Doodle Dude

What’s a Doodle Dude, you ask? Well, it is a new toy that the girls received in their Christmas gifts from their “Daddy”. Doodle Dude looks like a whacky dolphin or some other big blue fish. He is a soft plush toy that doodles a tune when you squeeze his belly. To help you imagine the sound it makes, think back to when those Hamster Dance videos that were all over the internet a few years ago — that nasaly “do de do de do” tunes they sang while dancing! That’s the sound this toy makes — it is Sooooooooooo funny!!!!

Needless to say, since it makes a strange sound, the girls were all totally fascinated with it!!! It was, by far, their favorite toy of all the new ones they received at Christmas!!! Success!!!!

Problems:

1. There was only ONE toy and THREE girls who all thought it was the BEST!!!
2. It is a soft plush toy – not something that typically lasts more than, say, 2 seconds!!!

Although # 1 is a big problem, I would really rather address # 2…….I was not used to total toy destruction before Katie came to live with me! Puddles would cuddle up with and squeak her soft plush toys for years – carrying them around like prized possessions! She would get a new raw hide bone and it would last her for MONTHS!

Then, Katie came and it was a whole different story! She would play with it until it bored her (usually a couple weeks) and then start to perform major surgery to find and remove the squeaker! But, she did let them last a little while — every day she would get all her toys out, play with them, and then put them back in their basket (I swear — she really did that and I never taught her how, either)!!!

Fast forward to Megan and Amy………they weren’t here more than two days and a whole basket of plush toys were GONE – totally annilliated!!!! So, I started to search for “indestructable” dog toys and found that, when it came to Megan and Amy, there is no such thing!!!! EVERYTHING ends up getting “worked” until they break through to where they can get a chunk off and then it is history — some just take a little longer than others! They do have some rubber squeaky balls that they don’t “eat” – they could, but they don’t – they must really like them enough to not want to destroy them! They just walk around squeaking them for hours!

So – back to the Doodle Dude: Since I, too, really enjoy this toy (he really is fun to listen to and to watch the girls react to), I didn’t want him to meet the same fate as so many plush toys before him. So, I keep it put up and only get it out and allow them to play with it when I can play too and supervise!

This morning was one of those times — I got the Doodle Dude out and sat on the couch and squeezed his belly. He started his nasaly song, I made him dance on my knee, and the girls came RUNNING from the other room where they were snoozing!!! They sat and watched him dance for a few seconds and then started an excited frenzy of dancing, barking, and trying to get him from me!!! We played like that for a while – until Katie got tired and gave up and Megan and Amy got mad at each other cause each thought the other was too close to getting Doodle Dude away from Mommie (aahh – # 1 did get addressed, after all)!!!

I put Doodle Dude back in his safe place and the girls went back to their nap………..life is good!!!!