The Top Three

Remember the Cabbage Patch dolls and Tickle Me, Elmo? Toy manufacturers and parents are always trying to guess what the most popular toy will be each year.

Well, pet parents do the same thing, and we're wrong just as often as the other type of parents. This year I made my guess and chose this cute little turtle. It's an interactive toy, which appeals to me.

The human sticks the head, tail and legs inside the shell and the dog then enjoys pulling them out. As an added incentive, each appendage has a squeaker.  The manufacturer didn't warn me that I'd break two nails trying to tuck the legs in. What dog wouldn't love this toy? Mine! I don't think it's been touched, even though I've tried showing several of them how much fun it is.

I'll now show you the top three Christmas toys as chosen by my pack of experts.

The third most popular toy was this rather ugly anteater, which I found at the dollar store last summer and tucked away in my gift closet. I felt it was too ugly to send as a gift, so I threw it in the toybox with the other new toys.

This fellow has a stretchy elastic tail, making him a perfect tug toy for two pups to play with together. He also is easy to fling by the tail, so it's good for throwing, chasing and pouncing upon. Morgan, especially, likes this toy and has carried it around all weekend.

The second most popular toy is the little snowman.

This toy is small and very light weight. It has no squeaker, but did have a tasty hat and scarf that were eaten on Christmas morning. The best feature of this toy is that it's so light. Throwing it in the air and catching it is a really fun game that has kept several of them amused for long periods. I discourage throwing toys in the house, but this one won't hurt anything.

Here Sky demonstrates the technique.

Far and away the most popular toy this year was the hedgehog.

This toy has two very desirable qualities. First, it's small enough to fit inside the big mouths of my dogs, so one doesn't know the dog is carrying it. Second, it makes a disgusting pig sound when squeezed. The best game is to come up behind an unsuspecting human and suddenly squeeze the toy hidden inside the big mouth. The human usually jumps upon hearing the disgusting pig noise behind them. This seems to amuse my group and they've all been trying it.

Here Tsar is taking his turn with the hedgehog.

There is great demand for this toy and I predict a short life for the hedgehog. Maybe someday I can convince one of them to play with the turtle.