Beignet and her ball

 After each day after school this week, when I had a little bit more energy to expend, I threw the ball in my backyard with my dog Beignet. Beignet is my family's one-year-old golden retriever.  My backyard is not a great area for a dog to retrieve balls in. It is an old red brick courtyard, surrounded by the U-shape of my house. The center of my yard is consumed by a pool. A trampled garden is near the right wall of the yard, the wall that separates our property from our neighbor's. A lot of the garden is taken up by bushes and a big oak tree. There are also palmettos and banana trees. Even a large wooden table and chairs take up some space. It is not an ideal place for throwing the ball but Beignet loves it.

It is just an ordinary tennis ball that Beignet found when she was taking a stroll through our neighborhood. Not to her, though. She has plenty of chew toys, ropes, bones, etc. but if she could chose one thing to play with it would be that stupid ball. Several times a day she will come up to one of my family members or me and try to put her puppy-dog magic on us so that we will throw the ball with her. I finally decided to start doing it once that I felt a little better from mono. I'd throw at least fifteen times, and each time she will trot back to me with the same amount of energy she first started with. And then, once you grab the ball out of her mouth and hold it up, her bottom lip will start quivering from anxiety. She is THAT attached. 

Throwing the ball to me is like a marathon of America's funniest home videos. This may sound callous, but it's funny watching her run into the wall or not being able to find it. Most of the time, she will start running before I even let go. I don't know if it's the purebred retriever in her or if she's just crazy, because I have never seen a dog so determined to find and bring back a silly old tennis ball.