This dog toy is probably about 20 years old. His name is "Bill," because he is an effigy of President William Jefferson Clinton (long before his healthy vegan days). The manufacture named this particular toy "Running Bill." It started out life belonging to my presidential Border Collie, Woodrow Wilson Murphy... a.k.a "Woody." The best dog that ever lived.
There are many reasons I keep toys alive, but this one has a lot of sentimental value. Teddy didn't get it until she was at least four or five, past her super destructive stage. But she is still quite destructive, so a lot of surgery is required to keep Bill alive. The number one rule, is no tugging on arms and legs. His have been reattached dozens of times!
I name every toy, and I think that is why I feel compelled to save them. We rarely re-buy the same toy. If we do, then they can keep the same name. We've had two Running Bill toys and Woody used to be able to keep her rubber chicken viable for a couple of years at a time, so she had a few "Chicken George" toys. Otherwise, each toy gets a new name. Even if they are the same species. She's had "Piggie," "Pink Piggie," and "Flying Piggie." This particular toy is "Cowie." I cringed when she was gifted with this one because I knew the material was not very durable. This one was a Christmas present. I'd sewn up a number of holes and eventually resorted to a skin graft.
Her toys look pretty pathetic, but she loves them. I'm going to keep Bill alive as long as possible, but am considering Cowie a terminal case. It's no longer feasible to continue to sew him up. And for the record, all dog toys are boys.
We keep a lot of her toys and she gets them mostly as gifts. I grow attached to them because she treats them all differently (although she wants to kill them all). Teddy's probably only got a few years left. When the day comes to throw them away, I will be very sad. I take care of her, and I take care of her toys. This goes beyond being cheap. I think I get more attached to them than she does!
We've gone to mostly rubber toys - Buddy is a toy destroyer (still). Our neighbor across the street gave him a cute stuffy camel and within 30 seconds he nearly had one leg destroyed :(. This latest round of Hartz rubber toys seems to be the toughest, there are more toys scattered around here than when the kids were little! Like you though I do get a little sentimental over his favorite ones. When he was little his very first toy was a stuffie of Lambchop, I still have that one and it has been sewn a few times. Buddy can't play with it anymore though lol
ReplyDeleteI also prefer heavy rubber toys and have been getting her ones that have feet on them. They literally have to rubber feet. She rolls toys under things and then pesters us to retrieve them, which is why I started buying the ones with feet. She fully destroyed Foot Devil, first by chewing off his horns and ears. He then lost his feet and was gnawed in half. She still has Feetball, but has severed one foot -- since they are attached to each other, that toy is still around. For Christmas, I got her Frankenfoot, a Frankenstein shaped head with two feet. Those are pretty tough but not quite as endearing because they don't really have faces or a species. She has another Bill-like toy named Big Mean Kitty (a.k.a. BMK), who gets similar surgical care. BMK is in even worse shape than Bill!
DeleteBorder Collies are the best dogs ever. Mine was named Cressida and called Sadie. She was an outdoor dog and had sticks for toys.
ReplyDeleteWoody loved to gather up sticks in a pile. She never bought them back to us. She'd always collect the pile, then we'd start tossing again. BCs are soul mates. They really get into your head and heart,
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