Canine Playing and Fighting

It is good the see the boys playing [i.e., fighting]. They have done this almost everyday for the last 1 1/2 years and have really honed their skills. For example, Nashoba will come up with a new trick: for example, when Leo was much faster than Nashoba, Leo being the fastest dog we’ve ever seen and a year older than Nashoba, on a full speed chase, with Leo right on Nahsoba’s tail, which now Nashoba has learned to keep tucked below his body or indeed Leo will grab hold of it), just before Leo catches him, Nashoba will drop to the ground and roll over with Leo going over him, and then Nashoba comes out of his roll and is at full speed now on the tail of Leo. But Leo will get wise – and then this trick can only be used at exactly the right time, and then at exactly the right time but first with a brand-new feint thrown in to distract Leo! Or, Nashoba learning the body slam – even when smaller than Leo, running at him full speed and them slamming him with his chest, throwing him over – and how Leo has adapted to that, such that now with Nashoba even bigger than Leo, he can only occasionally pull it off on Leo.


So, as much as Leo and Nashoba are “not wild” – they still both practice martial arts for several hours every day – and so, I have to believe that the coyote got himself into a little something more than he was expecting! These weren’t your average Labs. And, it may have been a real high for all of them – living – fighting – running – jumping – and doing it for REALLY big stakes! Like a soldier in battle – something done only a very small fraction of the time one serves as a soldier – but you are supposedly always training for it – well, my boys take their playing/training very seriously!

And it seems, one of the keys to martial arts is to have a wide range of expertly developed tools, that one can improvise with, and so do the truly expected move in an unexpected way with great finesse.