Our Afternoon With Sir Kent Goldings

The first few days here have been a whirlwind so today has been a decompression day. I woke up this morning and did a small at-home workout including jumping jacks, crunches, mountain climbers and the like, and had to take a break after each one because we are a mile above sea level here in Pretoria. Coffee and blogging soon followed, as well as a quick lunch with James and Hannah. We got to do our first significant amount of walking today - a half mile from the grocery store! :)

I have to say my afternoon was top notch. I read a bit of my book and took a cat nap, then enjoyed the afternoon sun with Sir Kent Goldings (Kent)! He is a seven-year-old German Shepherd and recently acquired bye James and Hannah after colleagues moved back to the states and couldn't take him. He has proven to be very smart as well as stubborn.

Just like Létha, you have to have two tennis balls to get him to drop the other. He also liked to drop the ball about 15 feet away from me before coming to my feet. It took a few tries but he learned quickly that he had to bring the ball straight to me, and if not he would be reminded by 'no, get your ball'. We played for thirty minutes or so and he would stop intermittently to get a sip of water from the pool. Yes, the pool. For him it is the worlds largest toilet bowl to drink from!

The method to his madness is not to simply bend over and sip, he lies down completely and dips his whole face into the water for a ginormous gulp. If he wasn't a huge furry dog you'd think he was a duck diving for dinner.

Another awesome thing about Sir Kent are his hunting instincts. I first noticed it when I accidentally threw his ball into the pool. He paced around a bit and once it was close enough to the edge you'd think he couldn't wait to get his teeth on it. He paused, slowly bent down until his nose was right of it, hovered for a second and.... BAM! He grabs the ball right out of the water like a spear to a fish. He began to do this several times, including a couple that I threw in myself.

Here's to you, Sir Kent Goldings!