Slacklining is balancing on a rope supported above the ground on both ends. It is similar to tightrope walking, but there is no tension on the rope. My master wanted me to learn how to do it. It is harder than it looks. You need to have amazing strength in your legs and hips and be able to keep a perfect balance.
Dogs have been used to entertain crowds. We can learn to walk across ropes, do back-flips, and all kinds of fun things to make people laugh. However, with this practice of slacklining, we are much more serious. It is our form of strong bonding with each other.
My master guides me up with his hands using a magical connection we have. I look deep into his eyes, and I know he will catch me if I fall. But I don’t fall. In fact, I feel his loving stare like super energy to keep me focused on him as my center point of balance.
Did you know that if a dog gazes at you, that means the dog loves you? Normally, when a dog stares at someone, like another dog, it is a sign of an impending fight. We are using our stare to intimate the other dog and to get ready to launch an attack. We are sizing up the other animal and getting ready to bite. A loving gaze is different.
Dogs are people’s best friends for a good reason. We grew up in the wild together. Dogs have the ability to hear things better than humans and the ability to smell much more too. In ancient times, we used to sleep together and cuddle by the fire outside during cold nights. If a predator approached, we would know it first before our humans did. And we would bark a warning to wake everybody up so that no one would be harmed. I pity the fool who tries to hurt my master now. Attack my master, and you are going to get the worst dog bite that I can give.
It was only natural that we would invent games to play together. It is part of a dog’s nature to want to please his master. It is our reason for living.
When my master taught me slacklining, I knew he was asking me to do something for him because I love him. I was happy to perfect the skill, which seemed to delight him so much. We often go walking in the woods together. When we come up to a nice area with two strong trees at the correct distance apart from each other, he sets up the slackline so we can play together.
Hie is always impressed when I show him how I can maintain my perfect balance on my two hind legs with my front legs high in the air. My reward for accomplishing the balancing trick is that we get to play with my favorite blue toy. I would do anything for my master, and he would do anything for me. That is what love is all about.
