Not many dogs own forty toys. That’s right, forty! Our dogs have always liked a stuffie or two, a nylabone to chew and the occasional tug toy (to gnaw on; we don’t encourage tugging). But in his half dozen years our Labrador Retriever has managed to accumulate quite the assortment. He adores getting a new toy and never destroys anything, so the numbers keep building.
It was laundry day recently and there weren’t quite enough dog towels to make a full load, so my hubby decided to toss in the dog’s Christmas toys before packing them away with our decorations. (Yes, he has special Christmas ones. Don’t look so surprised.) It was while extricating them from among the others spilling out of the toy box (of course he has his own toy box) that the quantity prompted us to count them. Forty! That’s an embarrassing number, especially since we have only one dog at present. It was time to do some culling.
Have you ever tried to clean out your closets or basement in preparation for a rummage or garage sale, only to have family members snatch items from your grasp because you apparently didn’t realize they were still treasured possessions? Uh-huh, you get the picture. One by one he grabbed them from the pile and raced through the house, dropping them in other rooms. We only managed to sneak out one white panda bear that was so grimy I don’t think he recognized it.
He still has thirty-nine toys. He needs a bigger toy box.
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MUSINGS 
How familiar that looks apart from the fact that it’s a Border Collie here who used to treasure and hord and never destroy his fluffy toys. Used to until the arrival of a puppy Beagle mix sister who quickly made adding those to the laundry redundant. 😉
A great read! Thank you for such an entertaining and humorous blog post! It may be time for a bigger toy box!
So my household includes a border collie/McNab cross cattle dog, a sheltie, and a Maine coon cat. We have three toy boxes. You fill in the blank… Loved the pictures.
Editing is never easy. Whether it be a beloved toy or a pet passage in a manuscript. You just gotta be ruthless. (Your posts always lead to a writing analogy.) 🙂
We have a new puppy (Great Pyrenees/Black Lab mix) and he has so many toys that we rotate them every two weeks so what’s old is new again (we split the total in half, and keep one half out of his reach. It’s something I do for my twins too with their toys).
Visitors are amazed at how many toys he has, and how they are everywhere, but then we remind them that our new puppy hasn’t (yet) chewed up furniture or clothes because he has so many toys. I’ll buy a mountain of toys if it means he teethes on a bone instead of the recliner 🙂
Love the picture!
Christi Corbett
Oh my that is so cute! LOL. Ah, what a story. You know, Carol, this says a lot about you and Bob. That you’re terribly terribly sweet and your puppy is a very lucky dog. 40 toys! I love it!
Ha ha! I love this post!!!! And I can completely relate to it…..my “boyz” are just as crazy! Bailey has one toy he finds when it’s time to go to bed. He holds it in his mouth and falls asleep with it. Also if we go to bed, and he forgot it, he’ll jump out of bed and bring it back with him. I’m too embarrassed to share how many toys they each have…. I may have to blog about their Vet sending them email…….oh well….who really rules here at my house!!! ha ha!!!!
Hugs and blessings….
Katt
First of all…this is hilarious. I totally get what your dog is going through 🙂
I was just cleaning out the attic over Christmas and I cannot tell you how many times I was finding things are thinking “Awesome, there it is” although I had not cared a thing about it for 3 years.
I think we sometimes latch on to the familiar and think of it falsely as security.