While sweeping the kitchen floor early this morning I found one of Cooper's tennis balls and moved it near his water bowl to be sure no humans trip on it. Then I got the bright idea to see if I could pick up the tennis ball using just my toes and the ball of my left foot. I have been wearing Vibram FiveFingers shoes since February and wanted to see if there was a noticeable (and novel) improvement in my toe strength and dexterity. I tried several times and then the right foot, but couldn't quite grasp it to lift it off the ground. Then I noticed his box of used raw hide chew fragments just inches away, and so I tried using the wall and the top of my foot, and carefully cupping & balancing, I was able to lift it up and put the ball in the box!
So then I decided that maybe the worn surface of the dog-abused-used tennis ball might not lend itself to monkey toes, and went to the cabinet where I thought the new tennis balls were located. At first I didn't find the new tennis ball which later proved even less toe graspable, but I did find a raquetteball from my wife's physical therapy moments (she only used it one day). The raquetteball was just a little smaller and had a better surface for grasping with skin and I was able to pick it up off the ground with just the bottom of my foot! So don't be surprised to find me in a zoo cage some day.
While checking the spelling for 'prehensile' I found an article in Wikipedia for ...drum roll, please... Prehensile Feet!
I probably won't tell my wife this story. She has had enough fun already telling me that my toes look like gorilla feet when I wear my Vibram black and charcoal grey TrekSports. Thats one of the reasons I now wear the more colorful KomodoSport model.
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