Great Squirrel Hunter

I am the Great Squirrel Hunter!

(OK, so maybe I'm the Great Squeaky Toy Squirrel Hunter...)

Hear me ROAR!

(Or maybe "Hear me SNORE!" is more appropriate...)

(But this squirrel sure ain't going anywhere...)

Running out of Steam

A few nights ago I wanted to play with my squeaky squirrel, but I also needed to take a nap. So what happened? Well, my squeaks got slower and I played myself right into a nap, of course...

Toy Review: Giant Squirrel

If you've read my blog for any length of time, then I'm sure you know that I have an addiction to squeaky toys. I love squeaky toys. I live for squeaky toys. I obsess over squeaky toys. Squeaky toys are my favorite things in the entire world.

The only problem with my addiction (besides Mom tripping over my toys all the time, of course), is the fact that toys cost money. Mom says I'm going to have to get a job to fund my toy "problem."

Well after much thought, I've determined the perfect line of work for me. Restaurants and movies have people review them, right? So why not toys? That's right...I'm going to be a professional dog toy reviewer!

And so now for your reading pleasure, and so that I can practice my skills, here's my very first Dog Toy Review...

Toy Review: Giant Squirrel

Isn't that a huge squirrel toy? It's actually called "Kyjen Real Animal Long Body Squeaker Mat - Squirrel" and it's for sale over at DogToys.com. I think "Giant Squirrel" fits, though. It's HUGE!

This squirrel has TWELVE squeakers in the body and a loud grunter in the tail. (Mom says the grunter is REALLY loud.) If you know me, you know I'm all about "loud."

I pulled the giant squirrel out of the box and took off with it before Mom could even take the tags off. It was a huge hit, right from the start.

I love the squeakers, of course, but my favorite part about the Giant Squirrel is its fur. I love to pluck fur!

Mom says I've already plucked enough fur off of the squirrel to make an entire new toy. Ta dah!

Here's some of my plucking action via video. The video stops kinda abruptly 'cause Mom had to pull squirrel fur out of my mouth before I swallowed it.

This Giant Squirrel is even easy to pluck at upside-down.

With all of those squeakers and the grunter, too, it's also a great toy to squeak by rolling on it.

And it rates high for its "pillow" quality for napping...

So overall I have to say that the Giant Squirrel is off the charts when it comes to pluckability and squeaking. It's great for playing fetch with, too, even though it's a little big for me.

The downsides? Not many! I did manage to pluck hard enough to rip open the side of the squirrel. Mom says she can fix it, though. And I did break the grunter in the tail already. Mom says she will not fix that...without getting earplugs first, at least...

The Official Buttons Rating: Four Paws ('cause I only have four)

(So do you think I'll make a good Dog Toy Reviewer?)

It's My Gotcha Anniversary!

Friday was my Gotcha Day Anniversary! I've lived with my new Mom for three whole months now! I came to live with her on Thanksgiving just last year. That's when my foster sis Shawnee and my foster mom droved me all the way to Illinois. Time sure flies!

Now, don't you think that a 3-month anniversary like this should mean a new toy for me???

Well, I guess Mom agreed! Tonight I caught her rummaging around in our closet, where I suspect she has a secret doggie toy stash. And then all of the sudden...TA DAH! NEW TOY!!! She gave me a cool new squirrel toy that's longer than I am! No stuffing in it, so it's easier for me to find those squeakers, too!

I was having a whole lot of fun playing with the squirrel, so Mom had trouble getting a good picture. I refused to stop playing to "pose" for her. She should expect that, though.

The squirrel is pretty long, so it's very tuggable!

I got tired of Mom flashing the camera at me, so I finally just posed and got it over with. You can tell I'm not thrilled about stopping my play for Mom's silly camera!

Happy 3-month Gotcha Anniversary, Mom!

Inventory Update

I've gotten some new toys since I did my Toy Inventory. So, it's time to update the inventory and count the new toys.

Ta dah! Here's a picture of my new toys.

"1..2...3...4...5..."

I'm counting 11 new toys since the toy inventory was done. I had 61 toys during the inventory, so that's a new total of 72 toys. And if we count all of those squirrels and bumble bees separately, I've got 68 + 11...that's 79.

Woo hoo! That's just awesome. But you know what? I still don't think I have enough toys.

Toy Inventory

My Twitter friend Baby Patches has an online store. When she said that her Mom was doing inventory for their store, I was inspired. I told Mom that WE should do a toy inventory. Today, we did...

Bedroom:
Looks like we've got 13 toys in there. I'm not counting that bumble bee. And I'm only counting the tree trunk of fun -- I mean tree trunk of squirrels -- as 1 toy even though there are 4 squirrels in there.


Bathroom:
We only have one bumble bee in the bathroom right now. We won't count it, though, 'cause it's not supposed to be there.


Hallway:
5 toys in the hallway right now. See that bee hive? That's where the bumble bees belong. They're like the tree trunk of squirrels -- only counting them as 1 toy for inventory.


Dining Room:
There are currently 2 toys in the dining room.


Living Room:
This room will take some work 'cause it's where most of the toys are. Here's the first spot... I count 14 toys and 1 cool box. Yes, I play with that empty box sometimes. Don't mind me in this picture. I'm just chewing on a rawhide while Mom counts toys.


Here are more toys in the living room. I'm counting 15 in this batch. Don't pay any attention to the black cord. That's just for the TV.


And here's the last batch of toys for the living room. These are the ones that I actually left in the toy box...for now, at least. I'm counting 12 toys here.


Wait... Mom, did you count those right? (Yes, that's me scowling at Mom again.)


I'd better count myself just to double-check...


Oops. Yeah, 12 toys. Guess Mom counted right! I'd better survey the rest of the living room toys, too, though, just in case...


"1, 2, 3, 4..." Yeah, I guess Mom was right. (Just don't tell her I said that.)

Oopsie -- found another bumble bee that's not in its hive!


After all of that counting, I was forced to take a nap...


Final Inventory Counts:
So after careful counting and recounting, Mom and I determined that I have a total of 61 toys laying around our house. If we count all of the tree trunk squirrels and bee hive bumble bees, I've actually got 68.

And remember that this inventory count isn't including the bag of toys that Mom wouldn't let me have the other day, OR the secret stash of toys that I think she has in the closet. I didn't count the empty box as a toy, either, 'cause it's just a box.

But still...this is very, very sad. Definitely not enough toys. I do believe that I need more. I'm being toy deprived!!! I NEED MORE TOYS!!!

Squirrels!!!

I've got this tree trunk toy that's really cool. My friend Boris gave it to my foster sister Shawnee. Shawnee knew I loved it so much, though, that when I moved to Illinois she actually let me bring the tree trunk with me. How cool is that?! I told you Shawnee rocks. Boris rocks, too, for giving Shawnee such an awesome toy!

Here's what the tree trunk looks like. Don't pay any attention to that bunny.


Anyway, the tree trunk has little squirrels in it and they SQUEAK. But we losted a few of the squirrels in New Jersey, so I only brought one of them with me to Illinois. Mom surprised me tonight with three new squeaky squirrels to play with in the tree trunk. Woo hoo! So play I did...



And of course it's a requirement to roll on all toys to try to get them to squeak.


You'll note my lady-like, crossed ankles. (Mom says it's lady-like...even if I'm not...)


Squeak! Squeak! Squeak!

So after playing with the squirrels and rolling on them, the next thing to do is to play fetch with them. This posed a bit of a problem. How do I carry back the squirrels if Mom throws more than one?


After fetch, I rested for a bit. I had to have all the squirrels nearby, though. And the bunny...but don't pay any attention to the bunny.


Then the next round of play began. I used my bed this time. That's a hoot!


And finally, I ended my evening of new squirrel fun by napping on my bed...which I had flipped upside down...with a squirrel in my mouth.


Oh, how I love squeaky toys!