Charlie ~ My Little Athlete

I may need to become a "soccer mom" even though I have no children.

Let me explain...

A couple of weeks ago, we visited family including my 6-year-old nephew, Tyler. He's involved in just about any sport you can name, and most recently soccer. During the visit, Charlie and Tyler got to playing with his soccer ball which he had brought with him.

I often have to check on Charlie when she's off playing with people because everyone thinks it's so cool how she fetches over and over and over again, however they fail to realize that she's about to die of exhaustion. This dog of mine has no "off" switch; she will literally fetch until she keels over and dies. So I find myself giving humans a time-out from playing with Charlie and have even hidden her toys to make sure she stops and takes a break. (This doesn't always work, because Charlie will then scrounge up sticks, acorns, and any little bit of something she can coax someone into throwing for her.)

Anyway, when I went to check on Charlie and saw that she was playing soccer, I was pretty impressed! Charlie has always been a bit of a "goalie" when it comes to playing ball, but she was interacting with Tyler as if she knew how to play soccer.

And then Tyler turns to me and says, "she's pretty good!"

Oh how I beamed. I glowed. I have an athletic dog. I am a soccer mom.

...

It's been a little while since that weekend, and now every time we go out to the backyard, Charlie wants to play soccer. With me.

Honestly, I try my best, but I am not as agile or athletic as my young nephew. The good thing is, Charlie doesn't seem to mind. In fact, the only thing that seems to bother her is when I try to go back inside and she wants to keep playing.

Ah, the joys of summer. Long days, warm temperatures and soft, green grass to play on. I typically sigh and smile at the antics of this silly dog of mine and give in - once again - to her exercise demands and play a little longer.

That's what soccer moms do.

 

It's really hard to get photos of myself playing soccer with Charlie, so if you're at all curious about what we're using to play "dog soccer" you can check out my March blog post reviewing the Chuckit! Fetch Ball. Interestingly, I had commented in that post how I was looking forward to playing with it in fields of green grass and testing its floating capabilities... guess that is coming full circle now! I'll bring it along to our camping trip this weekend and hopefully catch some photos of it in the water.

(I purchased the Chuckit! Fetch Ball with my own funds and did not receive any free product for my review; my opinions are all my own!)