How to Amuse a Samoyed

If you are looking to amuse a Samoyed an absolute necessity is a basket full of toys. Be prepared to find most of them on the floor at any given time because that is where they should be! This according to the Samoyed.

However, said toys must be thrown, held, shaken, tossed, and pulled by the humans of the household in order to achieve the optimum fun. In fact, the best play toy is the human...the momma figure actually.

Misha has become very playful lately. I think it has to do with the fact I have hit upon the right combination of food and have managed to get her to actually eat it. Misha has to 'earn' her food. I take out a portion of her dry biscuit on our morning walk. She will run and fetch her ball getting the food as a reward for bringing it to me. She also will chase her biscuit ball around the house eating the little nuggets it spews forth.
With her eating properly she has been much more playful in the daytime. And night time.

There are certain toys retained from Misha's puppy hood that she still loves to play with. Each one has a prescribed style of play. Her gummi bone is to be tossed into the air so she can jump up and catch it. Or it must be held and wiggled so she can grab it and give a little play growl.
Her leather bone with the braided ropes on the ends leads to a game of 'Twirly-whirly'. The style of this game is Misha holding one end of the rope while the human spins her around very quickly. She also likes to add a few jumps to the left or right for something different.

But her current favourite is the cheap vinyl squeaky ball. Misha loves this ball. And you know, I can honestly say even though it is the most annoying squeak I don't mind it because of how much pleasure she gets out of it.
Besides, she is very musical in the way she makes it squeak.

She tosses it in the air, she pounces on it with both feet. She nudges it into a corner then noses it. She brings it to us and wants us to throw it down the room so she can chase it. If she loses it under the furniture, she will come to me and make it known she wants me to retrieve it for her. She remembers the last place she put it.
However, it was the game she invented the other night that made me sit back in amazement.

We had been playing and she positioned herself behind M's legs, so she was between the sofa and his legs, little head peeping out at one head. She batted her ball with her paw and sent it rolling towards me - I was on the floor.
I rolled it back to her, and she reached out with her paw and batted it to me. Again I rolled it back to her. This went on like a game of table tennis for several minutes. Misha would either use her paw or nose to send the ball to me. Always gently, always on target, and immediately it rolled to her. The look on her face was absolutely priceless. So concentrated, yet happy at the same time.

It made me stop and think about how Misha directs the way the play sessions go. She lets me know what toys she wants to play with. She invents ways to play. She will put this toy with that one. She will set this one up so and run around then nose it as she passes.

I've played with my dogs before, but it was me directing how the sessions would go. Not with Misha. As I say, she has me constantly in a state of wonderment, and it's usually followed by a fit of giggles.