You Don’t Know Joy or Stubbornness Until You’ve Met my Parents’ Dogs

You don’t know joy until you see a small springer spaniel sprint through mounds of Mexican sycamore leaves that probably should’ve been cleaned up at least a week ago. It’s not totally relevant or important as to who is responsible for cleaning those leaves up.

That’s not what we’re here to talk about.

We’re here to talk about how a 35 pound furry thunderbolt can bound through leaves that her owner’s son forgot to pick up. She dashes through without grace or concern about her well being. She does it with fury and joy and hopes of finding a faded orange rubber ball that’s hidden in those leaves.

And, similar to how you don’t know joy until you see a small springer spaniel sprint through mounds of Mexican sycamore leaves, you don’t know stubbornness until you see a border collie refuse to dig through those leaves to find one of those aforementioned orange rubber balls.

She’ll look at where the ball landed and then look at you. She’ll wait for that springer spaniel to bolt through and turn leaves over. She’ll grab it (maybe) after you argue with her some and she will then happily prance back to you with the exact amount of grace that the springer spaniel is missing.

And then she won’t give it to you.

She’ll drop it about 13.57 feet away from your feet in muddy grass and she’ll wait for you to either: A) argue with her until she reluctantly picks it up, only to move it about 2.5 feet, or B) wait for you to pick it up.

It’s stubbornness in its purest form: a black and white border collie that thinks she’s a princess.

A few other notable examples of joy. This time from both of them:

• When the springer spaniel steals away one of their prized toy cows that squeak instead of moo
• When the border collie convinces you to take a tennis ball and toss it in the living room
• When the springer spaniel squeaks one of those aforementioned cows at 4:00 AM to wake her owner up so she can go outside

Some other notable moments of stubbornness. Again, this time from both of them:

• When the border collie stretches out in your bed and won’t budge. Trust me, it won’t matter how hard you push or shove. Sometimes you just have to pick the knucklehead up and move her
• When the springer spaniel decides that she wants the ball and you happen to be in the way. Trust me, it doesn’t matter how big you are. She will bowl you over on her way to get that ball

And so, you’ve probably experienced joy. You’ve probably seen stubbornness before. But, if you really want to see it personified in two different dogs, I know the exact two that you should interact with.