TOYZ

In the spirit of the Christmas Gift Giving Season I'm sure you will be buying gifties for your four legged pals, yes, even the cat!

One toy that has saved my sanity more than once is the almighty Kong and some toys like it. You can buy stuff from the chain department store (Headquarted in Bentonville, AR) something like spray cheese (but for dogs), squeeze it in there, load it up with treats, etc and turn them loose. I'm thinking it's kind of like Barney for the dogs. Keeps their little furry brains and paws occupied while you accomplish your more worthwhile tasks - like blogging instead of folding a mountain of socks (man, I hate socks). Here is a picture of three of the four stuffable toys that we have.

The two red ones are Kongs. The green is something else that I picked up. It works well but you have to take it away as soon as the stuffing is gone or the following will happen...

Another fun toy that we have rolling around here is a Cuz.

I've purchased different sizes. When Te'a was a puppy I bought the baby Cuz for her.

No sooner did I have it home but some other bigger, stronger, tougher dog ate the feet off. As the tiny ball was a choking hazard, as were the feet, I pitched the whole thing.

I had purchased a extra large BAD CUZ for Mocha at one time but it was too big and she really didn't enjoy playing with it. My brother's dog plays with it when she's here.

The Cuz that we have now is similar in size to the green one in the pic, except ours is orange and looks something like this:

It's big enough that noone can choke on it but it's still a good time if you don't mind the occasional squeaking. Note that at one time it was a BAD CUZ - Jack took care of the "horns" and the feet for us.

So if you are the kind of person who gave in to your spouse and kids who wanted a dog and are still not seeing your way to love the mutt, get to one of those chain pet stores and purchase one or two of these items and score major points all around. However, if you are the kind of person who is going to spend more money on your dog than your kids just because you like the way his feet smell like Frito's, go to the nearest chain pet store and pick up a couple of these. These keep them busy so you can get other stuff done (you know like, laundry, cleaning and goofing off on the computer). Here's a little vid of Jack and the horn and footless Cuz. (sorry for the quality with the snow coming down its a bit dim in my family room) Oh, and yes, it is rather pandemonium around here most days. Yes, I do vaccuum every other day (doesn't everyone??). Keeps me from getting in trouble. Riiight.....

Feliz Navidad!