To fetch or not to fetch - that is the question:
Whether my response is to follow my instinct
And run after that rubber ball,
Or to completely ignore it,
And, have control over my canine instinct.
To stay, to relax as the ball bounces before me -
No more - and by fetching I face
The fatigue - that repeated action
That occurs at the beginning of each, “go fetch!”
‘Tis a situation
I do not wish to face.
To Fetch, to stay -
To fetch, perhaps too repeatedly. Ay, there’s the problem,
For in fetching I will get carried away
And while my master’s arm weakens
I will become more energized.
That’s the idea
That makes any honorable canine hesitate.
For who would want to harm their master,
Annoy their master,
Become obnoxious to your master,
Be filled with the disappointment when he can no longer throw that rubber ball, the whimpering that follows
And the teasing
Of my master’s arm
As he pretends to throw the ball
And my excitement increases?
Who would ever need instinct,
To relax,
To not burden your master,
To be loyal
Always
For all the days of my life,
Having no regrets,
Instead of being enslaved by your own instinct?
But the thought of play is too enticing to be dismissed,
And thus the adrenaline
Is tainted by concern over the relationship with my master,
And joyous moments of play
With this in mind
I’d sacrifice the play but my instinct is too strong
When my master says, “Go