"Good Puppy"

A couple of weeks ago, we had gone to our friends' home to see about puppy sitting for them for a weekend while they went south to visit family. Their oldest son, Chase, played with Rowena. Because Rowena is not fully "Child approved" yet, I watched closely as the two of them interacted. I began a game of fetch which Chase continued with the vigor of the energetic two-year old that he is. Throwing the toy overhand as hard as he could, Chase managed to get the toy to fly maybe five feet. Didn't matter. Just as enthusiastically, Rowena pounced to action to fetch the toy. Then she'd gallop back to Chase and dropped the toy at his feet. She'd then sit and look up at him eagerly awaiting Chase's next throw. The gentleness that Rowena had with Chase pleased me. It's like she understood how fragile Chase is, that he wouldn't be able to hold up against her thirty-two pounds of bounding energy with out being knocked over. It was wonderful to see how well Rowena responded to Chase... even with Chase's baby pronunciation, she pretty much understood what he was asking of her. It was a proud moment for me to see this all unfolding.