Rocco and the Squirrels

My baby rocco has made some new friends and they are not of the dog variety.  A couple months back, rocco started to notice the squirrels that love to eat their findings in our trees and/or along our  fence.  Like most dogs, rocco was only interested in the items they would drop so he could sniff/eat the treasures they let fall to the ground.  

In the recent weeks rocco started to find a lot more interest in the squirrels themselves.  He now chases them around the yard as they scurry along the fence posts or jump around in the tree, all the while barking incessantly at them.  

At first I thought the squirrels were taunting him, standing like statues staring down at him as rocco went crazy on the ground, running in circles, barking and sniffing about.  Oh mean squirrels.  However, Ryan and I are now in agreement that they are not taunting him but instead, playing with him.  Just the other day, ryan let rocco out to go potty and one of the squirrels came down onto the sidewalk to run around with him.  

Now, every morning rocco stands by the back door, not to signal that he needs to go potty, but instead that he wants to go play with his friends in the yard.  We say 'you want to go play with your friends?' and he gets all excited.  Oh my sweet boy, watching him rush out the door and run full-speed towards the back fence looking up in the air for the squirrels literally melts my heart every day.