Introducing a new, exciting game from the creative team that brought you Bowl Ball and Dog House Ball. It’s Tissue Box Ball!
Tissue box ball started with one of those battery operated dog toys that bounce and vibrate and bark at your dog. The protective bag over this crazy dog ball ripped, so I was looking for some alternative covering to protect my floor and Sadie from the hard plastic of the ball. I had just taken the last tissue from a box and randomly decided to drop the crazy ball into the tissue box. It fit perfectly and made the tissue box jump and dance across the floor in a very entertaining way. From that moment on, a tissue box became Sadie’s favorite playtime accessory.
Multiple times a day, Sadie will be playing with one of her squeaky balls and will drop it into one of the tissue boxes I leave on the floor for her. She then uses her paws to bat the tissue box around on the floor. She likes to make the box flip over and over until her ball drops out. Then she squeaks her ball again for a bit, before dropping it into a tissue box again. Occasionally the tissue box will get pushed into an inconvenient position, so Sadie picks it up with her mouth and moves the box to a better location before starting to bat it around again. She also enjoys having multiple boxes to choose from, which has led to there being eight to ten tissue boxes on my living room floor. But the tissue boxes on the floor are well worth it when I see Sadie’s smiling face as she runs from box to box deciding which one her ball should go into next.
In my latest attempt at entertaining Sadie, I’ve invented yet another new game for her that I like to call Dog House Ball. For this game, I use one of Sadie’s little squeaky balls and her pink dog house. On the floor of her dog house I keep a blanket spread out to make it more cushy for her. When we play Dog House Ball, I bury the ball within the blanket in her dog house. Sadie then goes nuts digging around her dog house, trying to get to the ball. For some reason, Sadie will not go completely into her dog house when searching for her ball. She uses her snout and front paws to dig around, while keeping her back paws on the floor outside the house. It’s pretty funny to watch her digging around when all you see is dog butt sticking out of the dog house. But aside from the entertainment factor, I like Dog House Ball because it takes a bit longer to play than Bowl Ball. I can bury the ball for her, and then I know Sadie will be happily digging away for the next five minutes or so. It’s a great game to play while I’m cooking, because her dog house is near the kitchen, so I can start the game and then watch her play while I’m working on part of the meal.
This week’s #52Snapshots of Life theme is play. At some point every day at my house you will find Sadie and I playing catch. Sadie often enjoys playing with her toys by herself, but when she is looking to play with humans, it’s always a game of catch she is looking for. I love how playing catch always puts a smile on Sadie’s face and sends her ears flying as she dives for the toy.
The other day I was looking at Sadie as she climbed into her dog house, wondering how she can fit in there with all of those toys. And that’s when I had a realization – my dog might have a serious problem. I think Sadie might be a hoarder. Just look at all of those squeaky toys she has stuffed into her dog house!
Last Friday I introduced you all to the ball pits I created earlier in the week for Sadie’s entertainment (Click here to read more about the ball pits). Since we continued to have cold, snowy, icy weather here all weekend, I spent some time playing with Sadie in her ball pits. She would let me know she was ready to play by sticking her head in the ball pit and pulling out whichever ball she was in the mood for. She would then lay the ball by my feet and go back to stand or sit in the ball pit. It was so cute watching her be all attentive and excited for me to throw the ball, I just couldn’t help taking a few photos during the games. Here are some of the highlights from the multiple games of catch we played:
