Denim: The Game

As I mentioned last time, Cobalt's invented a game for Denim. It started when Cobalt was playing with a hard plastic ball (she likes it because it's slippery, and so easy to knock around the room to chase). She noticed that Denim was curious about the ball, and started to play keep-away with it.

At the next play session, though, Cobalt decided to up the stakes. She went and got her very favourite toy, a purple plush sheep, and brought it into the living room for Denim to play with.

They've played this game three or four times now. Cobalt sticks the sheep in Denim's face to get her interested, then pulls it away to get the little fuzzball to chase her.

The Tease


The Chase

Sometimes, Denim manages to catch the sheep, and Cobalt will drag her around by it, or yank it away for another run.

When Denim gets distracted, Cobalt plunks the sheep down and back off a bit, just to get her little sister interested again.

Sometimes, Cobalt will even let Denim win the tug -- though only for a moment!

Usually, the game winds down to a sheep-plucking session (Cobalt loves to pull the fuzz off of plushies), which Denim participates in enthusiastically. It usually involves Cobalt holding the sheep down with one paw and tugging lightly on the fur, while Denim puts her whole minuscule weight into yanking on the toy, which doesn't budge.

Cobalt adores these play sessions. It's causing us a slight problem -- Cobalt doesn't want to eat in the morning, she wants to play with Denim. We have to coax her into eating with promises of playing after.

It's fascinating watching Cobalt manage these games. We barely do anything, ourselves -- we basically enforce the "Cobalt can leave the room whenever she wants, but Denim can't" rule and leave it at that.

Last night, the two pups were having a very quiet session in the room, just wandering, chewing on rawhide and such. Then Denim got up and wobbled over to the hard plastic ball (she's still a little unsteady on her stubby puppy legs) to bat at it. Cobalt noticed this going on, and calmly went over and picked up the ball. She teased Denim with it a little, until the pup started bouncing, then left the room with the ball. A couple of moments later, she returned with the sheep, and started the Game in earnest. You could almost hear her thinking, "Oh, you want to play the Game? Sure, but that thing's no good for it. Let me get the right toy."

Eventually, after 15-20 minutes of the Game, Denim starts to get tired, and the play session turns into more of a quiet wrestling match.