Wednesday, January 5, 2011

The Death of the Dollar Store Toy

I think dog and cat toys are adorable. Sales and marketing staff probably love me, since I am the one that tends to fall victim to those cute squeaky and chewy things near the cash register on routine errands to purchase food. I am especially vulnerable if I stray into a pet supply store anytime between Thanksgiving and New Years.

Cute fuzzy Santas and smiling snowman tug of war toys call to me. The assortment and variety is staggering. Is it just me, or does it seem the "pet toy" market has exploded in the last five or so years?? No matter -  a decision was made this holiday season, in the spirit of budget-smart shopping, that the dog and cat gifts would come from the local Dollar Store. After all, dogs and cats don't know the difference!

So this year, Lady got a $1.00 toy cheeseburger, and Lucky got the $1.00 stuffed hot dog. Lucy got a $1.00 string of fish dangling from a wand. Total pet expense for Christmas - $3.00. Awesome!

Until....

The after-Christmas sales came along. All those adorable red and green fuzzy toys were 50% off, how could a person resist??? Well, the full price bed for Lucy wasn't on sale, but it was so soft and wonderful, and its been so cold lately...

So this past New Year's weekend, Lady, Lucky, and Lucy got to open their surprises. There was a frog with elf stockings, plastic toys for playing in the snow, a new tennis ball, a crunchy Snowman (with the bottle inside) - and of course that great soft bed. Such fun!! 

Only Lucy won't touch her bed. It's been four days now and she hasn't set a toe in it. This is probably my fault. In my enthusiasm to show her how wonderful it was that first day (she was trying to play with those stupid dollar store fish), I picked her up and attempted to set her in it. She struggled against me and leaped out, sure that it was a trick of some sort. Now the bed sits soft and lonely and untouched in a chair. I'm sure Lucy thinks its some sort of evil fleece being that will swallow her whole if she dares get in. Oh well.


And guess what the favorite dog toy is?


A few hours after the gift opening extravaganza, I heard a suspicious sound coming from the living room. I realized I hadn't seen Lady and Lucky for awhile, so I went to investigate.


"What have we here?" I ask them. "Why, it looks like a disemboweled hot dog bun! Who did this?"


"Lucky may feel guilty, but I don't. What's the big deal?
I wonder if that hot dog has a squeaker that needs to get out."

I retrieved the squeaker and stuffing, and made a mental note to self - dollar toy stores are just fine for Christmas, as long as they don't contain squeakers. As for that bed, I'm thinking that if I put some catnip treats in it, maybe Lucy will check it out. Stay tuned.... 

6 comments:

  1. ROTFLOL! I don't need to post about my own kitsnk9s -- I'll just direct people to YOUR blog! ;-) I used to go crazy with toys and prezzies until I finally reached a grand total of 13 cats and 5 dogs and food was more important than toys...teehee... Now that the numbers are sadly but naturally dropping, toys may eventually come back into our lives EXCEPT for squeaky toys since those and Corgis absolutely do NOT mix. Sorry to run on but this had me laughing and was such fun to experience vicariously...

    P.S. Did you try washing the cat bed? Sometimes they are chemically stinky to cats and a good wash does the trick...

    ReplyDelete
  2. OUTSTANDING (as always!)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Maybe you should cover the cat bed in dog hair. I'm not sure if it's possible to outsmart a cat, but since they seem to love dog beds so much...

    ReplyDelete
  4. BEAUTIFUL post! Love the whole thing, and think it would have great potential for maybe a pet comic or something?????

    ReplyDelete
  5. Darla! You're not going to believe this, but I JUST now got "kitsnk9s!!" I must be so slow, lol! I assumed you were of Russian descent and that your blog title was Russian. I'd been pronoucing it in my head phoenetically just the way it looks "kitsnik to pupsvat" having no earthly idea of course what it meant. "Kitchens to puppies" maybe? Now you're likely really laughing, if you see this reply. So I excitedly went back to the title to get the rest of it, now that I know. But I can't! What is pupsvat? Obviously, I would not be good at those word games where you figure out the word. By the way, love everyone's cat bed intervention ideas - I may very well try them! Sure couldn't hurt to try!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Yup, Brenda, I'm *really* chuckling now! ;-) But you know, I was just reading in a book about 'tips on writing' where it says not to be too subtle or the readers won't 'get it' and this is a good example of that probably! LOL So, you're halfway there... you got the cats & dogs / kitsnk9s part -- and now for the other half... (which really is not something most people would know)...

    Puspavat is Sanskrit (pronounced something like push-pah-vaht) and means "flowering" ... it is the name of the part of my small holistic health consulting business that facilitates "the flowering of body, mind and spirit" where I use flower essences and Ayurveda to facilitate healing.

    SEE! No way you could have known! LOL

    ReplyDelete