I was concerned enough about Rusty’s disinterest in toys or playing, that I asked the vet when we were in for his check-up.  She said that some dogs aren’t big on toys, or Rusty may not feel comfortable yet.

Life can be boring for a dog with no hobbies, and a bored dog will get bad ideas.

Rusty likes chewing on and disemboweling toys.  Sparky does too, but doesn’t have Rusty’s excellent teeth.  Rusty shredded a tweety mouse, but didn’t really play with it.  This rope-ball is the first toy he really played with and our first sustained play.

After dinner and walks, both dogs were rested and wanted to get active.  I didn’t want another confrontation, so I put Sparky out of the solarium.  When I started playing rope-ball with Rusty, Sparky found a way to get back into the solarium.  Sparky wanted to play, but he would have ruined it for Rusty.  I felt bad about it, but I had to lock Sparky up.