Frog Legs

On Jam's In For Training forms, they ask if he has a favorite toy.  He does.  It is a Kong Snugga Wubba Friends toy.  You have many choices of friends: monkey, frog, lion and bunny. Why did we choose the Snugga Wubba for Jam?

Photo of the lion snugga wubba from the Kong site.

Well, for starters, guide dog puppies in training aren't supposed to have stuffed animals and they aren't supposed to have squeaky toys.  The Snugga Wubba skirts that line nicely. It is soft and plush, but it has a kong like body, not a stuffed toy body.  It also doesn't have a squeaker.  And our AC approved it. 8-). Plus, after the Duck Buddy incident (Here's the beginning of the Duck Buddy story), we knew Jam needed some comfort and needed it fast!  So we went to Petsmart and looked for a Snugga Wubba.

Frog Snugga Wubba with one chewed leg.

We found a frog Snugga Wubba and brought it home for Jammy.  He loved it.  But he did a curious thing.  He would only chew on one leg.  He would carry it around either by that chewed leg or by the body, but he would only chew that one leg.

Even when he was chewing, it wasn't a destructive type of chewing.  It was more of a comfort chew.

"Here, froggy.  I'm just massaging your leg, not eating it."

Jam, lying down with his froggy in front of him.

We will be saving froggy in hopes that we get to attend a puppy raiser day and give it back to him and his new partner.

Don't worry Jam.  We'll take good care of  froggy.

No More Duck Buddy

Below is a photo of duck buddy with his innards spilling out onto the floor. Rather a fluffy white mess.



When a friend of ours saw this in Fred's post and the original post on duck buddy, she very kindly emailed us and said stuffed toys were a no-no.

EEEK! Holy Crap. Jam is our third puppy. Are we ever going to learn this stuff? I ran to the computer to look up toys, because I was sure that if as long as the toy didn't have a squeaker I was on solid ground.

Nope. There it was in black in white:

The only approved toys are Gummabones, Nylabones, sterile bones (bought in a pet shop or catalog), and Kongs.

Stuffed toys were CLEARLY in the bolded NO category. And I completely understand. The main point of the rule is to make sure the toys the puppies play with are the safest possible. So, no stuffed toys. Jam will deal.



And we are aren't a complete waste of space. We do have approved toys in the house.

He's going to miss duck buddy though!

I think we all are. 8-)

Hedgehog!

What is it? A hedgehog. And the most awesome stuffed toy EVER! It was the first toy gift we ever received from the Headmaster's wife and HRH adored it. Since then, HRH has had a hedgehog benefactor: Wren. Wren comes to visit on Fridays and spends the time between 7:30 am and 7:50 am with HRH before school starts. Sometimes she comes alone, sometimes with a friend. But she always knows what HRH likes. For Christmas she planned to get her a new hedgehog but they were out. So she ordered one.

And waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Finally, it came in! She had given a hedgehog to HRH before, but it was the tiny hedgehog. This was BIG hedgehog. What would she do?



One thing she wouldn't do is stop wagging her tail. That's a happy dog.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Uncommon Toys

By Fred
The SEGD puppy experts have explained to us that tennis balls, Frisbees and other toys that are likely to be seen whizzing by in the air--on a walk in the park, for example--are not appropriate for guide dog puppies. These toys would prove to be an unfair distraction to a working guide dog in the future, so Bingo needs to make do with less common toys.

Fortunately there is no end to the variety of pet toys, and some are downright strange. One of Bingo's favorites was this combination dog bone/baby pacifier on a ring. I suppose it's natural for us humans to imagine that a puppy might be interested in a pacifier. If Bingo could talk, he would advise us not to get hung up on representational design. I'm into texture, he would say.

Yesterday I noticed he had stripped away a big piece of pacifier and was preparing to swallow it, so I took the toy away and put it in with the other retired toys. Even though these toys are marketed as safe to swallow, I don't like the idea. Time to move to the harder nylabones, maybe something in titanium.

He's still just a puppy but sometimes he looks like a big dog in his photos. Here he is, wondering where the pacifier has gone.