The Perfect Stick

Ellie pounced first. The puppy stand-off was rounding its third dramatic minute, and Ellie couldn’t take anymore suspense. Lunging low, Ellie was able to scoop the three foot tree branch from the snow, kicking up excess chunks of soft ice in Lucy’s face as she happily hopped in the opposite direction. Lucy instantly felt disrespected, so she acted on instinct and chased after Ellie until she was able to get her incisors securely latched onto the opposite end of the icey branch.

The stand-off resumed.

Lucy tugged hard, which only made Ellie pull harder. They each sank their incisors deep into the peeling bark, and aggressively shook their heads from side-to-side in an attempt to get the other to release. Naturally, their plan failed, and only helped to bury their teeth deeper.

Both being golden retrievers, they were each equally stubborn, and would surely lay down their lives before ever letting go of the stick. Luckily, they had two other best friends who loved to play referee.

Pinot stumbled over first, slipping on buried patches of ice beneath the snow, and negan barking in Ellie’s ear. Trudy ran over second, and barreled into Lucy’s fluffy bum after slipping on a slick wedge of slush and immediately began barking in Lucy’s ear. Both being goldendoodles, they started nipping at Ellie and Lucy’s ankles.

Ellie nodded at Lucy, and they made a pact to mutually abandon the stick to fend off the fun police.

The branch dropped, and the fight was on.