The neighbor’s dog, Mooch, isn’t really the neighbor’s dog.  He’s really a community dog.  Since there’s no leash law here, he’s able to roam free along with the other dogs in the neighborhood.

And, although there is a small problem with trash bags being torn open sometimes, overall there aren’t any problems with the lack of leash law.

But, that is neither here nor there.

Mooch is a black lab, and is probably about a year or so old.

He looooooves to play fetch.  Loves it.  His life revolves around you throwing and him bring back.

He’ll bring you anything to throw.

I mean anything.

When all else fails, he’ll take one piece of mulch out of my mulch garden (because there are no flowers, it is a mulch garden… not a flower garden).  That piece of mulch cannot be replaced with another piece of mulch.  You’d think there was no difference?  Well, there must be… somehow.

Anyway, when he has the luxury of a tennis ball, he’ll bring it over to anyone who is outside.  And, he’ll sit it down and look up to you with his big brown eyes and wait.

And wait.

And wait.

He’ll wait for you to kick the ball.  It doesn’t matter if the ball goes 23094 miles or .02 millimeters, he’s super psyched and will retrieve the ball.

And, then he’ll drop the ball.  Etc, etc.

But, if he drops the ball into my mulch garden, I say to him, “Mooch, its in the mulch…”

Then he quickly retrieves the ball, and drops it the two inches further over so its on the sidewalk instead of in the mulch.  Which makes it easier to kick.

Which makes the ball go.

Which makes Mooch happy that he gets to chase it.

And, if he drops the ball into the mulch after he retrieves it, I’ll say, “Mooch, its in the mulch…”

And, again, he picks it up and drops it onto the sidewalk.

I don’t know if he’s really trained regarding this, or if its just coincidence, but its pretty neat if you ask me.

Wow.

I just wrote a whole post about playing fetch with the dog.

My life is e.x.c.i.t.i.n.g, huh?