(Brief) Toy Joy

I brought the Ricardo's a couple of new toys home from the store today.

I was so excited about his one!  It was long enough that I thought they could share it, playing tug of war, or whatever.  Also, it hold water bottles in it and makes a great crunchy noise.  And it's PINK, of course!

They seemed to just LOVE it at first.  They each got to check it out on their own, and then I let them play with it together.  Here they are, trying to share it...

And altho it seemed like it was working out okay between the Ricky and Lucy, it wasn't working out okay for the flamingo!  He lost his head (literally!) in about 5 minutes.  So, I'm returning this toy to TJMaxx tomorrow, and hoping they'll let me pick out something a little more durable. Finding durable tug toys for them to play with without my constant supervision is a huge challenge.  I think I need to go into the dog-toy-making-business!

Lessons in Frisbee

The first frisbee I bought for Lucy and Ricky months ago was this one.

It's made from fabric and is somewhat easy to throw, and most importantly, I thought it was easier on their teeth than a real frisbee.

But come to find out, once this frisbee gets dirty (which means one sessions of catching and retrieving it!) the dirt gets down in the fabric and it sort of works as sand paper on a puppy's teeth.  So it's okay to use just for learning, but it needs to stay clean.  Which requires washing it daily.

One of the lady's we met at the Dallas Disc Dog gathering gave us a few of the right frisbees for us to try.

They come in different thicknesses, depending on how aggressive a dog bites.  Well, I assumed these light ones would be perfect for my little Lucy.

But I was wrong.  As you can see in the photo above, Lucy's teeth have already made dents after just a few sessions.  Which may not at first seem like a big deal.  But I noticed her gums bled after she caught one of the scuffed up ones a few times.  Oh no! So, we'll be investing in the more durable frisbees.  And lots of 'em!

It takes a team of two to do well in any kind of disc dog competition-- Although Lucy has been pulling her weight on the team, I have not.  My throwing is extremely inconsistent, especially now that we've switched to the hard frisbees. 

How am I suppose to catch these crazy throws?

Fermin said he was watching us through then window and couldn't believe how spastic I was.  So he came out and gave me a little frisbee intervention.  Already, I am so much better.  I don't think anyone ever taught me the 101 tricks for tossing a frisbee before.  Soon, all these little things Fermin taught me will become automatic and Lucy will have a worthy teammate.

Lucy showing her stuff to Ricky!

Stylin'

Here's a picture of Lucy when we were on a way to the park one day.  She had just gotten her swanky new leash (See it? Pink, red and white braid?) in the mail from Yipeeee dog leashes.  She also got a super cute Hello Kitty bandana from our friend, Ashley.  Ricky has since taken a few bites out of the HK bandana, but it's even cuter now that he's customized it for her.  Ashley found it on Etsy, so now I'd like to try to make some for the Ricardo's and her dog, Jasper.  Maybe someday I'll get to that. 

Although Ricky secretly wished he also had a HK bandana, I guess it was just a little too girly for him.  However, he did get his own leash similar to Lucy's.  At Yipeeee, you get to choose which colors you want-  The colors of Ricky's leash match him perfectly, don't you think?

A couple of other great thing about these leashes~  They're washable!  So the white stays white!  And they're very comfortable to hold onto.  And you can play play tug with them!  And they aren't expensive at all!  Lastly, the good people at Yipeeee are SO nice and customer service oriented!  I love dealing with small companies that treat you like you're special... Because the Ricardo's are very special to me!

Lucy's Little Man

The Ricardos went with Fermin and me to visit our friends who live near San Antonio.  They have several dogs and a few acres of land so it was a great trip for them!

The smallest dog, Henry, took a liking to Lucy.

He followed her around everywhere. 

Ricky had to work hard to fight him off!

But in the end, Lucy knows to leave the party with who she came with!

"I love Lucy and she loves me..."