Kong seek

We have a very popular game here these days. We throw the Kong dog toy somewhere out the front door. Limpet, who has a great nose but isn't very clever yet about following aerial trajectories with her eyes, then goes out to try to find it -- running off madly in all directions.

She's amazingly persistent. She will easily spend half an hour furiously digging test holes, frolicking about trying to sniff the thing out. So far she's found it every time.

And she'll repeat the exercise over and over for three or four hours at a stretch. We end up with a healthy, well-exercised exhausted dog who is pretty well-behaved inside and enjoys cuddling with the kids in front of the fire.

She's not a total idiot when it comes to retrieving. This is the landscape we pitch the Kong into. It is vast and white, and in this stuff the Kong doesn't bounce. It lands with a single quiet 'thwoop' somewhere out there, creating an entry hole about 4 inches across and at least a foot deep in the very-much-deeper snow.

Must go. I hear whining outside the front door again. Kong and dog have returned. Time for another round.