This week’s 52 Snapshots of Life theme is create. I decided this was the prefect reason to finally put into action a little DIY project I’d been meaning to try for Sadie’s entertainment – I created a doggie ball pit. Actually I created two ball pits, as Sadie wasn’t really comfortable with my first attempt.
I began with a laundry hamper. I filled it with all of Sadie’s ball-shaped dog toys, along with some other balls I found around the house. Then I put Sadie inside. She was a little scared at first, like she couldn’t quite find her footing among all the balls. She didn’t really sniff around or play like I imagined she would. She just sat down and stared at me. I played catch with her a little while she sat in the laundry basket ball pit, and she did seem to enjoy that experience. But overall the laundry basket version of a ball pit just wasn’t working for my pup.
So I went back to the drawing board, so to speak. I got out the playpen I had for Sadie when she was a puppy. I poured all the balls into the playpen and let Sadie inside. She immediately started wagging her tail like crazy and ran around trying to sniff each individual ball. Although I didn’t have enough balls to fill up the playpen as much as I envisioned, I think Sadie is happier as a result. She feels safe and comfortable being able to walk among the balls, instead of having to stand on them or push through them. She loves running into the pit and digging through the balls until she finds one she feels like playing with. I think she sees the playpen ball pit as a kind of walk-in toy box. So clearly my creation didn’t turn out exactly like I planned, but I think Sadie still appreciates my efforts.
This post is part of The Lazy Pit Bull‘s #52Snapshots of Life Challenge.