It’s 9:45 p.m. on a Monday night in March. I just watched a really good Knicks game, where Trey Burke, the Knicks’ 6’1” point guard, had a career-high 42 points. The Knicks ended up losing to the Charlotte Hornets, because Kemba Walker was incredible and hit a bunch of shots down the stretch. It was still a good battle between two teams dwelling in the basement with no playoff hopes whatsoever. They played for pride, they played for their family, they played for their friends, they played for money, but most of all they gave 100% and played to win. Great game.
After the game I remember that I bought some toys for Copper recently, but we’ve barely played with them yet. So I pick up a couple of the toys, a bouncing ball, a nylon ring with a feather at the end, and a small stuffed animal fish that says catnip on it and has a string with the ring at the end of it. I go into the bedroom and Copper is sleeping in the cat bed, looking just precious and beautiful. Her tongue is lolling out, like it does when she’s really relaxed, and I just want to kiss her and hug her forever.
I try playing with the ring first. I try the nylon acrylic big ring with the feather on the end. She looks at it, she looks a little bit interested, but then she doesn’t do anything with it. It’s like she’s holding back. I can’t tell if she doesn’t really want to play right now, or if she’s not interested at all. I just can’t figure it out.
Then I bounce the ball a few times, and she backs away. She backs away from the ball like she doesn’t want to engage with it, or maybe she’s scared of it. Then I try the nylon acrylic ring with the feather at the end of it. She looks at it for a moment, but she doesn’t seem interested at all.. No interest whatsoever. Finally I tried the stuffed animal fish on the string. She looks at it as I swing it in front of her, but she doesn’t even extend a paw, not one paw to go for it. The last time I tried this particular toy she at least tried to swipe it with her paw, but this time, nothing.
Maybe she was in a really deep sleep and she just doesn’t want to play right now? Who knows, but she’s just not into these toys. I say okay Copper, we’ll play later Copper, we’ll play later Copper. Then I head back into the living room.
About two minutes later I walk by the bedroom and I see Copper pushing the toys around that I was just trying to play with her. She’s moving them around, she’s standing in front of them, she’s looking at them, she’s pushing them with their paw, and she’s grabbing them. It’s like she wants to play,l but she didn’t want to play with me, or she was scared to engage with me and the toys at the same time. Who knows what was going through her mind? She wants to play. I just have to get to a place where she’ll play with me and the toys at the same time. That’s what we’re working towards. So I’m going to keep trying to play with some of the toys, and we’ll see where it goes. Hopefully sooner or later we’ll be playing together. We’ll see what happens next.
It’s about 12:45 a.m. on Monday night, and I’ve been trying to play with Copper for a little while now. I took out a couple of the toys, and she seems a little more interested than she did before. I’m lying on the bed with my arms hanging over the right and left sides of the bed, on the corner, and I’m petting Copper. I just pet her and relaxer and chill out. Then I get the toys, and I swing the stuffed animal fish near her face. Finally she looks at it, she’s staring at it as it goes back and forth back and forth back and forth. Then she extends a paw and reaches for it. Bang! She grabs it with a paw and pulls it towards her. I pull it away playfully, because why not, let’s have some fun. Right?
So I swing the stuffed animal fish in front of her face, back and forth, back and forth, for a couple of minutes. She’s reaching for it and pushing and pulling it with both paws. She’s trying to get the fish, probably to eat it, because maybe she thinks it’s a real fish. She’s getting really into it, and it’s just incredible.
We’re actually playing with each other and we’re playing with the toys and we’re having a good time. It’s not just about intense love anymore, now it’s also about relaxing, chilling out, and having a good time. It’s a laid-back kind of experience.
I swing the stuffed animal fish in front of her face, boom, boom, boom, for several minutes. She keeps going for it, and then she pauses, then reaches for it again, and it’s just incredible. Then I get the ball and I bounce it towards her near her face. She bats it with her hands, and she pushes it away, so she’s into the ball too.
This is great, it really is we’re playing with toys and we’re having fun. This is why I bought these toys. I was hoping to bond with her on a deeper level. And that’s just what’s happening. Good stuff.
Finally I break out the curled nylon roll with the feather on it. I swing it around in front of her. She reaches for a little bit, but not that much, not that much. It’s like she likes it, but not as much as the stuffed animal fish.
So I picked up the stuffed animal fish again and I swing it in front of her. She swings her paws in front of it, and she tries to bite it. She just totally goes for it, and it’s just great. It’s just absolutely great. We’re just chilling out at 12:45 at night on a Monday night. There’s nothing important happening between us, we’re just having some fun playing with a stuffed animal fish that sparks Copper’s attention. That’s all it is, that’s all it is. It’s pretty cool stuff.
Because everything doesn’t have to be so deep and important between you and your pet all the time. You can just chill out and hang out together like friends, because Copper and I, as much as we love each other, we’re also just really good friends. We like to hang out together. So that’s what we’re doing with these toys. We’re playing together and hanging out together. And it’s just great. We’ll see what happens next.
