Knocking the Stuff Out of It!

Although I can never be sure what their actual motives are, I'm led to believe that the dogs have a purpose for tearing the polyfill stuffing out of their toys.  The reason might be that they are inspired by some primordial instinct that is a make believe version of life in the wild.  Well, that's what I think. But it could also be that they have a deep hatred for the vacuum. By spreading spider sized white clouds throughout the corners of the house, they stretch out of few moments of quiet reprieve while I figure out how to dig a clog from the middle of a the hose.  I tend to believe the former, because my dogs are goofy, endearing and playful. They're acting tough, and I can go along with the masquerade. But we've put a stop to the factory installed vital organs being tossed around.  And as a side benefit, they aren't ingesting a petroleum based appetizer.  The most obvious fact about canine nutrition is a derivative of petroleum isn't on the list of recommended vitamins and minerals.

We've dismantled many a stuffed animal that was too cute to pass up purchasing or that we've received as a gift. At the end of a long session of tug-of-war, they all fail the stress test.  I used to call Jackson's first stuffed animals his "babies," until I saw what he could do to them. Carrying them around from the kitchen to his bed looked cute.  The orange billed duck didn't seem to mind, it was even smiling. Before I or the duck knew it, the insides were revealed to be as white as the duck's own white fleece.  When I saw it Jackson and I were smiling at one another.  The duck was still smiling too.  I picked up the innards and threw them away.  The duck sat in the living room untouched after that.

As I was folding laundry one day, I came upon a solution. I save a basket of socks in the laundry room that I hope to someday reunite with their mates. It's obvious that some have little reason to hope. Tonight, Raleigh disemboweled a mallard.  At the first sight of stuffing, I finished the job myself. After tossing the polyfill in the trash, I dug into the depths of the sock basket to find a couple of clean, cotton implants.

Our dogs still enjoy the thrill of the hunt and fighting over the prey. I don't have to worry about them swallowing something that's only going to cause a problem later.  And every once in a while, I hide a treat inside the sock to make the game more exciting. One of our favorites is "Good Girl Gizzards".  It's cheap and simple to make.  Plus making "GGG" provides a delicious side dish of homemade stock. "GGG" are aren't oily and being dense nothing evaporates into crumbles. After the dogs free the sock from inside their stuffed toy, they spend another five minutes insisting on their reward.  It's also easier to launder both the toys and the socks without the threat of polyfill lint adding to the pet hair problem.

The recipe for Good Girl Gizzards is in my book, Feed Your Best Friend Better, already available for pre-order online. More than a book, I want you to have an experience and understanding of your dog. The recipes will be inside the book, but I aim to carry on my blog so that you see my whys and hows that make me want to help you Feed Your Best Friend Better.

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