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SUMMARY
It’s not always easy to play with our dogs. The games our dogs (and kids) want us to play sometimes seem boring or as if they make no sense. When we get home at the end of a long, exhausting workday, the last thing we want to do is something silly or nonsensical. The idea of “playtime” might make us even more stressed, tired or cranky.
The truth is that playtime requires its own set of “muscles” that, for most of us, aren’t as strong as they used to be. But they’re still there, waiting for us to learn (or remember!) how to balance real-life demands with silly ways of playful connecting. Dogs can be a catalyst for us. Tuning into their hearts and minds, tuning into their needs, can help us to tune into our own. Which, in the end, might be tone of the greatest gifts that dogs give their owners: a chance to reconnect with their spirit of play.
