My yellow labroador retriever, Cassi, jumped up and down, tail wagging faster than imaginable. “You wanna play?!” I exclaimed in a ‘talking to your dog’ voice. Her tail flew back and forth even faster, if that’s even possible. Dropping down on my hands and knees, I continued talking to her, getting her hyped up. We then proceed to playfully head-butt each other. Neither of us are playing hard enough to hurt each other, this is just how we play. Cassi’s a pretty big dog, probably weighs as much as I do, so we tend to wrestle a lot. She never bites either so when we wrestle there is never the danger of getting bitten. In the worst case you might get a small scrape from the cracked pads on the bottom of her paws, but she really wouldn’t hurt a fly

I continue playing with the gentle giant until we’re both tired out. Cassi lies down onto the floor with a plop. For a while I just rub her belly, creating satisfaction for my dog. After a while I give her a last pat to the stomach before getting up for a snack. I love my dog and all of her energy.