Toys

I briefly mentioned Tilly's toys in the last chapter when talking about Tilly's habits during hot weather. Tilly had a long line of toys during her life, some of which lasted longer than others, and so I am going to tell you about some of her favourites and their unfortunate fates.

The basketball. Tilly loved her basketball. We don’t know where it came from but she found it in our yard and would not release it. She insisted on taking it everywhere. Tilly, as a Jack Russell, was a small dog, and so she looked very comical as she dragged this basketball, which was probably close to three times the size of her head, around in her mouth. On a fateful day, Tilly decided she could carry the ball downstairs. She was overconfident in this assumption and too enthusiastic about descending the stairs. She did not account for the ball's extra weight and, unfortunately, tripped on the last couple of steps. Don’t worry, she was not hurt; the same cannot be said for the ball. The ball was well and truly flat, deflated, out of air, finished. Unfortuantely Tilly had landed on the ball and squished it during the fall (I think it must have already been on its way out at this point to be flattened by such a light dog!). Tilly's deep brown eyes saddened as she stared dejectedly at her prized possession, which was now reduced to a small pile on the floor. She then picked up the remains of the ball and continued to the door with it hanging out of her mouth. She was not giving up the ball just because it was no longer fit for its original purpose. It was still HERS, and she was NOT going to give it up without a fight. So for a number of days, we were followed around by Tilly, accompanied by the outer skin of the ball hanging floppily from her mouth. It was a very comically sad thing to see. Luckily we managed to eventually get her to release this ball and have a new toy.

My slipper boot… because what makes a better toy than something which isn’t actually designed to be a toy? It was specifically my slipper boot; she never showed any interest in anyone else's footwear, only my blue, fluffy slipper covered with white stars and dots, with an incredibly enticing pom pom attached. There was no safe place for this slipper. If, when getting ready to go out and swapping my shoes, I left the slipper for even the merest instance on the floor, it would be pounced upon and flung in the air. It would be shaken left to right, thrown up and down, rolled on and torn at as I tried to get it back from the jaws of my dog. In the end, I would often resort to letting her have it, so we would leave the house with the slipper in her mouth. She would normally unceremoniously drop it once outside as soon as she detected a nice smell, and I would then be walking along carrying my slipper.

Tilly also loved reindeer antlers, tennis balls, pull toys and she had numerous squeaky dinosaurs. Reindeer antlers were the only toys that managed to hold out under her relentless chewing and would last her for months or even years. Her squeaky dinosaurs, on the other hand, would, as you can imagine, very soon be squeakless, and if they were soft toys, would soon have their stuffing spilt all over the carpet. Close supervision was required at all times when Tilly was playing with one of these to ensure that they lasted more than 5 minutes! Tennis balls were never overly successful since, as we have discovered, Tilly was unwilling to let go of anything once she had run and fetched it. She did, however, like to sleep with them in her bed.  Tilly excelled at playing with tug ropes and pull toys, as she understood the assignment for this game! SHE WAS NOT LETTING GO! Unless you waved a biscuit in front of her nose, and then she might just about be tempted to concede and let us win.