What Toddlers and Puppies Know

I took Bagel to visit my sister and her family in West Virginia, and we were all relaxing by the pool. I had given him an old flip flop to run around with and guard as his prize, but my two-year-old niece thought he shouldn’t be allowed to have it.

Sloan would approach Bagel to try to take the flip flop. Bagel would face her and gaze at her, perfectly still, calculating how close he could let her get and still get away. At the last possible moment, he would dash off with a flourish, making Sloan throw back her head and laugh. Then she would run after him and try again. It was fascinating to watch them play this game, both instinctively knowing rules that neither had been taught.

The beauty of the game was that they both loved it, and they both wanted to play it forever. At nearly three years old, Sloan is at the age where she likes to ask the same question, watch the same movie, hear the same story, fifty times in a row. At nine months, Bagel is at age where he wants to play “chase me for my toy” fifty times in a row. At this moment in their lives, they are right on the same wavelength. They can communicate beautifully because Sloan hasn't yet learned all the words and complicated ideas that dull our animal instincts.

Back home in Alexandria, I have taken Bagel to play with toddlers at a nearby park, to get him used to small children. The game they always come up with is "chase the puppy for his ball," and it's fascinating to watch how Bagel dashes off to a safe distance, and turns and faces the kids; they approach and instinctively slow down as they get closer, and fan out to surround Bagel; Bagel hunkers down and scans the wall of children for a gap, and dashes out at the last moment, making them all laugh and chase him again. He even runs slowly, so they can keep up.

The game goes on and on with its unspoken rules, leaving me to wonder how both puppy and toddlers know exactly how to play it.