Fantabulous Pink Jolly Ball

The Fantabulous Pink Jolly Ball

Ilya's Discovery

Ilya's New Toy

Leaving the Ball for Another Day

Abandoned by the horses in winter pastures, a 90-pound husky has discovered the fantablous pink jolly ball. The horse toy is the size of a soccer ball, made of squishy-but-durable rubber and sports a handle for horses to carry it between teeth. Ilya has discovered that he can pick it up with his teeth, too.

The first day he played with the ball while out on leash with his three canine companions. By the next day he had carried it back to the house. So, I thought I'd cart it back out to the pasture for play. What I didn't realize was that Ilya had developed a strong attachment to the jolly ball. When I picked it up he turned into monster-dog!

Normally the two huskies are well-behaved on leash, but the fantabulous pink jolly ball was too irresistible to Ilya. He lingered behind my back then lunged, knocking both the wind and the ball from me. Once he had the ball gripped in his teeth he pranced out to the pasture. I tried to get him to drop it, but he kept hitting my knees with it.

It took several days and different commands, but at last Ilya began to understand "wait for it" and "drop." The first command allows me to pick up the ball without getting bowled-over by a huge husky. Then I throw it by the handle and let Ilya off-leash. He chases down the ball as if it were a pink rubber rabbit. He rushes back to me and instead of pounding my knees with the ball, I command, "drop." And he drops it at my feet, waiting for me to throw it again.

Not only is the ball fantabulous, so is Ilya's new game. It expends his husky energy for the afternoon.

"Fantabulous," by the way, is a word coined by adding "fantastic" to "fabulous." It is also a new Friday blog hop for those interested in writing or reading about all things fantabuous. Join my friend and fellow writer, Ruth, on "A Bit of Sunshine" for more fantabulous stories.