Most days are good, but some days are even better. I was on the beach, fetching ball. However, after a while we came to a part of the beach with loads of nice smelly things. Of course I had to discover what it was – it turned out to be a few crabs, already eaten alas, and one dead fish. Anyway I lost focus on the ball and another dog took it.

I didn’t mind, really, because at that moment I found the fish more alluring. But humans tend to attach to stuff, including balls. I witnessed some angry argument between two humans earlier, because the dog of one of them had stolen the ball of the other dog. Not M, mind you, she won’t get angry over something trivial like that. She has no need: we possess loads of balls, because I find a lot of them for her.

The human of the dog who stole my ball, however, did not know this. Apparently his dog steals balls often, because this human immediately came up with a clever solution: he offered another ball to M. M accepted graciously. After a while, when I had lost my interest in the fish, she threw it for me. When I caught it, I had a most wonderful surprise. It was a squeaky ball! My favorite! What a great trade-in. Lucky me!