These Are a Few of My Favorite Things

What is your favorite thing about your dog?  Just one thing.

This is a question being asked just before the start of Relationship Building Through Play class at the Fenzi Dog Sports Academy.  

What is my favorite thing about Perri?

My favorite thing about Perri is her silliness.  This encompasses her pouncing, her wiggling, the way she bites her lip - but only one side, her turkey gobbles, her chest-puffed-out-poodle running style.  I love seeing her true clownish personality shine through, when she is at rest from her worried "professor" mindset.

What is my favorite thing about Molly?

I love Molly's power.  I can feel it when she collides into me, when she shakes my whole body when we tug together, when I release her from the agility start line, when I throw the ball and the dirt flies out from under her feet.  Again and again and again.  It is physical power and it is mental power.  It is her heart thudding against my legs when we sleep on the couch together and it is watching her muscles move and her long body stretched full out when she runs.  It is every cell in her body and brain launching off of a dock and slamming into a lake.  

What is my favorite thing about Ein?

How can I ever choose a favorite thing about my heart.  My favorite thing about Ein is his joy.  Ein never stops smiling.  He skips around the house in circles with his nub wagging, barking his joy.  Grinning his joy.  Panting it.  It explodes from his handsome face.  When I train him the nub is wagging and the mouth is grinning.  When we hike he is spinning with joy.  When I recall him there is nothing he would rather do but to smile and run to me.  When my alarm rings in the morning he bursts out from under the bed and wags around me, smiling and full of joy.  When we go into the rally ring, the agility ring - joy.  As long as he is with me, he is full of happiness.  The feeling is mutual.