Poor Little Raccoon

Way back when Dave and I had Panda, we picked up one of those stuffing-less squeak toys that had like 6 squeakers in it (one in the head, one in the tail, and one in each leg) thinking she'd love it.  But the thing with stuffing-less toys is that the dog can't just poke at it and make the squeaker go, like Panda loved to do with her Lovebug.  So the toy went unused by Panda.

Then we got Taco and he was all "Dude, this thing's as big as me.  And I'm afraid of squeakers.  And I'm all about getting the stuffing out of these things.  This toy sucks."  So back in the dog supply bag it went.

And Lizzie attitude about the whole thing was "I don't do toys.  I'm just going to lay her and drool."  So still the raccoon sat waiting for someone to play with it.

But we knew Mia was into squeak toys, so last night I dug the raccoon out of the bag, hoping she might be interested.  Interested doesn't quite begin to describe it.  She jumped around once she saw it and tried her best to get it out of my hand.  When she calmed I let her have it and she was in heaven.  She squeaked away, chewing the raccoon's head and tail, tossing him up in the air, giving him a good shake (to make sure he was dead) and carried him all around.

While Dave and I ate dinner, she took the raccoon into her crate and began the process of trying to pull off his tail.  When she was bored with that, she worked on his head.  I couldn't resist, so I pulled out the camera.

Besides the eye becoming a snack, she also managed to pull the squeaker out of his head (along with the little bit of stuffing that was in there).  I successfully swiped the squeaker without her realizing--the last thing we needed was a trip to the animal ER for a squeaker removal.  At least the eyeball should "come out" some time today.  (On a side note, when Dave picked up Mia, he was told that earlier that day she had eaten some crayons.  Sure enough, that afternoon she pooped a rainbow.)

After cleaning up all the detached (and available) raccoon parts, Mia spent the rest of the night destroying him a little at a time.  Eventually she did get his tail off.  Oh the humanity.

So now she had a faceless, tailless raccoon with 33% less squeakers.  I think Dave and I need to invest in some stronger squeak toys.

Easter Fun

The Easter Bunny came this weekend. 

Actually he came midweek when my mom sent Dave and I a box of Chocolate Covered Oreos (thanks, Mom!).  They barely lasted to the next day.  And Taco was quite upset with us because we forgot how to share.  He did not want to discuss how chocolate is poison to him.

On Saturday night, Dave and I decide to dye Easter eggs and Taco wanted to help.  When he hopped up in my lap, I thought he was shaking uncontrollably, but it turns out his sniffer was just working overtime with the six glasses of vinegar and colored dyes sitting in front of him.  He was pretty interested in what we were doing and hung out with us during the whole process.

You know you're gown up when your egg dyeing glasses are all beer related.

Our egg kit had stickers in addition to the dye.  Taco couldn't figure out how to get them onto the eggs.  I had to explain to him that he didn't have thumbs.

On Sunday morning, though, Dave and I exchanged little Easter baskets with a few treats and let Taco take a look in his basket.  He may or may not be spoiled.

He legitimately needed new toys because last week he destroyed his shamrock. 

He took out every little bit of stuffing and kept going back for more.  The funny part is, he still plays with the deflated shamrock shell. 

Just like any little kid, Taco dove right into his basket before breakfast and ate his entire rawhide stick.  He plucked it out of the basket and took it into his crate.  When he was about two-thirds through, he joined us on the couch.  Once he was through, he went back to his basket.  In one of the eggs was a bacon treat.  He picked up the egg, figured out how to open it and scarfed the bacon before Dave and I even realized what he was doing.  He was decidedly less impressed with the pumpkin cranberry treats I've been trying to give him. 

Taco continued to be spoiled when we went to Dave's parents' house and he found Easter Bunny had left him yogurt covered Milkbones.  After licking off most of the yogurt, he went to town on the Milkbone and then came to me looking for the other one (he's smart--he saw there were two in the package).  He lost interest in that when Dave's dad starting carving the ham.  Taco positioned himself next to the counter and learned that anything that falls on the floor is for him. He also learned that he likes ham. 

Despite our little guy being involved in everything and having everyone he meets wrapped around his finger, he's a good pup.  He has a few applications pending, so we're hopeful that there is a family out there ready for him. 

The most amazing thing is that my Mom, who is the antithesis of a dog (or any animal) person,  has commented on how cute he is in his pictures.  That's pretty impressive, so I figured I'd lay it on thick and share the following:

Blue Meets His Match

We did not expect a 10 pound Chiweenie to destroy his toys.  Clearly after 4 dogs, we can still be surprised.

Taco loves to play with his toys.  He's not aggressive, but he does this little growl thing when you play a little tug with him and either his shamrock or blue dog (aptly named Blue--we're so creative).  He'll play with us or by himself and is incredibly happy.  He shakes them, licks them, chases and pounces on them, and throws them in the air.  When he gets really excited the growl starts a different intensity and other weird noises come out.  That's when we wonder why he's so mad at Blue or what the Shamrock did to him while we were away.

Last night he was amusing himself with Blue while Dave and I had dinner.  We weren't really paying attention, but at one point Blue flew a good 5 or 6 feet in the air, practically landing in Taco's water dish.  We laughed at pure oddity of him being able to get that much gusto into the toss and then went back to eating.  While cleaning up, I saw something on the floor.  It was Blue's ear!  Blue must have been a really bad boy.

Now, for frame of reference, Panda also had one of these toys, though bigger and yellow.  And she did not destroy it.  We thought she took off its eyebrow, but it turns out they only come with one eyebrow over the right eye.

Luckily there was no love lost between Blue and Taco because later in the evening they were cuddled up on the couch.  Blue doesn't quite enjoy TV as much since he can't hear as well, but apparently they are still friends.