Monday, March 30, 2009

Tennis Ball Hunter


Bailey, my Labrador Retriever, is an intense hunter. Of tennis balls, that is. And sometimes sticks or very large branches. However, when it comes to living things that run, fly or otherwise scamper around... she has absolutely zero interest.

While this is a wonderful thing when you take into account the fact that I also have cats and birds as pets, I do think it's odd. I got her from a great breeder in Colorado and what I find amusing is that her bloodlines are full of champion hunters.

Now, I did NOT get her for hunting purposes whatsoever (I'm not a fan of hunting at all). And at the time, I didn't really understand the difference between the hunting and show dogs - I just wanted a lab from a good breeder. And what I also find funny is that out of a large litter of puppies, I just happened to choose what was probably the only non-hunter of the bunch.

Lucky for me, I say. And hey, she IS a hunter. Of tennis balls. So to all tennis balls out there... beware.


3 comments:

DogsDeserveFreedom said...

I love it. Having a retriever mix at home, I know what it's like to live with such a hunter.

I wanted to pop by and thank you for coming by my blog in March! I hope to hear from you again in April.

DogsDeserveFreedom

shadows said...

Hi,The world record for the most tennis balls held in the mouth by a dog at one time is five. Augie, a golden retriever owned by the Miller family in Dallas, Texas, USA, successfully gathered and held all five regulation-sized tennis balls on July 6, 2003.

AmyKathryn said...

If Bailey gets back to her tennis ball hunting self, you can get "used" tennis balls (they don't have enough bounce for regulation play, but are GREAT for fetch) really cheap on e-bay. I got a case of 100 (a case of paper's box worth) for about $30!) Unfortunately Tasha is enough of a hunter of critters for several dogs :( She gets excited about balls, but really still doesn't play much. Blaze on the other hand...he'll chase balls all day (and not bring them back...hence the quantity!)