We’ve had a few shetland sheepdogs (25-35 pounds, not the scariest dogs in the world) who loved to play goal keeper, too. Even up close, it was tough to get a ball past them.
One of them liked me to kick an inflated 6” hollow rubber ball at him as hard as I could kick it. He would jump or dive to block it. Even when it hit him on the nose, he would sneeze, shake his head, and come back for more.
That one also loved to “rebound” basketballs. When the falling ball came near the ground he would slam it into the ground. He jammed his foot doing it one time so we didn’t let him play anymore. He was not happy and wanted to play even though he was limping.
The little suckers can have a lot of heart.
Yep, they do, endless heart. My heart is very finite, so I have been getting worn out here lately, but the activity is good for us both.
When I kick her softball, I have heard it hit her front leg fairly hard I suppose. I ‘m not kicking it full force because it’s a softball and it hurts the foot to kick it really hard. But I imagine she must feel it when she blocks it, yet she never tires of this game.
Playing with her makes me feel like a kid again.
Mine played soccer with beach balls - she would bounce them off her nose like a seal and herd them with her feet - and she was really fast and smart. I finally learned how to fake her out sometimes, but it was hard to do. And she would play it ‘til she was ready to drop.
Sometimes she would catch a tooth on the ball and pop it. She’d look at the popped ball and then look at me with sad reproach in her eyes. :-)