A Springer Spaniel Turns Patio Skeletons Into Eager Tug Partners

Kenobi clamps a thick plastic bone between his teeth on a Boise patio, wavy liver-and-white ears swinging as he leans into the pull — an English Springer Spaniel who has decided the family's Halloween skeleton dogs are not décor. They are opponents.

His people named the bony pair Boomer and Vaily. The family wrote, "Springer Kenobi loves playing tug with his skeleton buddies Boomer and Vaily. He wins every time!"

On a mid-October day, the springer works a long plastic limb like a rope toy, shaking and planting his paws while long-muzzled skulls and rib sections scatter across the flagstones. Boomer and Vaily never yank back. Kenobi does not seem to mind. He keeps inventing the game anyway, the kind of one-sided tug every dog owner has watched a determined pup invent out of whatever is handy.

By the end he is wearing the joke: a plastic torso draped over his neck and back, bony limbs still hanging on, while the rest of his playmates lie in pieces beside the patio chair. Boomer and Vaily can keep the patio. Kenobi is keeping the win.