[Dailydrool] toys

[Dale Rutz]

Hi all, Dale here    
So ..... toys.  Snoopy has always loved a good squeaky toy.  He is a very bossy dog though and he has never, ever allowed any other dog to play with toys in his presence.  Except Thor (a long ago foster .... Thor could run like the wind and he'd grab a toy in order to get Snoopy to play chase with him).  LuLu had been feral and couldn't care less about toys.  Gracie liked toys but she was afraid of angering Snoopy ..... she would cuddle a toy but was very careful never to squeak one so Snoopy didn't get upset.  As many of you remember, LuLu died over a year ago and Gracie left us last summer.  After Gracie's passing Snoopy went into a decline, went off his kibble and we thought we were loosing him.  We got him to eat using a crock pot and home cooked meals ...... but toys were a thing of the past.
At Hanukkah we tried ...... I bought 8 toys and Snoopy was supposed to receive one each night.  I was traveling on business for most of the holiday ..... Greg reported that Snoopy didn't seem to want or care about the toys.  When I got home I tried to give him one, a really good squeaky one .... he took it out of my hand, dropped it on the floor, and walked away.  Never even squeaked it once.  So.........
Chomper LOVES toys.  And Snoopy loves Chomper.  So ...... Snoopy lets Chomper play with toys.  And, believe me, Snoopy has a toy bin FULL of nearly new toys ....... I bet he has at least 40 , and that is AFTER I donated bags and bags full of nearly new toys to half a dozen local shelters.  Chomper will pull out 10 or 15 at a time and just go crazy, flinging them in the air ...... playing chase, squeaking them ...... Snoopy mostly watches but sometimes he will grab one too ..... he even fetches again!!  Now my poor gimpy old man limps and hobbles and falls over and bunny hops but that doesn't stop him charging off after his toy and bringing it back to me squeaking up a storm.  Chomper found that really good squeaky toy (it's a carrot that says "I don't carrot all") and it's his favorite.   
So ..... last night ..... I was digging in the back of the hall closet and I found a basset gift bag.  Inside were two brand new, very fancy dog toys with the tags still attached.  Obviously Greg gave up / got depressed handing Snoopy a "present" only to have Snoopy drop it and walk off (or never accept it) and just put the toys in the back of the closet while I was in London.  So ..... I pulled them out, cut off the tags, and asked the two dogs to select a toy.  Happily they each chose a different one (honestly I think Snoopy was just going to let Chomper have whichever one he wanted and take the other).  Chomper was in HEAVEN ...... this is the first toy which is truly HIS, he "chomped" it first.  It's a duck and it crinkles and it squeaks and its got different textures on it and he was over the moon.  Snoopy got a long squeaky dog and he joyfully pranced and squeaked and brought it to me a few times to throw and made a big show of running after it (3 feet) and bringing it back to me with a flourish.  It was Christmas in January these two dogs both played hard for about 20 minutes with their presents.
So much happiness.  It's been a while since Snoopy had this much fun.  It's been quite a while since we had a dog party in our house like we had last night.  Wow that was really, really good.
--Dale
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