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Nikita was my first Siberian and, as such, taught me many things. One of the very important things was that a Sibe, when bored, will invent their own games. For example, Nikita was a master at catch.
Now, mind you, not fetch. Fetch implied that she was to bring back something that you threw. Never, never, never would Nikita bring something back. But catch was an absolute blast.
Amazingly, I found catch somewhat boring since I would throw something, Nikita would catch it, and then she would run to the other end of the yard. Then I would have to find something else to throw.
So, since I would not always play, Nikita played her own games of catch. Of course, that included catch the squirrel, or possum, or raccoon, or . . . But I was referring to the non-living objects. As an example, she would throw a branch in the air and catch it. She could do that for hours. Apparently catch and throw it in the air again was far more entertaining then catch and bring it back to the person who threw it.
One afternoon, I pulled into the driveway from work. In the backyard, Nikita was running around and playing catch. She threw the object high in the air and then caught it as it came back to earth – CLACK!
Clack? Branches don’t go clack. Dirt clods don’t go clack. Even squirrels don’t go clack (though maybe they go “Ack!”).
CLACK.
I look carefully and she has a round object and is heaving it several feet in the air and then . . . CLACK!
Is that crazy dog catching a rock? I go racing into the yard with visions of dental bills dancing in my head.
CLACK.
Cool – new game – keep the object away from your owner AND play catch.
CLACK. Run, run, run. CLACK. Run, run, run. CLACK. Run, run, run. CLACK.
Finally, she zigs when the object zags and it falls to the ground in a thud. I just beat her to it only to discover one very dizzy, very tired turtle.
The turtle was released unharmed into a Siberian free zone.
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The best part: “Cool – new game – keep the object away from your owner AND play catch.
CLACK. Run, run, run. CLACK. Run, run, run. CLACK. Run, run, run. CLACK. ”
Been there before. (insert different sound here) run, run, run.
Lmao!
Crazy Sibes!!! Always good when the “toy” can be saved and returned to the wild.
I thought I had read all of your stories but this one was a first! Glad you saved the turtle!!
Sibes are such a joy!
What a story. Never saw it coming.
Wow . . . Nikita was impressive and so was the turtle! I’m sure the turtle had great stories to tell about the experience. I was laughing about the the catch and toss but never catch and return. I learned that with my malamute/shepherd mix (Amarok). The first time I tossed a ball for him to catch, he did and then ran a bit and dropped it. Then looked for me to throw something else. If we were at the dog park and another dog was playing catch with its owner, Amarok loved to chase the dog who caught it. The other dogs always seemed a little confused by this behavior but they weren’t Huskies or Malamutes so didn’t understand the “real way” catch should be played. 🙂 LOL
Wow Hu-Dad since yesterday’s post was about a turtle herd encountered on their walk I thought it was so cute that this story was about one as well. BUT this poor turtle didn’t have such an easy time of it. Nikita sounds like she had such a fun time of catch with that turtle and glad it was okay after her catching session. Great to see an older Wayback Wednesday!