TAKE A LOOK AT SPUNKYS' WEBSITE
Hi, My name is Ken. A number of years ago, while camping in Utah, we came upon a little puppy who was all alone. We searched and searched for his owners. We kept him close to camp, fed him, gave him water and generally cared for the little guy hoping someone would claim him before our camping trip was over. I vowed that we were not going to take him home with us even though our kids begged and pleaded and promised that they would feed him and clean up after him. You know that story right?
Sunday afternoon our new puppy was cuddled up in the back of our station wagon, fast asleep with the kids, on the way to his new home.
We decided to name him Spunky. After all he is very much so. Spunky is a Maltese Poodle weighing about 12 pounds. He is white with large black and grey splotches. He must be the smartest, most playful, spunkiest little dog I have every had.
I believe he was born with the fetch instinct completely developed. His mission in life is to fetch anything you throw. His favorite object to retrieve is a new tennis ball but he'll try sticks, shoes, buckets, trees. You name it, he's game. He has learned how to push large objects such as a basketball or soccer ball by putting his front legs on top of the ball and pushing it forward with his belly while hopping along on his back legs. How smart is that? Panting, he says "this is a lot of work!" his tongue hanging almost to the ground.
You need to be very careful when throwing rocks because if he can jump up and catch it he will. From a (canine) dental standpoint this is not a good practice.
Throwing pebbles into a creek for Spunky is great fun while presenting painful sinus problems for him. Spunky will go anywhere, do anything for the cause. With head underwater in the stream, where all little pebbles look alike, he will try sniffing to scent his pebble. He'll come up sputtering with nose dripping (you know that's gotta burn) and ears sopping wet. But in his mouth will be the rock. Maybe not the same rock, or maybe it is the same rock, but a rock nevertheless.
Whether your dog is naturally talented like Spunky or not, I hope you both have as much fun as we do.
All the best.
Ken
If your dog was not born with the fetch instinct check out this great resource.
