Dogzilla

This toy is Dogzilla. Mike picked it out on our last sweep of the PetsMart. We go to PetsMart a few times a year and pretty much fill up a cart with assorted treats. First, we have to stand there and critically review the labels - this eliminates 90% of the treats and leaves me totally blown away by the fact that we're going to spend some money on treats that are very similar to what I would make at home for about 1/100th the cost. It's just proof that time does equal money. After we fill up the cart, we do an efficient browsing of the store for toys and equipment that we haven't heard of in the dog equipment vendors who send us catalogs and email ads.

Mike spotted Dogzilla, which meets two of Rowdy's three major requirements: 1. It's a medium- or light-weight ball; 2. It's waterproof and indestructible; 3. The weight balance is off-center. Rowdy likes to hold things (like an obedience dumbbell) by the ends, so he can feel the weight hanging off one end. Dogzilla meets criteria 2 & 3. We also like it because it's NOT a tug toy; tug toys frighten Tillie when Rowdy starts swinging them around her to try to entice her to grab on. Rowdy dearly loved playing tug with Maria Glinski's tugging Lab during our visit in Aiken.

Dogzilla is the Toy Du Jour for about 36 hours out of every 48. In fact, for weeks he was Dogzilla-obsessed. He carried Dogzilla everywhere. Mike teaches Rowdy names for each toys, then they play a game where Mike tells Rowdy to go find a particular toy, and Rowdy will bring that particular toy to Mike and they will play with it. They love this game. We are amazed by the size of Rowdy's receptive vocabulary. Rowdy learned the name of Dogzilla in about 3 repetitions, and Dogzilla has been his nearly constant companion ever since. As you can see, he even fell asleep with it in his mouth.