Play with me, somebody, play with me!

Charley has never been a “typical” high-energy border collie. The runt of the litter, she has always been a quiet, calm, steady girl with one exception – she gets very excited and noisy when motorcycles or heavy trucks go by. But the rest of the time? She's friendly enough, likes people, good around all species of animals, but definitely not one to engage in doggy games.

Even though Charley has virtually always had at least one other dog for company, she has seldom actually exhibited play behaviour with them – play-bowing, wrestling, chasing, tumbling. She is never aggressive to others, but simply ignores them and does her own thing - kinda like her human mom!

But every now and then, over the past year, she has suddenly had a notion that age ten is the perfect age to begin to play. First to be invited to play was Isaac, an old dog I fostered during the endstage of his life. One day as Isaac and I were slowly wending our way down the pasture trail, Charley began circling around play-bowing every few feet and barking. “Play with me, Isaac, play with me!”. Isaac had a vague memory of playtime and half-heartedly did a few play-bows and woofs before continuing the walk in his stumbling, lop-sided gait.

Then there was Caleb. Only during the last month of Caleb’s life did Charley routinely try to engage him in play as we returned from the pasture. “Play with me, Caleb, play with me!”. Caleb would give that funny little toothy grin of his and anxiously lean his big brindle body against my legs. “What’s she doin’ mom??? Why is she barking at me??”. Occasionally, very occasionally, Caleb would give chase for a moment or two.

Yesterday, it was Belle that Charley tried to entice into play. It was a beautiful sunny afternoon, the air crisp with the scent of early spring. We had walked to the rise at the back of the pasture, then rested a while – Charley on the ground at my feet, me on the bench, Belle curled up on my lap. As we headed back down, Charley put on her widest grin (she is a dog who really knows how to smile!) and began play-bowing to Belle. “C’mon Belle, it’s spring, play with me!!!”

Charley pranced around, play-bowed, rushed forward then back, yipped and yapped and did all she could to engage the arthritic old lady in a game of chase. Poor Belle didn’t know what to make of it – she stood her ground, head to one side, looking up at me and asking “What the HECK is the matter with Charley?????” Then she eased back her lips and through gritted teeth issued a nervous warning “Grrrr, back off Big Dog, grrrrr.”

Today, Charley tried to entice a piglet or two into a game of chase. The piglets were out in the side/front yard once again (it has become a daily ritual), running around having a ball. Charley went up to Fizz and play-bowed. “Play with me, Fizzy, play with me!” Fizz squealed and ran around but didn’t play-bow back which confused Charley – was the piggy playing or was piggy running away?

So she tried the same thing with Whisper. “C’mon Whisper, play with me!” Whisper touched her snoutie to Charley’s crouched-down collie nose and gave a funny little “erf, erf” before calmly turning around and rooting up some nice fresh grass. "Thank you, Big Dog, but I'm busy right now. It was nice of you to ask though."

Eventually Charley, with a toss of her head and her tail, raced off whippet-like, and tore around the lawn, happy to be free, to feel the sun on her fur and the fresh air in her lungs, even if no one wanted to play with her. No sulking for this girl – she invites others to join in but if they decline then she lets her unbounded joy in life express itself anyway – a truly free spirit who lets nothing and no one drag her down.

Ah, what a way to live one’s life. It has taken me more than fifty years to learn the lesson that Charley has learned in ten – never let others’ lack of enthusiasm for an activity stop you from doing whatever you’d really love to do.

Hmmmm...... but Charley IS seventy in people years, so maybe I’m not such a slow learner after all.