Hopeful at 17 Weeks
HEARTing

When she was 16 weeks old, Hopeful managed to break a toe and had to be kept quiet for 3 weeks (such fun at that age).  I let her go out when I did GloryToo’s and Cantor’s morning ball session because she would stay pretty quiet around them, not bouncing around.  She thought she was getting to play but I didn’t worry about her banging her toe.  Each playtime I took out a different toy for Hopeful, to keep her busy while I threw the ball for her parents.   

Thankfully, she was content to spend most of the playtime doing her own version of CARROTing .  At least, that’s what I call what her mother (GloryToo) and grandmother (Lively) love to do during part of their morning playtimes. CARROT stands for “Collapse and Roll on Toy,” and that is exactly what GloryToo does.  She drops a shoulder and dramatically oozes onto the ground before going onto her back and waving her legs in the air as she rolls back and forth. 

Hopeful has a different technique.  She plays with the toy for a while and then lies down to rest.  From that down, she rolls onto her back and begins to wave her feet in the air.  She catches the toy with her feet and swats it around or else grabs it with her mouth and waves it.  Sometimes she tosses it up and catches it – still on her back.  

I finally came up with a different name for what Hopeful does, what has become her signature move.  She doesn’t collapse at all.  For a while she’ll stand or sit and slam the toy across both her shoulders, or toss it up in the air and catch it.  Then she’ll lie down with it and be peaceful for a short time before she rolls onto her back and plays with the toy.  Again, she is different from GloryToo:  she likes to toss it up and catch it, still while lying on her back.  Or she will put both front feet straight into the air and hold it, waving it back and forth with her feet as she bites at it. 

After a lot of thought, I came up with HEART, which stands for “Hold, Elevate And Roll with the Toy.”  So that’s now Hopeful’s claim to fame.  Hopefully, when she becomes a therapy dog, she will be good at visiting the schools and I’ll write books about her for the kids to read, like I’m doing for GloryToo.  And every book will have little hearts hidden in its pages for the kids to search for, like they search for the hidden carrots in GloryToo’s books.  But that’s a long time in the future, because Hopeful has to be at least a year old before she can test to be a therapy dog.  And once she is certified, she will need some experience visiting the nursing homes before I take her to the schools, which can be too exciting for a young dog.  But that’s all in the future. 

to more seventeen-week photos:  playing with toys
to more seventeen-week photos:  learning to catch a tossed ball or toy (hilarious)
to Hopeful HEARTing at 14 weeks
to Hopeful HEARTing at 16 weeks
to Hopeful’s page
to the SS litter page