Category: Puppy Toys

Getting Ready for the Holidays

11/22/2015

With the cold front we are having now, Mom has been in a holiday mood. She was cleaning up on Saturday and moved some things around while folding clothes. She noticed that one of her teddy bears had fallen on the floor, but she didn't think about it too much because Miss M and Miss B were out helping her. Neither one of them seems to mess with stuffed animals too much. When it was Mr. M's turn to help with the cleanup effort, Mom forgot that the teddy bear was within puppy reach. Mr. M is not quite as friendly with teddy bears as Miss M or Miss B. Mom noticed that Mr. M and Miss S were being a little quiet- not usually a good sign. When she went to check on them, she noticed a trail of stuffing. It didn't take long to remember the teddy bear that Miss B had been using as a pillow. Unfortunately for the teddy bear, it was just too late for the bear to be rescued.

Miss S and Mr. M have an understood agreement when it comes to toys and treasures. When one has a toy or something fun, they will sit and wait patiently for a while to give the first one a chance to chew on whatever it is. Then they eventually take it, at which point the first puppy lets them chew on it for a while before eventually taking it back. They take turns. Notice Miss S waiting patiently for her turn to tear up the teddy bear.

Finally, Miss S took the opportunity to take the teddy bear (or what was left) and decided to relocate to a safer spot so that she could have more time alone with the teddy bear.

As with most games, the destruction of the teddy bear soon turned into a group effort.

Miss S tried to convince Mom that they weren't actually making a mess. Miss S argued that she and Mr. M were trying to make fake snow to use as holiday decorations. Mom didn't quite buy it.

In between folding clothes and picking up pieces of teddy bear, Mom managed to at least get the table looking a a little more festive.

Lessons Learned

6/4/2015

So, even though we are on our 5th puppy now, we are still learning new things all of the time. Here are a few of the things we have learned recently.

1.) If you are going to let your puppy sleep on the bed, always have a back-up set of clean sheets just in case. Puppies are like lightening. They can go from a muddy yard, straight past the foot wiping area into the house and up onto the bed in the blink of an eye if you leave the doors open in between. Also, upset tummies usually come on unexpectedly, and having a puppy throw up or worse on your bed in the middle of the night is not cool. Having that happen with no clean sheets to put on would be far worse. Now that I think about it, I think I need to go check my closet and make sure my sheets are clean.

2.) When you are traveling with your puppies, always make sure you have something for them to chew on. Otherwise, the inside of your car is in grave danger. Puppy teeth are sharp and leather, wood and plastic are irresistible. Unfortunately, most of the inside of your car is made up of these materials. Apparently, plastic cup holders, seat belt buckles and door handles are particularly tempting.

3.) Squeaky toys are good. Really good. Whatever preconceived ideas you have about how annoying squeaky toys are... forget about them. If you hear your puppy squeaking a toy in the next room, you know without a doubt that she is not chewing on something she shouldn't be chewing on. Plus, you know where they are. We love the ones that are long and skinny with plenty of squeakers. That way several puppies can play at once.

4.) Avoid toys with lots of stuffing. Our puppies usually don't pull larger teddy bears apart. Several of them sleep with teddy bears in their crates and use them as pillows, but in general, stuffing is a bad idea. Maybe it's just because we have pit bulls, but stuffing is a waste of time. If it is a toy they don't play with all of the time, sometimes they will leave it in tact. The toys without stuffing though, are so much easier because they can chew and chew them without stuffing ending up all over the living room floor.

5.) When it looks like your puppies don't have any toys left, you have a tendency to rush over to Petsmart and buy new ones. Before you do that, clean out from underneath your couch. Over time, toys seem to just disappear. Just the other day, I was wondering what had happened to the red and green teddy bears that were filled with rope instead of stuffing. I thought they had just gone the way of the dodo. Then we decided to move the couch to sweep. I found two missing slippers, a pair of canvas shoes that I thought had been accidentally thrown away, and tons of toys. Some of them were mangled, but a lot of them were still in good shape- just a little dusty. There were toys I didn't even remember I had gotten. The red and green rope teddy bears were there, along with two others in tan and brown that I had completely forgotten about. It was amazing. Our puppies were super excited. New toys everywhere.

Play time and Attitude Adjustments

9/14/2014

This weekend, Miss B and Mr. C got their attitude adjustments. While they were busy at the vet, we visited Grandma and Grandpa's house. Miss S and Mr. M enjoyed the visit and got to meet all kinds of people. Miss S discovered that she could fit under the coffee table.
After the vet visit, Miss B and Mr. C needed time to recuperate, so we finally had an excuse not to go anywhere for the weekend and just chilled out at home. This is mostly a picture post.

Playing on the couch during their first visit to Grandma and Grandpa's house while Miss B and Mr. C were at the vet (Don't tell Miss B and Mr C that they were allowed on the couch)

Miss S under the coffee table- she won't be able to do this for long.

Miss S playing with a new toy. The cheap Halloween toys from Petsmart are AWESOME!

Mr. M with a Halloween mouse in the background

Miss B sporting the collar of shame- she was wearing the donut collar of shame, but she kept getting her foot caught in it while trying to get it off

Mr. C wearing the donut collar of shame. He agreed to wear it because we told him it was a floaty for swim lessons. When he figured out we weren't going swimming, he ripped the straps off.

The boys. "It's a guy thing, Mom."

Miss B chilling in the yard. She is not allowed to run or jump around, which has been extremely difficult for her. (She's a very active dog!)

"Tell us more, Mr. C. Then what did the evil vet do?"

Hanging out in the yard with Mom. It turns out that Mom's legs make really good napping spots. Mr. C keeping watch while they nap.

Mr. M looking up at his big brother

Puppy Wisdom

9/9/2014

There is much wisdom to be learned from the ways of the puppy. Miss S and Mr. M demonstrate some of these lessons, while appropriately sporting a Buddha belly. Here are a few examples.
I'm not really sure what Buddha sounded like- I'm very sure that it wasn't in English- so for now, the puppy wisdom will sound more like Yoda.

1. Life like a toy, you must treat. Grab it by the squishy arms you must. (Respect the belly)

2. Important it is roses to smell.

3. Important it is good things to share.

4. When a big fat butt you have, wiggle wiggle wiggle like a Snoop song you must.

5. From a group hug much happiness comes.

Puppy-nado

9/7/2014

You're guess is as good as ours as to what Miss B is doing here. Pawsana Yoga? Maybe she's letting Miss S practice her Jiu-Jitsu throwing techniques? My guess is that the four of them are secretly planning to release a low budget film and they are rehearsing for it. I saw the beginnings of a script laying in the bottom of the little's crate. It was titled "PuppyNado," and had a scribbled note to call Tara Ried.

"I am NOT your mom! What are you doing? Move away!" Dad says, "Go ahead. Neuter him so I don't have to pay for it at the vet."

Don't tell Mr. C, but this view is going to change in about a week.

I'm convinced that puppies have a 7th sense- the ability to detect toys. We came back from the store yesterday evening with several new water dishes and toys for all of the puppies. I rested the bags down on the floor and sat down with some scissors to take the tags off. Before I had even opened the bag with this colorful monkey in it, Mr. M ran straight to the bag and pulled the monkey out and across the floor so he could play with it. They are getting good at running, and Mr. M added a little bounce to the run so that every second or third step was a little hop.

Mr. M standing his ground and protecting his monkey against mischief and mayhem by the bigger puppies. "Don't touch my toys!"

"Why play with the toys when we can play with this interesting camera bag?"

They also have the ability to make toys out of just about anything. Here are the two littles playing with an empty toilet paper roll. There were originally two rolls, but just like with Mr. C and Miss B, no matter how many toys there are, the coolest one is the one your brother or sister has. I think it is part of the puppy code.

"This mop is by far the worst toy! It does not smell near as good as the others. Mmm. I think Mr. C lied to me. This does not taste like chicken."

"I'm the boss. Daddy does what I tell him to."

"Everyone wants to kiss me all the time. Why do I have to be so cute. Curse these boyishly good looks!"

"Hey, Mom. Can you take a selfie of me so I can see my blue eyes?"

Cardboard Box... Best Toy Ever

6/29/2014

There are literally thousands and thousands of dog toys on the market. Even places like Bed Bath and Beyond have dog toys. With all of those toys, you would think that one of them would be a puppy's favorite toy... But apparently none of those toys can compare to the coolest toy ever. The cardboard box.

Clyde- I found it first ...... Bonnnie- Mom says we are supposed to learn how to share

Puppy Lesson: Anything your brother finds first is instantly cool.

Bubble wrap is AWEsome.

The one thing that might possibly be as cool as cardboard boxes is... the water hose. It is very illusive. No matter how many times they catch it, it just keeps going. On hot days, Bonnie goes to the nozzle and tries to make the water come out by barking and chewing on the metal tip. Then she looks back and forth between the spiggot on the wall and us as if to show us where we need to go to turn the water on. Clyde was a little hesitant about going too close to the hose until he saw Bonnie having so much fun. He decided that he couldn't let his little sister be braver than he was and that he needed to show that water who was boss. Anytime they hear the hose start, they drop whatever they are playing with, smelling or looking at and come running. It's like the puppy version of the ice cream truck.

Bonnie pulled the hose into this position.

The best thing to do after playing in the water hose is to dig in the dirt, of course.

Bonnie demonstrating that grey is not the new white

Getting Ready for the Holidays

Lessons Learned

Play time and Attitude Adjustments

Puppy Wisdom

Puppy-nado

Cardboard Box... Best Toy Ever

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