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07 April 2010

In case you ever had any question about Otterpop's hobby. We all have these things to do we enjoy. Me, for instance? I find it relaxing to type out little stories. I also enjoy dog agility, wandering around, taking photos, and walking briskly in solitary venues. I like to draw things with pens or small brushes. I have some collections, mainly, but not limited to vintage deer and squirrel statuettes, paint by numbers of horses standing still, naive paintings of small black dogs, old commemorative plates with decorate state maps, and sub standard taxidermy. I'm a simple person, these things amuse me to no end. Dogs, I think, also enjoy hobbies, although I am not sure if they view them as such. Otterpop takes what at first glance, seems to be a hobby, very seriously. Likely for her, somewhere, deep inside, is genetically hardwired for her to MUST HAVE STICK. It could be worse. Like the people who wear wigs to Star Trek conventions? Stick can be a seaweed, or a tree branch, a chunk of driftwood, or a fence post. She's not very picky, as long as it's the biggest one. Her eyes go glazey, and if you take it from her and throw it more than once or twice, her pupils upgrade to total screwball, and the manic demon inside takes over. Stick can send her over to her dark side. That's Star Wars talk, if you are wearing a wig. Fetching Stick is fine, but the main draw of the fetching part of hobby is the possession. She's a collector. This is something that she has to have. She knows it when she sees it. One Stick per day is how it works. This particular stick pictured in today's photoshoot was drug up and down the beach, up and over the sea wall, pulled up the high rocks, and even yanked out of her mouth and thrown in the sea for her to retrieve by a brave, wetsuited surfer. Otterpop does all of her own stuntwork, by the way. I know obsession with things is a pretty standard herding dog behavior. Not sure what Otterpop was designed to herd. Sticks seem to work well for her. Because once she has collected, she likes to spend some quality time chewing on and barking at. Do border collies enjoy this with sheep? Is this why we have agility, to keep sheep safer? It's not really a hobby for the whole family. I would say, me and the other dogs, we all like sticks ok, but not to the degree of obsession that Otterpop has about Stick. We are all, on the whole, less obsessive types than she is. That's ok, everybody has their own thing. Gary shouts at gentleman playing sports on tv. Ruby goes to bingo. Everybody needs to be a little bit different. We do other things together. Agility. Walking around. Hell, most of the time I am just going to work and don't even have time for hobby. So have at it, Otterpop. Enjoy.
by team small dog at 5:28 AM Elayne said...

I'll bet Otterpop is more interesting than most of the people on Twitter.

April 7, 2010 at 1:02 PM tundrah said...

Does her head screw around in owl-like circles when she has Stick? It sure looks like it in some of those pics...

Diego's obsession involves nuzzling/nursing on blankets/toys/beds/etc. I have to clean the fuzz out from between his front teeth. Cute.

At least Otterpop has an exciting hobby.

April 7, 2010 at 2:12 PM 
Yeah, unfortunately Otterpop can screw her head and body around in some weird contortions to get stick or frisbee. It is not always pretty. But she always wins.

I am afraid if she was a person, she would be a total Twitter abuser. We are glad she is just a dog.

April 7, 2010 at 10:26 PM some random female said...

I LOVE that first picture. So Otterpop! So herding breed girl!

Also, her teeth are just lovely!

April 8, 2010 at 3:42 AM Cynthia Blue said...

Hehe, that looks like one awesome stick!

April 8, 2010 at 2:53 PM Elf said...

My first dog was maybe almost like that. I called her Stick Dog. She got it from her mother, who used to find, say, a log (really, I mean as in yule log fireplace type) in the woods and drag it over to be thrown, and then you'd heave it into the woods and she'd haul it back again. It had to be *that* log. Fortunately my dog didn't inherit the log variant of the gene.

April 9, 2010 at 4:17 PM 
My first dog, a Vizsla, liked sticks that were long and complicated - she liked branches with twigs. If it made her hold her head up to carry it, it was a good stick. My second dog, a Golden Retriever, liked sticks that were massive. If it was a log and she could physically lift it, it was Her Stick. The good thing is that they never tried to get the same stick, because they had such different preferences.

This is sounding like some sort of metaphor, but really, it was just about sticks.

April 12, 2010 at 8:49 AM