This week’s Arlington Pet of the Week is a two-year-old black lab/Shar-Pei “super athlete-dog” known as The Badger.
Here’s what owner Brent had to say about his ominously named dog:
This 2-year-old Lab/Shar-pei mix is an absolute calm, collected, easy going dog while hanging around the house — however, the moment he sets foot in a dog park, basketball court, soccer field or random yard, he becomes a super athlete-dog.
The Badger is known for amazing retrieval abilities (tennis balls, soccer balls, even bocce balls) and can accomplish some pretty absurd jumps in order to intercept a baseball/tennis ball from anyone trying to play catch. His speed and agility were a complete surprise and only discovered while his owner was playing Frisbee with a friend. The Badger easily jumped up 4 feet and snatched the Frisbee with ease (and then destroyed it).
The Badger will collect any sort of balls from around the house/yard/street and store them in his crate at night – and then select one ball to wake his owner up every morning. One can take various balls from his crate and hide them around the house. The Badger will spend hours trying to find them and usually gets them all back in his crate by day’s end.
Don’t ever think about taking his balls from him while they are within his mighty strong jaws. A game of tug-a-war will end in disaster for the person taking on The Badger. While The Badger knows commands (drop, sit, down, shake hands), all bets are off if he happens to spot a rascally rabbit in the neighborhood. Off he goes to track it down. Luckily for the rabbit, he can’t quite keep up.
Want your pet to be considered for the Arlington Pet of the Week? Email [email protected] with a 2-3 paragraph bio and at least 3-4 horizontally-oriented photos of your pet.
Each week’s winner receives a sample of dog or cat treats from our sponsor, Becky’s Pet Care, along with $100 in Becky’s Bucks. Becky’s Pet Care, the winner of three Angie’s List Super Service Awards and the National Association of Professional Pet Sitters’ 2013 Business of the Year, provides professional dog walking and pet sitting services in Arlington and Northern Virginia.