Ball Catcher

Our Shelties have the elegant prance of a fine thoroughbred horses. 

Mator, on the other hand, has the staccato strut of a windup toy. As he walks along, his short, pointy tail moves in perfect sync with his hind legs...back and forth, swish, swish like wiper blades on a car.

One ear is always up.

And the other ear flops down. 

My husband always jokes that he has one Corgi ear (up) and one Schnauser ear (down). 

The bit in between the ears is a mystery. 

Half way on the drive to the leash-free dog park Mator's short, stubby Corgi limbs start to quake with anticipation. 

Does he recognize the scenery and know where we are going? 

No longer able to contain his excitement, he dashes over and under the bigger dogs in the backseat to run from one window to the other on the opposite side of the car. He whines in a high-pitched way that almost sounds like birdsong and stretches his paws up to see out the car window, "Are we there yet?"

By the time the car has pulled into a parking spot, Mator has wormed his way to the front of the line and has his nose pressed to the glass of the car's back window. 

Opening the door is like launching a rocket. Mator is at the park's gate in under 5 seconds.

For Mator the park is one party after another.

For the Shelties the park is about getting down to business. 

They are all work and no play.

There are balls to be caught after all!

Lately Mator has been cutting in on their act. In fact, he has become quite the ball catching machine!

Mator has been even outstripping Scrap, who is our fastest runner. 

His true arch nemesis however, is Rusty. Rusty is not only the closest in size to Mator, he is just about as cute and loveable.

Mator does everything to bate and tease poor Rusty. He routinely stands at the bottom of the stairs waiting for Rusty to desend. There is a glint of pure mischief in his eyes and a set of little devil horns threatening to emerge from somewhere behind his ears. 

When poor Rusty reaches the bottom, Mator jumps all over him and gives him grief. 

Their rivalry extends to the park as well.

Oh, oh it's a car crash as Rusty grabs for the ball!

Hey Mator, no fair, I had that ball first! 

Hehehe!

It seems there is no stopping Mator now!

"Outa my way big boy, that ball's mine!"

Hehehe!

Have a great weekend everyone!