Professor Tucker

This morning at the park, Professor Tucker mosied toward us, as he does most mornings. The "Professor" designation is not part of his official name, but it is how I always think of him, as I watch him studying the edges of the path, sniffing... thinking... sniffing... it appears that he is doing very scholarly research on the smells of the off-leash area of Fort Williams Park. Once he finishes with his research, he becomes much livlier, happily fetching a tennis ball heaved from a "chucker" that is always in his person's hand.

This morning, however, as he approached, something was different. He had something in his mouth, but it wasn't the orange tennis ball that can give him a wacky clown-like smile which is always a little incongrous with his very dignified Springer Spaniel demeanor. This morning, as he came closer, I could see what was hanging out of his mouth. "Is that a rawhide chew?", I asked his person. "He won't put it down", she laughed, the tennis ball and chucker, hanging down from her hand. I should have taken his picture then, but I was giggling so much I'm not sure I could have held the camera steady. Obviously, he was on to a new type of research, or else, to him, a rawhide chew was like a Nobel Prize medal. I'll have to wait and look for Tucker another morning to see if he puts the rawhide down...