little bouncy rubber balls thrilling, somehow tennis balls keep calling him back.

This is because tennis balls have that absorbent fuzzy covering. At the dog park if I take a clean tennis ball and toss it, Pappy is likely to chase it feebly for a second and then let it go. But if he or any other dog has slobbered on the ball and rolled it in the mud, he cannot resist its siren call. We call this a "seasoned" ball. When he's taking a break, he takes the ball back to the water bowl, drops it in while he takes a drink, then looks at me to pick it out of the water and toss it again. This is a "marinated" ball.

The big problem with marinating at home is when he's managed to chew a hole in the ball. When he's finished drinking, he picks the ball out of the bowl and then traipses around the kitchen trailing a stream of water. My wife isn't crazy about this.