Years ago our next-door-neighbor got a poodle, not a teacup, or mini, or toy. The poodle was a standard and he was a great dog. I remember standing on the hill by our homes and throwing a tennis ball to him over and over again. The dog loved it. One of the first things we did when we got a poodle puppy was to find a tennis ball and play fetch.
He loved it, too.
We have a south lawn (not one found on an estate or anything like that...) that works well for the game of fetch. We have two fruit trees on the edge of the lawn, a green apple and a peach. The apple tree is doing well. It's health and sturdy.
The peach tree...
is not.
My oldest son's first job was working at a nursery. One day he came home with the saddest little tree. I think they were going to throw it away at the nursery. We decided to plant it and see what would happen. I'll give the tree credit--each year it's produced fruit, but it's so frail that even a couple of peaches causes it to bend to the point where I think it's going to break.
It never has, though.
The tree this year may have been saved thanks to our dog. I can't say what exactly a dog sees, but I can imagine as he rushes passed the tree in search of the elusive fuzzy yellow ball, those low-hanging peaches look a lot like a tennis balls. Needless to say, the dog fetched a couple of unripened fruit. The good news is the branch no longer almost touches the ground. The bad news is we only have a few peaches to begin with.
Of course, in a few weeks this will no longer be a problem. Then we'll need to worry about the dog fetching fallen leaves, and after that, what are we going to do when we've got a few feet of snow? I guess we'll find out.
