We Have A New King

First of all, I have created a freaking monster.

Oliver has grown used to sleeping in his cage - he hardly fits in it - and waiting for me to get home from work.

So we can play ball.

And the problem is that I usually need to write reports first…

…so Ollie and Miller come by and wait, patiently, for me to finish, and then we go out and play.

Here’s the game.

I have two balls.

I throw one off the garage and Ollie tries to catch it.

If he gets 10 straight he gets a free drop and the count continues.

 Shadow, our black lab, set the record back in 2007 with 37 straight catches.

I had an inkling that Ollie was going to make a run at it because he loves the game.

Well, Thursday afternoon he was a little lost. He got to 15 before he almost collapsed in the heat.

Oh, one other big factor:

He was playing with two brand new balls because he’d torn the cover off the last couple.

We had dinner and Ollie immediately began asking to play again.

Damn.

He finally talked me into it around 7:00 and he started slowly. He’d catch 9 and then bungle the one that would get him a free drop.

“Last chance,” I said.

We got to 9.

I held the ball up.

“You need to catch this to get the free drop,” I said.

I should’ve saved my breath because Ollie, the new king, did not drop a ball between 9 and 45.

He dropped a couple but with his free drops he shattered the record:

49!

And as crazy as it sounds to all of you:

I was fired up!

We hugged as though he’d won the super bowl with an amazing 4th quarter.

It took Ollie an hour to breathe normal.

Half an hour later, he wanted to play again.

I needed a break.

Tomorrow we start the prance to 100.