Play dammit!

I got Rocky a year ago when he was 8 years old after his previous owner left him at the pound.

I discovered after I brought him home that Rocky had apparently not been properly socialized with other dogs. At least that's the doggie psychoanalytical reason. He may also just have been a lunkhead.

One social grace he lacked was that he had no idea what it was to play. Whenever Stella tried to play with him, he would either freeze or he would take it as aggression and bark and run away. It probably didn't help that Stella's idea of play was to smack him on the back of his head with her paw or whack him with a big stick.

Now Stella's not the most subtle nor brightest girl around but she is persistent and over the course of the year, has finally succeeded in teaching Rocky how to play, at least on her terms. This morning they played for a good 15 minutes which compared to past play sessions was like a marathon.

You can see how when Stella first tried to get Rocky to play tug with the stick, he was still a little uncertain and mouthed her throat a couple of times like he was about to vampire bite her but then he clued in and the tug of war began.

After they finished, Stella celebrated her hard work and achievement with Rocky's social development by taking a break to eat the stick. Like I said, she's not the brightest girl.