Bring it to Momma!

Early on in the crate training process, we learned the more we tired out these little critters, the easier it is to get them to go to sleep at night - all night. We had been taking them on a brisk walk every night, but Baxter, the slovenly one of the two, isn't really thrilled about walks. If he were human, he'd probably be a video game junkie. The good thing is that Baxter has never been the one who had problems settling down at night (again, think slovenly); it was always Bella, so Bella usually gets a walk before bedtime (in fact, tonight she went on a staggering 1.25 mile walk).

Much to my joy and amazement, BnB have both learned to fetch! I've always wanted a dog who could fetch, even though I had no idea how to teach them that trick! Now I have two! On nights when we aren't particularly up for a walk, we use a wicked game of fetch to wear them out. Bella really has the fetch thing down; Baxter does for the most part, but again, if he gets tired, the boy just quits and the game is over.

Because there is still a lot of sibling rivalry, we have to let them take turns playing fetch, otherwise they do nothing but run after whatever it is I toss (ball, toy, etc.), then they fight over it. In this video, if you look closely when Baxter takes his turn, he looks toward the camera while he's running. He's not actually looking at the camera - he's looking to make sure Bella is still being held hostage!

I'm sure as time goes on, these two will not be quite so competitive and we'll be able to have a good game of fetch in the park where some all-out, full-tilt running can take place. Oh, that'll be fun!