Historical December 1996 article. Dates, prices, services and contacts describe the source period; current availability has not been established.
Holiday time again and we are all getting into the shopping mode. What to get grandmother? She’s been around for eighty years; what else could she possibly need? How many families shop for the household pet? Judging by the plethora of pet warehouse stores and chichi pet boutiques, the market for pet accessories is strong.
My childhood family pet: a beagle named “Peanuts,” got a new squeaker toy every Christmas.
We only gave her one a year because she drove us nuts “squeaking” the blasted thing for hours!
I digress….
We would wrap the new toy in festive paper, but would not put the gift under the tree until just before time for unwrapping. Believe it or not, even though these toys were not scented with “eau de wild rabbit”; just plain, soft rubber, little animals or some animation character fated to be squeezed a bullion times between the jaws of an obsessed “red rock” beagle (“red rock” because she was two shades of brown and white instead of the standard black, brown and white), she would hunt through the rest of the gifts assembled under the tree and always come up with her personal gift.
The family would stand around offering encouraging words: “Peanuts, where is your squeaker?”, “Get your squeaker Peanuts!”. You get the idea.
To our delight, she would then rip the paper off the toy, grab it up in her mouth and prance around “squeaking” to her hearts’ delight.
The squeaking torment for the family would last until Peanuts managed to get the squeaker out of the bottom of the toy. Sometimes this process took as long as a couple of months.
She never could understand why the toys quit squeaking and it wasn’t nearly as much fun if it didn’t squeak.
We chose not to share with her that we knew why the toy quit squeaking.
We were also lucky that we didn’t end up with a dog that needed surgery to remove a squeaker from her small intestine. Sometimes, pre-vet school days were more fun. Anyway, I can offer a few suggestions for giving your pet a gift. Many dogs love to chew on objects and there are many good “chew” toys.
I recommend “Kong” toys.
These are hard rubber toys in various shapes, some with places that you can fill with peanut butter or cream cheese. Your dog will chew and work with the toy trying to get out the goodie. Rawhide toys in limited amounts are okay for most dogs, however some dogs get upset stomachs from chewing rawhide.
The fleece covered toys are favorites for many of my clients’ pets. Clients report that their dogs. particularly retrievers, just walk around the house or yard, happily carrying their “chewman” toys in their mouths.
I do not recommend the hard white “Nylabone”. Dogs break their teeth on these particular toys. Cats also enjoy toys. Sometimes just a plain old Ping-Pong ball is the best, but if your cat loses thousands of these under the furniture or down the basement steps, they now make a toy with the Ping-Pong ball confined in a circular track. Hours of fun for most cats as they send the ball spinning round and round the track, and it never disappears under the bed. Great in theory, and I know many cats who love these things, but my own cats are only interested if we sit with them and keep the ball going around. “Kitty condos” are fun for cats that like to climb.
These are wooden structures covered with carpet that come various sizes to suit your living space and your purse. Various toys that employ an object on the end of a string, pole. or even one like a small fishing rod will provide interactive fun for you and your cat, plus burn some calories of that slightly “less than svelte” feline. Cat nip toys are standard gifts for cats, but I would use them in moderation. Cats become disinterested after a while and cat nip loses its’ buzz. Of course, like children, the best gift you can give your pets, is your time and attention.
They love you unconditionally, well, dogs do anyway. Cats deserve your love because they are such interesting and worthy creatures. You can get creative about giving your pets a gift. Take your dog for any extra long walk in forest park. Maybe. he/ she would like to chase down a couple of rollerbladers. Happy Holidays and best wishes for a happy, health New Year!
Originally published in The Times of Skinker-DeBaliviere, December 1996.
Read this article in the original newspaper issue.
Original source: SD_Times1996_12.pdf, printed page(s) 6; PDF page(s) 6.
