Playing dogs – Donna and the Schnauzer

Donna has a few friends in the neighbourhood that she likes to play with. The trouble is, we don’t actually bump into these friends very often simply because the dogs get walked at different times by grandparents, by domestic helpers, by working humans, etc, etc.

Donna generally would love to approach any dog but I sometimes have to rein her in because some small dogs are very vocal about the mongrel and I have no idea whether these small dogs are just barking for joy or barking a warning.

Lassie the Schnauzer is a quiet dog that tenses and stands very still whenever Donna and I chance to walk past. We’ve chatted somewhat, but because the schnuazer usually seems so tense, Donna only gets a passing sniff of the schnauzer as we hurry past.

At first I thought this was inevitable, since my previous experience with senior dogs was that they just didn’t like to play with Donna. And yes, Lassie the Schnauzer is a senior dog about 10-years-old.

So imagine my surprise when the third time we encountered this particular senior Schnauzer, he seemed to have lost some of his tenseness. In fact, he became downright friendly and playful after a while.

And once they started, they didn’t seem to want to stop! :D

Here are photos of them playing and wrestling around. ; ) I can only assume that the small space may have influence they play behaviour to focus on wrestling rather than chasing each other around in wide arcs (which is something that Donna likes to do.)

I personally think Lassie the Schnauzer looks very debonair with his fringe over one eye. Donna just looks silly with all her weird and funny facial expressions caught in the action shots. :P

with 2 Brown Dawgs
and Heart Like a Dog.