Tug-A-Jug

This is my new favorite interactive dog toy, the Tug-A-Jug. I have to give credit to Tanner, the greyhound, at Aragon Greyhounds for introducing me to it. I love it because you simply unscrew the bottom and fill it with your dog's kibble meal.

Screw the bottom back on (I didn't really have to tell you that did I?) and give it to your dog. Just takes a minute. I purchased the small (8 inches long, 3.5 inches wide) size for the greyhounds. It is not so big that they cannot pick it up.

Even some of our senior greyhounds (10 and 11 years old) have been able to figure out the Tug-A-Jug.

New Life For Rope Toys

I discovered a new use for rope toys. I might even be able to credit myself with this interactive toy invention. If you untwist the rope slightly, it provides little openings you can stuff kibble into. Less motivated dogs probably won't put forth the effort to extract kibble from a rope toy, but for hounds looking for something to do, this was a quick and easy way to keep them busy.

Love Affair

You all know about my love affair with Zanie Flyers. It is my favorite toy for playing fetch with my greyhounds. Travis and Katie had won oodles of them and I took for granted that there would be an endless supply. Much to my dismay, they have been discontinued.

Over the years, I had lost several to tossing them behind the wall at the training building. I would throw them too high and too far and they would drop out of sight behind the ribbed wall never to be seen again.......until a week ago. Some friends were installing new lights inside of the building and had casually rescued two Zanie Flyers when spied from a ladder. Sensing my everlasting appreciation for two Zanie Flyers one of the guys offered to rescue all of the Zanie Flyers. "There is more?" I question with wide eyes. In all, he pulled TEN Zanie Flyers from behind the wall. I feel that I may finally have enough to last a lifetime.

Zanie Flyers

A typical agility trial prize is an inexpensive dog toy. Over the years, Katie and Travis have won countless toys and the hounds and I have become fond of the Zanie Flyer. The Zanie Flyer is a disc shaped stuffy toy with a squeaker. The greyhounds love stuffy toys and I love something I can throw some distance. The Zanie Flyer is the best of both worlds. With Travis gone over a year now, I noticed my Zanie Flyer supply dewendling.... down to 3 to be exact. Some are destroyed or lost. Others are thrown on roofs or behind the wall at the training building. No problem. I can just order some, right? WRONG! The Zanie Flyer has been discontinued! Oh, no! What will I do?*

Well, I tell my friends. I put the word out that I need Zanie Flyers. Pat, Diane, and Dena come through with handful of used Flyers from their personal stash. I am most grateful! And then Dena (who thinks I'm hilarious) posts my request on a Boxer Yahoo email list. People who don't even know me, reply to Dena's request. Asking for nothing in return, Beth from Virginia and Jill from Tennessee sent me their Zanie Flyers. And then best of all, Terry from North Dakota sends me EIGHT BRAND NEW ZANIE FLYERS! I could not believe it.

I just want to say thank you again to Pat, Diane, Dena, Jill, Beth, and Terry. I will take good care of them and put them to good use. I will not throw these out of reach!

*I know some of you will try to be helpful and Google "Zanie Flyer" anyway. Don't waste your time. I've tried to buy them from the sites they come up on and they are either too difficult to work with, grossly over priced, or they are discontinued, but don't tell you until you get to your shopping cart.

Lightly Used Toys

Katie would like to thank her friends, Dino and Pebbles, for sending her their lightly used toys. They had been played with so gently that most of them still squeaked......... at least they did until Katie and her sisters got a hold of them.

There are so many to choose from.

Katie shames her Rhodesian Ridgeback friends with her handy lion work. Ridgebacks were bred to hold lions at bay for hunters, but Katie shows that she isn't afraid to sink her teeth into one.

Lucky for the stuffies, there is slight safety in numbers. Instead of total dismemberment and disembowelment, most only suffered from minor amputations and punctures.