Mercy at Morning Playtime
9 years old
12/28/24

Mercy had her 9th birthday on December 20th.  She’s still quite lively, showing no signs of arthritis so far.  Several years ago, we had a very hot summer, bad drought and lots of fires.  The smoke and dust blew constantly, and she ended up getting a hematoma.  I got her to the vet immediately, but it still ruined her ear. 

We had better light during Mercy’s ball session.  The clouds lifted enough during Mercy’s ball time that the Big Horns to the south, or the foothills to the east, are visible in some of the photos.  Such an interesting day of weather.  When Hesed, Varoom! and I came for the last playtime, tiny snow pellets pelted us for a minute or two.

Mercy has high booty drive (desire to possess the toy) and refuses to bring her ball close to me.  It’s a constant fight to get her to drop it within reach of the Chuck-it.  I got several photos of her waiting, just out of reach, for me to pick up the ball and throw it.  Just as I try to stretch to get it, she’ll race in and grab it and the “game” starts all over again.  It’s a special nuisance when I’m taking photos as the camera with its big lens is pretty heavy and so if I bend too far forward to get the ball and throw it with the Chuck it in my left hand, I still am slow focusing the camera and miss good shots.  In one series, the ball bounced into the puppy obstacle run, so Mercy had to go around to the gate and enter to get her ball.  They love the searching that this entails.

You can occasionally see some “prey drive” hair standing up on Mercy’s withers and back, though it’s not as obvious as it was in Pascha’s photos.