And it's only $5! Woo!

It may look silly, but this here is the best toy because it is all Ada’s favorite toys in one.  It is a tug rope, a tennis ball, and a rattle*.  She plays tug with it; she plays fetch with it; and she plays shake-the-living-daylights-out-of-it.

* Technically ours doesn’t have a rattle anymore because Ada tore open the head and ripped it out (earning her the nickname Zombie Dog).  But it’s a much quieter toy now so we’re not really upset about it.

Much bouncing ensued.

Torn by her dislike of water and her love of stinky things.

Aaaaaaaaaddddddaaaaaaa!

Zoom in for a closer look at that nonchalant expression:

"You called?"

Since we’ll be away for about a week more (and thus no new Ada footage), here’s a rescued video of a crazy Ada greeting (pre-haircut).

Ada’s first outing to Ocean Beach a couple of weekends ago.

She sort of likes her Kong when it’s stuffed with treats, but rather than chew on it to get the treats out, she just licks at them for a few minutes and then moves on to chewing on something else. We wanted to get a toy that’s a little easier, so we took her to the chewtoy section of Petsmart to see what she likes. We ended up getting some nylabones, a red Hol-ee Roller ball (because she can carry it easily), a flavored tug-of-war rope (so we can teach her not to play tug-of-war with everything else), and some new treats.

The perfect toy didn’t emerge until we got home with everything and realized that the new treats (chicken chips) are just barely bigger than the holes in the Hol-ee Roller -- a perfect pry-the-treat-out-of-the-chewtoy challenge! Success was almost instant. The new toy is rolly and rubbery and carryable. The new treats are novel and exciting.

I only worry that it is a little too frustrating (she huffs and puffs constantly with this thing). She has managed to get one treat out on her own (and we’ve pried out a few out of mercy), so maybe it’s a good level of frustration/interest?  I guess we’ll just have to see how it goes.

Update: After about an hour with the new toy she started ripping at the fabric of her bed and whining.  So I put the new toy on my desk to give her a break. Ten minutes later she’s fast asleep.  New toy too frustrating?