Winter Weather

Oh the weather outside has been frightful and I wish I had a fireplace that was delightful; and I have to go to work today. Let it snow, let is snow, let is snow.

Since the new year the temperature has reached record lows. It has gotten down into the single digits with wind chills below zero and the small amount of snow on the ground has caused panic among the people in my city. Milk and bread are hard to find in almost any store, there is not a single snow shovel for sale, and bags of salt are impossible to find. The worst of it all, Brandon threw the dog's ball on the roof and got it stuck in the snow. Brandon threw the dog's ball on the roof?! Sounds crazy, right?

For over a year Brandon has been wanting Tiko to learn how to catch. It doesn't matter if you throw food, a toy, or a treat Tiko will NOT catch it. He doesn't even try to catch it; instead he just stands there and allows it to smack him in the face until it hits the ground so he can pick it up. Call Brandon crazy, call him determined, call him whatever you like but he refuses to give up on teaching Tiko how to catch.

In his determination last summer Brandon came up with a great idea, throw the ball onto the roof and let it roll off. In the process encourage Tiko to catch it off the roof and bring it back, teaching him to catch! Granted the ball rolling off the roof is the ONLY thing he'll catch but I think this little bit of progress has greatly encouraged Brandon in his goal and Tiko LOVES doing it. Tiko will anxiously await for the ball to hit the gutter and fly into the air so he can jump up and catch it in his mouth. Although he is only successful in actually catching it about half the time he still struts around the yard showing off what he's done each time, even if he picked it up off the ground.

While I was out of the house the other day Brandon took Tiko out to play in the snow. When Tiko began to tire Brandon picked up the ball and threw it on the roof. Tiko perked up and waited for his cue not missing a beat as to what he was suppose to do. Tiko caught the ball and brought it back to Brandon; not thinking that the roof was covered in snow Brandon threw the ball a second time and Tiko got in place to catch it. Due to the snow the ball got stuck and never rolled down the roof. At first Tiko stood still listening for the ball but when he didn't hear where it was "rolling" he started running around the house trying to find where it had fallen and obviously thinking he had missed something. Brandon said it was hysterical watching Tiko running around confusion clearly written on the poor dog's face.

I guess Tiko will have to wait for the snow to melt before he'll be able to catch his ball...