The Dingo Chronicles

A little over a week ago, Ty and I visited our local pet store - TaiLwaggers. It's a great little store with so much cool stuff for dogs and cats. Really unique, colorful toys, treats, and leashes. And they have Silverfoot! We love these collars (Hunter's on his 4th one!).

It's easy to get carried away in TaiLwaggers and hard to resist from scooping up all the gadgets and gizmos for our "kids", but we refrained and came away with 2 toys and 2 new collars. (Wally got his first Silverfoot - he's on his way to becoming a big boy!).

While browsing the store, Ty and I got kind of caught up in the idea that we could find "that one toy". The "one" indestructible...teeth resistant...ever-lasting...TOY. We have bones and tug toys that last forever, but that's just not the same compared to a snuggly toy. And we all know the snuggly toys are the first to go. But that's what we wanted...a snuggly, indestructible...toy. Crazy, right? But, with the variety at TaiLwaggers, we became hopeful.

The first toy we thought might qualify was an alligator made from a durable, backpack type material. We asked if the 'gator was especially resistant to the chew-pull-chew-tug technique that dogs employ when dealing with anything stuffed. She confirmed that it would do pretty well, but pointed out a hanging display of even better toys for the tenacious. Ty and I nodded slowly and let out slight "ahha's". We slowly walked towards the display, slightly skeptical that this could maybe be the answer, as she went on to show us the variety of toys and how strong they were. Snakes, turtles, bones, fish...they had it all. And ratings!!! They even had ratings! Each toy was assigned a number on a "tough" scale. Some were 6's, some 9's...and 10...10 was the toughest of tough.

The creature Ty and I were drawn to the most (actually, I think Ty spotted it first), was this bright red lobster. He had a cute face and lots of fun little legs and two lobster claws with squeakers. We loved it. It felt strong, but still had an ounce of snuggle to it with a soft felt covering. It was decided. The lobster was coming with us that day.

We arrived home to the crew and Hunter instantly knew something was up. How is that...they just know when you're carrying in a shopping bag with items solely for them enclosed. Do pet stores lace the bags? I don't get it. Ty pulled the lobster from the bag and flung it to the dingos. Hunter grabbed it first, but Wally was close behind. Hunter took off and did his bucking bronco around the living room. Wally was left bobbing around him, clumsily trying to get his teeth on it. Hunter's interest lasted about 5 minutes and he was on to more important things in his life, like napping on the couch. Wally, on the other hand, was committed.

To make a long story short, the lobster put up a good fight. Unfortunately, it wasn't good enough. It's almost as if Wally read the tag on the toy and the words "virtually indestructible" transformed into some hypnotic command for him to prove all those at Tuffies (the toy brand - http://www.mydogtoy.com/) they were wrong...this thing was goin' down.

By Tuesday morning at 4:00 a.m., Wally was in his crate regurgitating a small foot from the lobster's left side. The night before, the lobster had become another casualty in the universal dog-war against snuggly toys. The lobster now rests peacefully in our closet.

We all have stories to share about our loving pets - the dogs in our lives. For us, it's our lab/pointer puppy Wally and our oldest "child" Hunter.

As a puppy, Hunter somehow found himself with the nick-name "Dingo" (pretty sure his Aunt Jodi's to blame). The name was thrown at him so often in his formative months, that he responds to "Dingo" to this day. The name was bestowed on our 5-year old black lab as a loving reflection of his wacky antics and wildish nature. He's made many an Australian dingo proud, as he's lived up to his alias with verve.

Fellow dog owners love to share stories about their very own "Dingos". We somehow find comfort in the fact that we're not alone in the trials and tribulations these precious gems take us through in life. Out of this desire, grew "The Dingo Chronicles".

After being introduced to a girlfriend's blog and how easy it is, Ty (my husband) teasingly said "you should blog about the dogs" (although, dogs may not have been his term...I think he used another of the couple dozen, loving nicknames we have for them - "the two bums").

What started as a Tuesday-night joke is now reality. I hope that you find this blog not only entertaining, but an avenue to relate and contribute to all that makes our "Dingo's" so one-of-a-kind.