One is silver and the other gold

I was just about to start this when this puppy came up and was showing off his ears and wrapping them around my fingers and nuzzling me and then he rolled for for a tummy rub and quite frankly, it got out of hand! I had no choice but to pet those ears and then one thing led to another and there were toys involved and somehow he  ended up on my lap. Have you ever tried to get something accomplished  with a puppy on your lap? Try typing, its just not possible. You can sleep or maybe read a book or watch TV, but pretty much, you are limited to puppy cuddling. Life is hard.

I decided that while it would be hard, it was time for him to go pee. I gather him up, collect his High Value Successful Potty Only treats, the  guaranteed "pee here, pee now" spray and we went to the yard. He didn't want to go pee. He also didn't want to play fetch with the brand new tennis balls I bought him half off at TJ Maxx either.  It turns out he is most comfortable sort of playing fetch with used tennis balls, sadly for him I have very few of those around because Daisy didn't take prisoners .

We came back inside and since  he did not potty, he went to his crate and I  put some laundry in the machine. Puppies cause a lot of laundry! On the upside, when I came upstairs I spied a used tennis ball  hiding under the couch! Yay! so maybe there is hope for fetch.

I can't really get my mind around his lack of interest in fetching, he's a damn retriever! I shouldn't have to teach him to play fetch, I should have to teach him to not fetch!  Maybe I should go all craft-wars on him and bedazzle a ball with chicken feathers in hope of waking up whatever prey drive remains in his DNA after generations of his ancestors pranced in show rings. He must have something inside him that wants to chase things other than blue ribbons and silver cups!

Is it possible that it could all have been bred out and replaced with a desire to prance in public - Instead of an inner hunter, could my dog actually posses instead an inner Honey Boo Boo? true, as much as playing fetch is fun for me, fetch might also wake up his deeply sleeping prey drive... this could be a problem as his "brother", the super predator could, under some circumstances, also be seen as a nummy treat, perhaps whatever is inside there needs to stay asleep.

He is really good coming when called (mostly, if he isn't too distracted) though so I guess its a trade off . Instead of playing fetch we'll just go on more walks. Walking is good for us. Yay walking!