THE OTHER END OF THE LEASH

I’ve loved reading your comments about favorite dog toys. You all inspired me to take a photo of Willie and his current favorites. . .

From Left to Right, back row, the toys are:

Brain Twister (long, green thing, Canine Genius), Chewber (red disc), Invincible Rings (blue & black rings, JW Pet), Skinneez Stuffingless Dog Toy (long, grey thing draped onto orange) and Plush Leo with Stuffies (big, round, orange hollow globe, by Canine Genius.

The three toys in the front are Planet Dog’s Orbee Ball, Planet Dog’s Strawberry and the eternally essential Large size Kong. Please keep telling us about your favorite toys and we’ll try to get them on the website. (And our dogs will be so grateful!)

Here’s what happened when I said “Take it!” to Willie:

Right now there is no question that the Twister is his favorite toy, but then,  Will LOVES to shake things. (I helped this along by reinforcing it as a way to help Will literally and metaphorically shake off tension, and as a way to learn to calm down when aroused.) It is also new, and I have no doubt that has an impact too.

Every morning Will and Lassie start the day by eating frozen food out of their Kong… I let them outside to pee and they run in, run to the frig and wait for me to hand them their frozen Kong. It takes them a good 25-30 minutes (lucky me!) to get through the food I have carefully smashed into the Kong the night before.. so I can read, write and be lazy on the couch.

After that I’d say he loves all the other toys equally. There are at least 30 of them (I should count) in their 2 toy baskets but these are the ones that he keeps going back for. I don’t take my own advice about keeping only a few toys out to avoid the dog getting bored with them. . . probably because I never see any sign of Will getting bored!

Meanwhile, back at the farm: Here’s a shot of the lambs grazing up in the high pasture. They are doing incredibly well and are a joy to watch. Also with them are Martha 2.0 (in front on right, black legs and face) and Barbie, both of who are thin and are getting a bit of corn and oats along with the lambs. By the way, you can see Will in the background. The flock had been loosely dispersed, grazing away until I asked Will to walk up. You can see he just got to the edge of the ‘flight distance’. . .  the sheep on his side have turned their heads and started to flock up.

I hope you enjoy the weekend, and that you get some time off. I have just been reminded of how precious life is, having attended a service for a friend and colleague who died suddenly and tragically in a bicycle accident. What a reminder that this is it… this day, this hour, this moment. I’m going to turn off the computer (except to play with photos from Africa), go outside and harvest thyme and oregano and mint, make another 2 loaves of carrot bread, make another batch of Zucchini Yum and garden garden garden. I’ll intersperse that with walking with the dogs, working Will on sheep, rubbing Lassie’s belly and watching the WWSDA Herding Dog Trial outside of Portage, WI. I hope you can do something that feeds you in all ways too.

Life. What a gift.

At the risk of sounding self-serving, I wanted to write about Willie’s new favorite toy. We do sell it on the website, but we sell it because our dogs think it is the best thing that happened since liver and chicken.

It’s called a Canine Genuis Brain Twister, presumably because it was designed for dogs who love to shake things. Truth be told, I’m not sure where the ‘genuis’ part comes in, nor does the thought of my dog’s brain twisting make me happy, but as luck would have it, Willie can’t read and pays no attention to such humanly concerns.

Here’s a photo of it: (I have one of Willie playing with it but forgot to bring the cord to connect the camera to  my computer. sigh. I’ll add the pic sometime soon when I can get my brain organized.)

What you can’t tell from this photo is that it’s about 14″ long twisted and twice that uncoiled. It’s soft and plush and a great size for a medium or large dog. Willie has played with his relentlessly for a week and it, to my amazement, shows no signs of wear. Yet. Do not hold your breath. But I am interested in his response: he usually is a tearer and ripper… give him something he can disembowel and he’ll make quick work of it. I buy toys like that on occasion when I figure we both need a little luxury in life. He rips the $12.99 toy into shreds in 5 minutes, and I say “Well, it’s just as good as a dinner out!”  But one can’t feed one’s dog $13 toys on a daily basis, at least not if you still need some money to buy dog food, much less food for you and your family. This toy, because it is so fun to shake, doesn’t seem to bring out Will the Ripper. Yet.

I’ll keep you posted. We are big on toys this week at the office, and I’d love to know what new toys you’ve found that you like. Will and Denise’s Cooper are also crazed over another toy called Plush Leo With Stuffies (who comes up with these names anyway, she asked, respectfully?). It’s one of those great toys with toys inside of it. Will can pull the inner toys out in seconds, but he absolutely adores the toys inside. (He likes the carrot best. Such a healthy choice.) They are his favorite toy to bring to me to play fetch with him. They are also great for hiding (but also small enough that I’d be careful with them around large dogs….)

His other favorites are still the Chewber, Skinneeze, Planet Dog’s balls and a half chewed up rubber tube used by dairy farmers. I’d love to hear about your dog’s favorites…