MooCow
How could you see this face and not buy him a new toy?
The beloved penguin is beyond grubby and into the realm of filthy, but happily the electronic screaming chip has died, so it should be safe to wash now. In the meantime, Nigel’s got a brand-new moocow to keep him happy:
(Note: Not to scale.)
Aside: With Nigel, I feel okay giving him animal-shaped toys because (1) the ones he likes, though they do have realistic animal-like noises, tend to be animals he wouldn’t encounter as possible prey in real life — horses, penguins, cartoon frogs, and gorillas have all been past favorites — and (2) he really seems to have missed the critical period for developing a hunting/predatory tendency. He’s found baby birds trying to learn to fly and done nothing more than lead me over to them with a worried expression, expecting me to fix whatever’s wrong. His response to meeting kittens is to lick them all over, much to the kittens’ disgust. He’s a little wary of full-grown cats, having received a few whacks on the nose after unwelcome social advances, so he usually just wiggles in place about ten feet away from them and whimpers excitedly.
However, even with Nigel, I’d be a little wary of giving him toys like the AKC’s plush toys, particularly the smaller toys like the chipmunk and, oddly enough, skunk. They’re a little too realistically designed, and I wouldn’t want Nigel to associate something that looked like a real squirrel or duck with something that he should bite and enjoy the resulting squeak. I admit that his favorite toys tend to make somewhat realistic sounds (e.g., the moocow moos, the cartoon frog ribbeted), but they hardly look realistic. Even with his cataracts, I hardly think Nigel would be confused.
Aside #2: “Moocow” is the toy’s official name, by the way. All toys must have two-syllable names, or he’ll refuse to pick them up when he takes them on walks. Not entirely sure why. “Penguin” handled the syllable requirement nicely; I think the worst I’ve ever had to resort to was “ribbet” for the giant cartoon frog.
Are you serious here? You really think you can effect millions of years of evolution with dog toys? Dogs are carnivores. Predators are a necessary part of nature. Nigel wants a steak; don’t believe it? …freely offer a nice piece of meat and some bean curd and see what the little guy does. Dogs have desires and fears; they do not have worries. Dogs “love†us because we feed & care for them. What’s wrong with that? Why do they have to be more like us to be loved by us? Nigel would hunt if not fed and cared for; not well, lacking experience, but he won’t be digging up carrots after Armageddon. Love your dog for his companionship, acceptance…honesty. The great thing about dogs… animals in general; is the purity of their nature. They don’t lie to themselves or us. We are the great pretenders.
March 27th, 2007 | #
Le sigh . . . it just creeps me out a little when dog toys are too realistic. It doesn’t seem to affect Nigel’s enjoyment if the toys are more stylized, so why not avoid toys that give me the wiggins? I’m not arguing that predators and scavengers are unnecessary — far from it. It’s just that it is unnecessary for my dog to hunt for his survival, so personally I’d prefer not to encourage those latent instincts to emerge.
The instincts are there, of course, but their expression in different individuals varies, and Nigel’s more of a vegan cream puff than a mighty warrior type. Would I stop loving Nigel if he caught and killed a squirrel? Of course not. However, I would be very sad, and worried about whether anything I had done had triggered such unusual (for him) behavior after nearly 12 years of geniality toward little furry critters.
Granted that Nigel won’t be digging up carrots after Armageddon (that’s rather a cute image, actually). In a desperate survival situation, all bets are off — or at least a large number of bets. One does what one has to do to survive, whether canine, human, or other. On the other hand, Nigel does seem to be rather more omnivorous/veggiecurious than some: he’ll snarf absolutely anything that’s available, because that’s what dogs do, but he also drools when he watches me eat salads, and steals tofu and bread. And yes, he adores carrots, but only from a bag, not from the ground. :-) YMMV, of course.
March 27th, 2007 | #