Housemate's boyfriend has a yellow labrador retriever who is at our house most of the time. He's a handsome, charismatic dog with one unusual trait: he chases shadows endlessly. The kitchen walls now have smudgy paw prints and nose marks from all of his lunges and leaps after our reflections. At Eastover some of the guests were a little disturbed by the way this dog appears possessed in his determination to capture the shadows cast by the candles.
I'm guilty of encouraging him, from time to time, making shadow puppets and running them along the walls or the floor.
To get him away from the walls, I recommend using a laser pointer. My dog goes absolutely nuts for it. Just run it back and forth along the floor.
Posted by: Dave | April 15, 2004 at 10:01 AM
I recommend training him to chase squirrels. I did this to my friend's German shepherd; in fact, he got so manic for squirrels that he responded to anyone yelling "Squirrel!" by running towards the largest tree in the yard and barking like, well, a dog.
Posted by: Scipio | April 15, 2004 at 12:49 PM