One of my fondest memories of BiJae is his iron clad union contract. I say this with no offense to my brothers that work for and with unions. I just had to learn that BiJae had a sacred contract with me that did NOT include labor of any kind.

BiJae would play with me. However, he didn't play typical dog type games. He was never one to play tug of war, not even when he was a pup. He much prefered to play tackle dad. One of his favorite games was "Get Me, Get You" where I would run after him, and then a short while turn and run away from him. It was our tag, your it, only I never did tag him. He, on the other hand, could catch me in a flash. When he did I was often brought down by a shove to the lower back.

Another favorite game was stalking. I'd crouch real low to the ground and move slowly towards him. He would hunker down and back up slightly. Then, as if reading my mind, he would bound away just as I was going to pounce on him. This game would get him in to a frenzy and often lead to the dog races. Dog races are where one or several dogs will take off in any direction and run as fast as they can. It was quite impressive at the dog beach and dog park. One dog would start the race then soon the whole pack would be running at full speed.

But I digress. This story is not about the games BiJae did play, it's about the things that were NOT in his contract. Take fetch for example. What dog doesn't like to fetch? Either a stick or a ball or something. Well, I could get BiJae to do damn near anything I asked, but I couldn't get him to fetch a ball, or a stick, or a frisbee, or the Sunday paper. Nope, that was part of the iron clad union contract. He was not to fetch anything he didn't so choose to on his own free will.

BiJae and I were together ten years when we moved to Wimberley. One of the first things we did when we moved there was to have the house remodeled. While they were remodelling, we brought some things down to the house. Mostly just odd items that were in storage. One day I brought down the case of tennis balls that I bought as a fundraiser for the tennis club I belong to. I had set them aside and really forgotten about them. On another visit that would come back to haunt me.

BiJae and I went to the house again to see how things were progressing. They had done quite a bit of work on the house. It looked like everything was going according to plan. Even better actually, I got my in wall aquarium as a last minute addition. Me and the contractor stood out front discussing the work that had been done, how long he thought it was going to take to finish, etc. For some reason I saw a ball, and I saw BiJae. Aparantly the union contract was the furthest thing from my mind. I know this because I picked up the ball, looked at BiJae and said, "Ready boy." I launched that ball as far as I could across the pasture.

BiJae, still sitting on his haunches, watched the ball fly through the sky. He kept his eye on it, watching it bounce, once, twice, three times, until it came to rest. Then he looked at me with a grin. I swear I heard him say, "Nice throw, dad. With a little more effort you could have gotten it farther." I shook my head and laughed. Suddenly that iron clad contract was fresh in my memory. Then out of the contractors mouth, what do I hear? "I see why you have to buy them by the case!" I about lost it with laughter. Yes, I had to buy them by the case because my union dog did not have the gumption to get off his butt to fetch! And I love him all the more for it!