Aren’t there awards for doing 10 of something?

Hey, Gracie Gurley here with Tale #10… and counting.

I have names other than Gracie, most of which I don’t like.

Bad dog (don’t hear that much). Not for you (sometimes). Pokey dog (sometimes). Stinky butt (??). 

But the name I dislike the most is retriever.

Someone was having a bad dog day when they came up with that name..

Who wants to retrieve? 

Even worse, fetch. 

Golden fetcher??

I have a better name.

Catch. 

It feels like… like I’m part of something. 

Daddy throws, I catch. 

We’re a team. 

Here’s the cool thing about our game. Just before daddy throws it, he looks at me. I mean, he really looks at me.

He thinks he’ll trick me with his eyes. He looks one way thinking I’ll go there and then throws it the other way.

He’s so silly. 

But I play along because I love it so much. 

It’s our thing. 

We’re talking to each other, but there’s no sound. 

Just our eyes talking.

It’s way better than the catching part.

I think most dogs are that way. Sometimes we just need a few minutes of you doing nothing but being with us.

Eyes on eyes.

It’s really easy.

We’re right here.

Always ready.

Related Tales from Gracie

Tale #2: Why we lose our minds when you come home. It never fails. Dogs go crazy when the humans come home? Gracie explains why those wild reunions mean so much.

Tale #12: Apparently, I’m only #4. Daddy says golden retrievers aren’t the smartest dogs in the world. Gracie has reviewed the evidence and strongly disagrees.