take me to the river, drop me in the water

Very dull, rainy morning with nothing much happening either on the boards or in my brain, which still seems to have the internal consistency of overcooked cabbage; by two thirty I felt like gnawing my own leg off, so I said fuck this for a lark, gathered up some balls and the Black Pack and headed for the river.

We had a blast... Max was beside himself at all the reeds and cowpats to investigate, and I thought he'd explode when he saw a swan. He barked a great deal... He's a long way from Spike's level of understanding and obedience, but he's improved a great deal. He hasn't buggered off for about a week, and he now pays attention and obeys when I make the 'run in this direction' hand gesture... his recall is improving as well; it's not always easy to get him back on the lead yet but he will reliably turn back towards me when called. Yay Puppy! He's also learned what 'go and find your ball' means, which is helpful, and although he's still very noisy and irritating around strange dogs he's become much more confident and less defensive - at least in part because he knows Spike's got his back in case of emergencies. (Spike, in fact, has felt this way almost from day one, and once got in a fight with one of his best friends after Max put his big foot in it - he's unsurprisingly good at this pack leader business...)

Spike was his usual charming, challenging self... we danced, he swam, he fetched balls and occasionally tortured Max by abandoning his own ball and whipping Max's out unexpectedly from under his nose at the last second. This is a regular game now with the Black Pack, and both of them enjoy it, but there's an edge to it all the same. Max will chase Spike, trying to grab the ball back, until Spike gets bored or distracted and decides he wants his own ball back. In the early days Max could never get close to Spike despite his superior speed (Spike is slower, but his acceleration, brakes and steering are far better than Max's) - but Max is starting to develop his own tactics to counter Spike's dodging and twisting, such as simply running up the back of him and grabbing his arse... he's also getting more agile and coordinated himself as he gets older. Spike still has the edge, but he's having to work a lot harder to keep it...

Spike also made a point of lying down in a pool of mixed liquid mud and cowpat shortly before I took him home... I made him rinse off in the river, and he countered me by splashing through every mud-filled pothole on the way home. Damn, I love that evil bugger...