Anticipating the approach of winter, we decided to buy some heavy blankets to put on the garage floor leading into the house. They'll absorb some of the snow and ice before it gets into the house. To avoid spending a lot on these throwaway blankets, we hit the thrift stores in town. We made a wonderful discovery. Thrift shops sell stuffed animals for very low prices.
We had a lot of fun picking out toys for the dogs. We came home with a big bag of nice stuffed animals and paid only $2 or less for each.
Once we got them home Rob removed all the plastic eyes and noses and I stitched up the openings. This is very important !!!!
Be sure to remove any eyes and noses that can be swallowed.
Doesn't this look like Santa's workshop?
Here are some of the toys we brought home for the gang.
I love this big duck. His huge eyes were just glued on and easy to remove.
We had teddy bears, dogs, a tiger and a panther.
The dogs still didn't know about any of these. We had something special in mind for them.
This guy is huge. Noah likes to cuddle with a body pillow on the bedroom floor each night. We thought this dog could be a new sleeping buddy for him.
Once tags and plastic parts were removed and all openings stitched, Rob chose certain toys and headed outside.
He placed the duck on the woodpile.
The caterpillar was placed in the rock garden.
The tiger is in the tower.
The leopard is on the rock overlooking the pond.
The Koala is sitting on the rock ledge. Once all the wild animals were in place Rob went to get the dogs.
Here they come.
The duck was the first one discovered.
Tsar immediately noticed the caterpillar.
Fudge claimed the duck even though he wasn't the first to spot it.
Sky like the duck, too.
Tsar started howling to alert us that there was a wild caterpillar in the yard.
Lola found the Koala.
Bailey and Fudge discovered the tiger.
Everyone had to check out the wild tiger.
Morgan picked up the discarded duck.
Tess and Norma Jean kill the tiger.
Then Norma Jean found the leopard.
In typical dog fashion, she checks out the back end to see if she can recognize the smell.
She decides to lie down beside her new friend.
Meanwhile, Bailey has taken the Koala off to play with away from the crowd..
Tsar is fighting with the caterpillar. he shakes it and tosses it in the air. Then he pounces on it. This goes on for quite a while.
Noah has gotten the leopard away from his sisters.
When Tsar finishes with the caterpillar, Fudge goes to check it out.
Norma Jean rescues her leopard from Noah and carries it across the yard.
Samba isn't interested in any of the wild animals. She carries her lobster all around the yard. After all Portuguese Water Dogs don't hunt tigers and leopards, they hunt lobsters. You can tell she's my dog. I love lobster, too.
Tsar thinks the Koala looks nice and soft.
And who is the big winner in this big game hunt?
Morgan. She has laid claim to the tiger and the duck.
This was an inexpensive and fun game for us and for the dogs. Everyone enjoyed it. Please remember if you buy stuffed toys for your animals, remove all plastic parts such as eyes and noses. You don't want your game to turn into an emergency trip to the vet.
