She considers counting them for all of five seconds. (It quickly becomes aparent to her that counting is just not going to work, in this case) Five seconds isn't quite enough for all of the fire dogs to get there, but it's long enough, and there's not much time between that and when they're dropping a ball in front of them.

She watches it roll about a foot, slowly looking from it to the dogs to Childermass- and then back to the ball itself.

Cautiously, she picks it up and looks at the dogs. "Umnh..."

Fetch isn't really something you do with menagerie animals- you're supposed to sort of give them the special enrichment toys and treats and let them have it. Something about minimizing contact or something. But.

"..." She holds it out to the side with one hand, watching as various puppy eyes follow the motion. "Aahhhhh..."

Up...left...up. Down...

She brings it back close, blinking. "...That way-" she decides eventually, throwing it past Childermass' chair. This way they can see where the dogs are as they all pile on for the ball, right??

Yes. This can't possibly end with sand in their eyes, or dogs piling over them to get to the ball. They're Good dogs after all.