From the time Maisie was a puppy she has always loved her toys. Plush squeakers are the first choice, but balls and rope toys also are among the chosen. Every night after dinner she loves to tear around the house, running as fast as she can, squeaking her favorite toy of the week and making as much noise as possible. She will skid out as she rounds the corners and then change direction midway through. Then, as fast as it started, she will plop down, out of breath, and fall asleep.

Often times I will join her, playing run and chase, her version of keep away. She loves this and really loves when I catch her. When she was little I would grab her toy and give it a toss, expecting her to run after it and bring it back. This was a game that all of our dogs loved but Maisie would stop and look at me like I’d just ruined everything. Why on earth would I throw her toy when we were having so much fun? When Maisie was about 2 I finally gave up on the idea that she would ever retrieve. She had absolutely no interest in chasing down a ball or toy and I was tired of the confused look she would give me when I would toss one of her toys.

We have been taking Maisie to the dog beach since she was a puppy. The number one game down there is retrieve the ball from the water and at any given time there are multiple dogs tearing through the water in pursuit of far flung balls. Maisie loves tearing through the water, and her favorite game is chase the dog that is chasing the ball. It’s no surprise that many of the dogs don’t think this is a very good game so we spend a lot of time redirecting Maisie and trying to find her a dog that she can run with. She is incredibly fast for a Newfie, and is actually one of the fastest dogs on the beach, so when she finds a runner, or a dog that doesn’t think she is trying to steal their ball she has a really good beach day.

On the 4^th of July, we took the dogs to the beach first thing in the morning. We like to go early because there aren’t as many dogs down there and it’s easier to keep Maisie in check with her love of chasing other dogs. The collies really don’t like the way she plays but she has a couple of boxer and doodle friends that think her game is a lot of fun. Unfortunately on this morning she wasn’t finding anyone that she wanted to play with. Chris and I were talking to another owner that we hadn’t seen in a while and he was tossing a ball for one of his dogs. The ball was floating in the water and for some reason Chris tossed it so that it landed close to Maisie. We call her a tracker because she will chase a toy, give it a couple swats to show us she found it and then return without picking it up, but on this morning, for the very first time, she picked up the ball and brought it back! Chris gave her huge praise, then tossed it again and she went out and brought it back again! The game continued, each time Chris would throw it a little further and each time she would chase it down and bring it back.

I never thought she would retrieve and laughed about my water rescue dog that wouldn’t bring anything in. Newfoundlands are working dogs and love to be stimulated with a job. Bailey’s job was to bring in the paper every morning. She also loved to bring small items in from the car. She would let me know every morning if she hadn’t yet done her job and would be completely upset if someone else brought in the paper. Maisie hasn’t shown any interest in the jobs I’ve tried to introduce and water training seemed out of the question. I could just picture her chasing other Newfies while they were on their mission and the disruption she would cause. I don’t think we will ever do water rescue training, but at least now we can bring a ball to the beach and entertain her when she can’t find a friend who doesn’t mind her water chasing game that she thinks is so fantastic.