Friday, January 14, 2011

Mr. B's toy struggles

We make sure to supply the pooches with an ample supply of toys. Though most of the toys are shared, they each have their own toys. The only problem is that the toy Ms. M wants always happens to be the one Mr. B is chewing. Typically, Mr. B will be playing nicely with a toy and out of nowhere, Ms. M will show a lot of interest. First she will walk around, spying on the toy.
Then she will ever inch so closely
to the point that she will be sharing the toy with Mr. B.
Without any notice to Mr. B, the toy will mainly be in Ms. M's possession.
If Mr. B tries to keep some sort of ownership, Ms. M will use her monster paws to complete the take over. 
In the end, all Mr. B can do is look to us for some sympathy.
We usually try to dictate the rules and give the toy back to Mr. B, but the same thing will happen all over again. When we first adopted Mr. B, he would growl and guard his toys against Ms. M,  and Ms. M would have to rely on her cunning ways to get the toy. One time, Ms. M got a different toy, bit it to make it squeak and dropped it in front of Mr. B. As Mr. B went to check out the new toy, Ms. M moved around him and grabbed the toy she actually wanted. This was the first time that I realized that she was actually smarter than me. Now poor Mr. B doesn't guard his toys and Ms. M will just blatantly take the toys away from him.

45 comments:

Unknown said...

Poor Mr. B! He just lets that girl walk all over him. We can't do toys in our house. Ollie turns into a jerk so we've learned we're just better off without them. Kongs are fine, but anythingelse is an issue.

Anonymous said...

Jordie is the big toy fiend around here. He loves to chew them apart and play tug with them and Roxy will often oblige and play with him. But, sometimes Roxy will take a toy away from him and do nothing with it. Then she lay there with the toy in front of her and dare Jordie to try and get it back. This is when he comes crying to me to help him out.

Anonymous said...

Poor guy! This behavior would not fly in our house - the boys each have their favorite toys and they don't really like to share. Dex likes tennis balls and Ernie likes squeaky toys.

They both like Nylabones, though, so I have to make sure that there is one available for each dog.

Kate said...

Aw, poor Mr. B. Ms. M really does rule the rule the roost!

dw said...

Aww poor baby! Reminds me of a pug video of a dog stealing bones from another dog -- the pug innocently stretches out in front of the other dog and uses its paws to steal away the bones!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hE7BeM07ODw

Good thing Mr. B is such a good sport, or an easy prey!

Corbin said...

BOL! I loved the photo series! I also like to play with the toy that someone else is playing with...
-Corbin

Anonymous said...

Oh, poor poor Mr. B. I've wondered a lot about how the dynamics of toy sharing works in a multi-dog househould. Shiva is not used to having to share her stuff, the cat is categorically uninterested in chewing or tugging. ;-) Hopefully one day she will learn but it may be interesting to see what happens when we get another dog.

It's so nice that Mr. B has learned to share, at least. Or rather, has learned that Ms. M. is in charge of who gets what!

Sarah said...

I have the same problem. Fostering puppies and one of my girls refuses to let them enjoy a toy for more than a few seconds before asserting her dominion over all things toys in our house. Luckily, all the rest of the pooches take it in stride and move on to the next.

Anonymous said...

dog rule: bitches rule

Two French Bulldogs said...

Oh Ms M you are my Lily in doggies.
Benny & Lily

Author said...

awwww, how sweet he is to share like that! what a gentle boy.

ForPetsSake said...

Wow - more evidence to support the genius of dogs! And the patince, too. Very similar acts of piracy happen all day long here. Nyxie will also employ the "lick you to death" slobber tactic to get in under Arwen and between her and said toy. There goes the toy...

Anonymous said...

"This was the first time that I realized that she was actually smarter than me."
I just cracked up a little bit. Our Chick is Miss M, and his best friend / uncle Tex the lab is Mr B. It used to take a bit of a tug session and perhaps a quiet growl to get Tex to relinquish, but now Chick can just walk over to Tex and give him The Look. And instantly, the toy is Chick's.

Aleksandra
follow our foster: loveandaleash.wordpress.com

orange sugar said...

I feel bad for poor Mr. B.

Mia said...

Poor Mr. B!!!

~hugs~

Lilo

Shauna (Fido and Wino) said...

My dogs do that too! Mostly it's for the "special" cushion by the fireplace. Kayloo will bark to get Mickey riled up and running around the house and then she'll take over the cushion.

Chicks, man. I'm tellin' ya :)

Jess said...

Clever girl! What a stinker!

brooke said...

Awww! That's so cute! I love how Miss M has her head on Mr B's paw as she eyes out his toy. And his poor sad face when she finally takes it away! Poor guy!
She's a smart one though! :)

Sightless said...

Aw Mr. B! I guess in the end it's easier to succumb to her madness!

Mollie Jo and Bobo said...

Miss M you are quite the sneaky one!


Wags and Licks,
Mollie Jo & Bobo

Bobby said...

AH SHE IS TOP DOG, AND HE PUTS UP WITH IT. WE ARE AMAZED PIP HAS NOT BEEN IN A FIGHT HE TAKES ANYTHING OTHER DOGS HAVE. WE HAVE TRIED EVERYTHING TO STOP IT BUT HAVE FAILED SO FAR.

Kitty+Coco said...

This is the story of our lives around here. Ms. M's look-a-like Kitty is a toy bully. She does the same maneuver, minus the niceties. There are, however, two toys that Coco will fight for. When that is the case, Coco has learned an effective butt blocking technique to keep Kitty from getting it. It is funny to watch b/c Kitty has brute force, and Coco is quite resourceful.
LOVE the pics.

Anonymous said...

I don't know why but the song from that "Jaws" movie was playing around in my head when I was reading this.

Mr. B is such a sweetie. Brudder Ranger always tries to take my toys, too. But one time I did EXACTLY what Miss M did (showed him another toy I had) to get a bone away from him and it worked! It mighta been one of my proudest moments.

Wiggles & Wags,
Mayzie

Elaine Pritchard said...

I love being an only dog and not having to share.

houndstooth said...

Bwaaaa ha ha! If it makes you feel better, this sort of conniving takes place at our house, too, but I see it happen more over beds than toys!

Leila said...

At least Ms. M doesn't go over to the neighbors house and steals toys. Quizz steals toys from his girlfriend Maddie's. Of course, she comes over and finishes his dinner. So, it's about even. When she really wants the bone or toy he's working on she lays down really close to him and flirts like mad. It is the funniest thing I have ever scene. If Quizz allows himself to get distracted by her big brown eyes, she snatches the prize runs for the back door and runs home.

Dogs are endless sources of amusement.

Tucker The Crestie said...

Aww, poor Mr. B. So used and abused.

The Daily Pip said...

That's a great story! She is definitely smarter than me!

Your pal, Pip

P.S: Can you remind what rescues you both came from? What are your favorite dog only rescues in the area. I am doing some research. Thanks!

Anonymous said...

Those photos are great! Poor Mr. B looks so pitiful in the last one :) That seems to always be the case though - the toy that the other dog has is always much more interesting!

bitt said...

those bossy girl bullies! sienna was always stealing toys from our old dog, zuki. they eventually became all hers.

Those Elgin Pugs said...

The dynamics between Mr. B and Miss M are the exact same as Izzy and Anakin!

In the same regards... female dominance
Izzy will take anything I give to Anakin to play with!

That pictures you all asked about was taken by our house.. under I90- bridge by the fox river bike trail.. We love going on endless bike rides (but don't brave the winters on our bikes like E)

The trails are beautiful..
but then again.. so are the ones by you all :)

Zona said...

BOL What a great set of pictures! My mom said she had a moment where she realized I am smarter than she is too. That's always an interesting moment!

Wags,
Zona

Marianne Pysh said...

Hello!... New follower from the Saturday Pet Blogger Hop! Your furbabies are beautiful!

A Confessed Pit Bull Addict said...

Miss M is hysterical! A girl's gotta be willing to go after what she wants out of life - I guess she just takes it a step further than most of us.

the booker man said...

awww, mr. b, it's hard having a toy stealer in the house. booker can empathize with you. asa isn't really interested in anything except chewing on bones. despite the fact that we have multiple bones in the house, if booker has a bone, she'll decide that she wants that one. asa's favorite con job is to go grab booker's rope toy and run up to him like she wants to play tug. booker gets all excited and jumps up to play, and then asa drops the rope toy and runs to claim the bone. it really is sneaky!

the booker man and asa's mama

Shooting Stars Mag said...

oh goodness! I can't help but laugh at those pictures though...poor guy. two dogs are trouble sometimes. :)


I have information about a Cutest Pet contest on my blog if you wanna check it out!!


Lauren

Anonymous said...

We doggies are much smarter than most parental units give us credit for. For example, I chew up a lot of my toys so mama buys me more. Ha jokes on her. I like them chewed up as well as new. Now I just get MORE and MORE. Hey don't tell her.

koko said...

I think Mr. B is such a gentledog... allowing Ms. M to have it her way... I wonder how would I react to such situation, hmmmm.

Licks, hero

Anonymous said...

Aw-w-w-w!

Anonymous said...

I'm really feelin for ya Mr. B Maybe you should sprinkle a little pepper on the end you're not chewin and see if a good sneeze might deter the determined Miss M ;)

Waggin at ya,
Roo

Anonymous said...

Your dogs are adorable! I think you have my bike but in the step-through version (I was at the December ladies who bike but didn't make it this month) so I had to swing over and check out your site. I'm currently looking for a rug and love the texture of your gray one in this photo. Can I ask where it's from?

Two Pitties in the City said...

The carpet is the pebble rug from West Elm. It's super-soft and it feels really nice on your feet.

Kari in Alaska said...

Mesa steals toys from both Baily and Big Carl. Baily is used to it, Big Carl still gets really upset about it

Kari
http://dogisgodinreverse.com/

Brenda said...

The sequence of photos is a riot, love it!! I've been searching in vain for blogs ABOUT dogs, not BY dogs, and finally happened upon the blog Cooking With Dogs. That one referenced your blog, so now - after much searching - looks I've got two fun blogs to add to my reading list!

Anonymous said...

When we first got our Pitt mix, Paul, our foxhound, Annie, would do the exact same thing. She would sit on top of the bed in their room with both treats and Paul would crawl under the bed with a "woe is me" look. Paul has since learned to keep his treat and crawl under the bed. He takes his toys, rawhides, and treats under the bed where Annie can't get to him or the treats. She just stands next to the bed and barks at him to give her his treat.

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