Picking Charley’s Toy
Charley and His Special ToyI’m amazed at how dogs can have such a strong preference for one toy or another.
Today I took Charley to our favorite pet store, Pet Pals, to pick out a toy. Of course, like most dog homes, we have a bazillion dog toys already and probably don’t need another one, but we have a tradition of getting a huge stuffed animal for each new pup.
The tradition started with Osa. She was a white girl we went up to Canada to get. When we put her in her Vari Kennel, she looked so bitty compared to the space. We found a huge stuffed rabbit for her to cuddle with on the flight home.
That was the beginning. Since then we’ve gotten each of our new pups the biggest stuffed toy we can find. No other dog can play with one dog’s special toy, and no roughhousing with it. This came about naturally. Osa was gentle with her rabbit from the beginning, never tearing or inviting the other pooches to play with it. She’d sleep with one of the rabbit’s paws held gently in her mouth.
With Charley, I thought I’d add a refinement to our tradition: letting him pick his own big toy. I thought of this because at one of the dog shows I competed in with Cientos, I learned about dogs being picky about toys.
We must’ve been at a specialty, because every participant got to pick a toy from this huge Roughneck tub. I thought it would be fun and cute to let Cientos nose around and “pick” his own toy. I thought I would have to really observe to distinguish a preference. Not. Cientos took long minutes, used his truffle-smelling muzzle, routed thoroughly, and finally decided on a latex purple dinosaur squeaky. A toy I never would’ve picked. 
Cientos's ToyI was amazed. (The feeling is very much like going clothes shopping with my teenage daughter. Her taste is delightful, cute, definite, and very different than mine.) Still, I tamped down my shock, shook my head, and let Cientos keep his chosen toy.
At Pet Pals, I scoured the store for the largest toys I could find, and presented them to Charley to pick from. He barely even sniffed them. So patently not interested. Now what? Pet Pals has a huge assortment of toys, how do I narrow the choice? I squeaked, jiggled, touched, and offered Charley a medley of sounds, textures, and sizes. Finally, he showed a definite interest in a purple and white half monkey half worm. Not a toy I would’ve picked. Still, the fabric is sort of cool, the toy is sturdy, and the squeaker works by jerking the tail (in addition to by squeezing). Charley has picked his toy.
Charley's Toy