Sunday, June 24, 2012

Jazzy meets Balloon!

There's an intruder in the house!  I rarely have balloons in the house, but it was a friend's birthday, so I had one visiting for a few hours.  Jasmine came in from the yard and screeched to a stop way out in the kitchen.  She saw the balloon moving slightly in the living room and was not coming any closer.  She studied it for a moment, moving her head from side to side like she was trying to focus on it, but the more she tried to figure out what this thing was, the more afraid she got.  She was confused as to why the other dogs were running around as if nothing had changed.  




I tried holding the balloon down on the floor so it wouldn't move and perhaps she would feel more confident to come check it out.  She ran into the living room behind me, as far from the balloon as she could get, and she snuck up on it by circling around the coffee table.  It took a long time for her to approach it, even with me holding it still on the floor.  Big brother Brinks thought it was a great toy and was hopping around trying to play with it.  I was afraid he would pop the balloon, but putting him on a down stay nearby helped Jazzy gather enough courage to sneak up on it and sniff it.  And, it kept the balloon safe from harm!




Slowly, I allowed the balloon to move a bit and stand upright on the floor.  Once again, it took awhile for Jazzy to sneak up on it to sniff the strange thing that kept moving and changing shape.  Once I was able to anchor the balloon low to the ground, I played with it myself a bit, bumping it with my hand and controlling its movements.  I guess it looked like I was having fun, because Jazzy inched closer.  Because she can't focus her eyes well, she bumps everything with her nose to find out where in space it is.  She bumped the balloon and it moved away from her.  But, as often happens in situations like these, the balloon then swayed back towards her, and she ran off once again. 





A few more tries, and Jazzy and I were having a grand game!  She would bump the balloon and I would bump the balloon.  Soon she started to bump it over and over again on her own, dancing around and playing on her own.  Any fear had gone away. 




But the whole ordeal wore her out, and she soon found herself wanting a cuddle from big brother Brinks on the dog bed.  How sweet! 






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