Remember the Cabbage Patch dolls and Tickle Me, Elmo? Toy manufacturers and parents are always trying to guess what the most popular toy will be each year.
Well, pet parents do the same thing, and we're wrong just as often as the other type of parents. This year I made my guess and chose this cute little turtle. It's an interactive toy, which appeals to me.
The human sticks the head, tail and legs inside the shell and the dog then enjoys pulling them out. As an added incentive, each appendage has a squeaker. The manufacturer didn't warn me that I'd break two nails trying to tuck the legs in. What dog wouldn't love this toy? Mine! I don't think it's been touched, even though I've tried showing several of them how much fun it is.
I'll now show you the top three Christmas toys as chosen by my pack of experts.
The third most popular toy was this rather ugly anteater, which I found at the dollar store last summer and tucked away in my gift closet. I felt it was too ugly to send as a gift, so I threw it in the toybox with the other new toys.
This fellow has a stretchy elastic tail, making him a perfect tug toy for two pups to play with together. He also is easy to fling by the tail, so it's good for throwing, chasing and pouncing upon. Morgan, especially, likes this toy and has carried it around all weekend.
The second most popular toy is the little snowman.
This toy is small and very light weight. It has no squeaker, but did have a tasty hat and scarf that were eaten on Christmas morning. The best feature of this toy is that it's so light. Throwing it in the air and catching it is a really fun game that has kept several of them amused for long periods. I discourage throwing toys in the house, but this one won't hurt anything.
Here Sky demonstrates the technique.
Far and away the most popular toy this year was the hedgehog.
This toy has two very desirable qualities. First, it's small enough to fit inside the big mouths of my dogs, so one doesn't know the dog is carrying it. Second, it makes a disgusting pig sound when squeezed. The best game is to come up behind an unsuspecting human and suddenly squeeze the toy hidden inside the big mouth. The human usually jumps upon hearing the disgusting pig noise behind them. This seems to amuse my group and they've all been trying it.
Here Tsar is taking his turn with the hedgehog.
There is great demand for this toy and I predict a short life for the hedgehog. Maybe someday I can convince one of them to play with the turtle.
16 comments:
ha ha ha... Great post!!!!! :)
uhhhm, the turtle . . .Stella got a similar toy that was a beehive, and it had several winged bees that could be removed, squeaked and the dog could replace them. It was a concept she never got. She loves the four little bees, loved tossing them in the air, squeaking them, one was ALWAYS lost, so she played a lot with the remaining three and a year later, she still does. She also has a hedgehog she likes very much.
Its a puzzle to guess which toy will be best. But #1 here is a squeaker, if it has that, it is acceptable. She also likes crunchy legs, a different noise. I think back to my kidhood dog who never had anything but a red hard rubber ball, but he loved it.
Cheers,
Jo and Stella
We've got a houseful of toys that are either ignored or buried by Bella.
Live things seem to be the best things to chase...birds, lizards, bugs....and play with.
Love the dogs taking turns sharing the three most popular toys.
XXXOOO Daisy, Kendra & Bella
You could have sent the anteater here, no matter how ugly it is. Marge puts every squeaky toy to very good use.
The turtle toy sounds funny. Marge has a similar one (a beehive with little bees - probably just like Stella is talking about) and she honestly just prefers to carry the giant beehive around rather than extract the squeaky bees from it. They're crazy, aren't they?
I love the hedgehog; our school mascot! It looks like your top toys hold up better with your dog than our golden retriever! Golly, he's always chewing the stuffing out of his toys; goodness gracious!
I think I would like the hedgehog, too! I like toys that squeak, but my all time favorite "toy" is a roll of paper towels! It's free and fun to rip up!
Your pal, PIp
Those are some cool toys. We love the turtle puzzle
Benny & Lily
LOVE this post. My girls haven't been given many of their Christmas toys because we weren't encouraging play, given the circumstances. However, Sis seems back to herself, so tonight, we'll give them each one toy...
Hedgehogs are always popular here.
Hmmm - mine would not like that turtle one bit - or that hedgie either. they like traditional squeekies. Lucy's favorite is the wee tiny hedgie (you know yorkie sized) with a squeeker. She'll play with that baby forever!! Protecting it from her killer brother!!
I love that your's sneak up and scare you. :) g
Fun toys! Even doggies have their prefrence just like us humans.
That turtle puzzle is so cute! I see why you chose it. Unfortunately, I know my dog would by pass the puzzling part and go straight for the de-stuffing.
The hedgehog is an awesome toy. My brother in law's dog has one and he loves it as well. It's so cute and squeaky. Shiva would just eat it so she doesn't get one. Poor girl.
Great post!
Thor had a hedgehog once. He ate it. That snowman looks like fun! Glad to see they all take turns.
What cool toy! Love the hedgehog!
Happy New Year!
Have a very HAPPY NEW YEAR SUE AND THE GUYS :-) x x x
I agree. THe hedgehog is the best ever.
Slobbers,
Mango
Happy New Year to you and the pack! Hedgies are favorites at our house too. I can't tell you how many I've stitched back together. Whenever we would talk on the phone, Ginger would bring us the noisy hedgehog and want to play.
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