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ome dogs, like humans, are prone to multitasking. When not sniffing, scratching or watching each other, they’re eating or thinking about food. The downside to this generalist behavior is they excel at nothing in particular. Not Rika, Steve Leech’s 5-year old black Labradoodle. “For Rika”, Steve says, “life is the ball”. A yellow tennis ball that is. For showing multi-taskers how to focus on one thing, Rika is awarded TownDock.net’s July Pet Of The Month.

Steve and Rika

They’re a familiar sight. Evenings, Steve and Rika can be seen strolling around Oriental -Steve, leash and ball-throwing widget in hand, Rika, black and curly, bounding after yellow balls. Steve visits with other folks. Rika doesn’t. She doesn’t care what they have to say. She just wants Steve to throw the ball. The bond between dog and ball is so strong, Steve says it’s “part of her karma”. Which means he has to throw lots of balls.

Steve visits with Walt Kowal. Rika has something else in mind.

On a given evening, Steve will throw the ball 30 times. It will travel, on average, 100 feet. Given that he walks Rika “365 days a year”, that means he throws the ball a fair distance – over 200 miles annually. Rika, because she chases and retrieves the ball, travels twice as far in pursuit, over 400 miles. (Calculation note: actual distance may be slightly shorter. Steve admits some lobs come up short because they “end up in the water”.)

How far Rika chases a ball every year

So how does a man throw a ball over one million feet per year? A few years ago, Steve would have done it by hand. But he admits that, in the course of throwing a frisbee to an earlier dog (more on this in a bit) he threw out his shoulder. So throwing a ball roughly halfway from Oriental to Bermuda each year was out.

Enter the widget.

To meet Rika’s endless demand for thrown balls, Steve uses what he calls his “throw stick.” Partly it’s to keep from bending over to pick up the ball each time Rika deposits it at his feet for another throw. Partly, it’s so “I don’t have to touch the ball” which is covered in Rika’s slobber.

Why Steve uses a throw stick

Mostly, though, Steve uses the throw stick for distance. A three-foot length plastic with a pronged end that grasps that ball, it allows Steve to hurl Rika’s balls farther than he could throw them by hand. While he spends most of his time throwing them around the Wildlife Ramp parking area, for variation, he flings them “over the Oriental bridge”, though he doesn’t do it often “because of the cars”. In Rika’s eyes, he says, “the throw stick has made me a hero.”

While Steve relies on specialized equipment to play ball, Rika relies on her own – her hearing. When Steve lofts the ball, Rika “runs out first”, pauses to listen, then “works out to where that ball will land”. Her senses have become so fine tuned, she often catches the ball before it lands.

Caught on the fly: Rika catches a ball before it strikes the ground

Trouble is, Rika becomes attached to her balls, especially the old, battered ones. “Give her 20 new balls”, Steve says, “and she’ll go to the old skinned one”. This is unfortunate because just when Rika has fallen in love with a ball, it invariably falls “into a faulty state” where it lands with a thud and won’t bounce. Which means it’s time to throw the ball out.

Here a bit of subterfuge is in order.

Along Steve and Rika’s walking route is a dumpster, into which he tosses the spent balls. “When I throw them into the dumpster, she goes into mourning” Steve says. For the next few days, Rika, separated from her beloved toy, is known to circle the steel repository, searching out her missing ball “because that’s where she last saw it….”

Nooo…..! Steve shows TownDock.net staff – and a horrified Rika – where dead tennis balls go.

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While the bond between Rika and her ball is strong, the tie between Steve and his dogs is stronger.

Rika helps Betsy on the foredeck

“Dogs are my partners in life” Steve says. That’s why “Rika goes everywhere I go”. In one case, though, it was the other way around. While many Oriental residents discover Oriental by boat, in Steve’s case, it was a dog that showed the way.

A few years ago, Steve was out cruising his Whitby 42, “Emilie T”. Aboard was his mate Betsy and his black lab Macthedog, or “Mac” as he was called. As Mac got older, they started looking for a place where Mac “could spend the rest of his life”. Betsy and Steve chose Oriental. Shortly after arriving Mac passed away – he was 14.

“He left a hole I wasn’t going to fill” Steve says.

One day, he got a phone call from his sister-in-law saying there was something waiting for him at the Atlanta airport – and he’d better go down to claim it.

Rika comes to America

He did as told and found a pet carrier with a ten week old puppy in it – straight off the plane from Manchester, England.

The dog in the crate was a Labradoodle – half Lab, half poodle. It was Rika. Back in Oriental, she moved onto Steve’s sailboat “Emilie T”. Steve and Betsy (and Rika) have since moved ashore, but still just a few feet away from the water.

For amusement, Steve used to throw his last dog Mac a nylon, frisbee-shaped disc. “The first one cost five dollars” he says. Over the years, the price went up, until “the last one cost nineteen”. Fearing what a life time of flying disks might cost, Steve started buying tennis balls which, “may not have been Rika’s first choice, but it was the way she was channelled.” Steve now buys them in bulk – 12 balls, preferably Wilson brand, for $6. That’s enough for a month.

Frisbee killer: why Rika chases a fifty-cent ball instead of a 19-dollar frisbee. (Steve Leech photo)

So what does Rika enjoy in her non-ball time? Steve says she enjoys playing with children, especially Steve’s grandchildren, identical twins Riley and Kasey. Another pleasure is eating bacon. Dave Wright, who works with Steve at St. Barts Yachts, says Rika “can always tell when I go out for breakfast and there’s bacon on the plate.” He says Rika “always gets one piece”.

The twins after which Rika was named – “Ri” from Riley, “ka” from Kasey.

Sure, Rika has calm spells that Steve describes as “those magical, precious, moments of peace”. Times when Rika “looks through you. Stares into your soul”. But they are fleeting.

Soon, her eyes “get shifty for the ball.” Because ultimately, for Rika… life is simple. It’s all about the ball.

Rika’s Bio

Celebrity Pet Most Resembles: Howard Stern
Favorite toy: Wilson Tennis Ball
Favorite snack: A strip of Dave Wright’s breakfast bacon
Worst Nightmare: Steve’s throwing arm needs orthoscopic surgery
Athletic Event She Can’t Get An Invite For: Wimbledon
Favorite Actress: Lucille Ball

Know a pet that is a standout? Send in some details and a photo to info@towndock.net. Tell why that pet deserves the coveted TownDock.net Pet of the Month Prize Package --- accolades, a pat on the head (snakes excluded) and a box of Milk Bones ( or snack suitable for the species). We regret that we cannot offer a college scholarship to Pet Of The Month winners. Animals caught near the HarborCam attempting to suck up to the judges will be disqualified.