An Update On The Wobbler

So the Kong Wobbler is gone from our house.  You know, the one Theo found to be both fascinating and terrible?  But don't be sad.  It's in a far, far better place now - a house with a dog that isn't a total chicken, of course!  It was fate.  I had just finished posting my review when one of my Facebook friends, an old college professor of mine, actually mentioned in her status update that she wanted a Kong Wobbler for her dog, Owen. I had planned on giving the Wobbler to one of my Corgi friends, but this was just meant to be!  Here I was, in possession of a Wobbler, and here she was, in want of a Wobbler.  So I left her a comment saying I happened to have one to give her, and a few days later, I stopped by her house to drop it off.

She has two dogs, small rescues of an unidentifiable breed.  Chihuahua-Terrior mixes maybe of about 15 pounds.  She was also playing host to a gigantic black lab (she was energetic, clumsy, and completely adorable), who she said was quite the regular in her house.  All three dogs took their turn with the Wobbler with no fights and no issues.  And all three dogs managed to knock it around to get their delicious treat reward.  Remember how big the Wobbler was?  At one point the lab tried to get the whole thing in her mouth - she almost did it to!  it was kind of fascinating.  Even when the treats were gone, they just kept playing with it, batting it around and watching it wobble.

I left happy, knowing that the toy had found a good home.  My friend emailed me the next day saying that Owen had happily played with the Wobbler the entire rest of the day, and even curled up next to it to take a nap when he got tired.  How cute!





You might think that such a selfless deed might drum up my own good karma, eh?  Well as soon as we got back in the car to drive home, the check engine light came on.  Something had broken that ended up being very expensive to fix.  Naturally. :)

Product Review: Kong Wobbler

The folks at Kong contacted me several weeks ago about doing a review for their new product, the Kong Wobbler. I'm a big fan of Kong and their products - I've got everything from Theo's original baby Kong (he still gets his bedtime treats in it every night) to the zoom groom - so I was pretty excited to take part. When it arrived in the mail, however, I knew we were going to have problems. And by that, I mean that Theo was not going to be the best dog to show off how fun and engaging this new toy can be. It's rather large, you see. If you've read this blog with any regularity, you can probably guess how Theo would react to something large. Not well. But they were also nice enough to include their new Kong Stuff'n treats as well, and there was no question of Theo liking those. Oho, no. So I hunkered down and did my best to introduce the Wobbler to the chicken Theo.
The way the Wobbler works is it has a heavy, round-bottomed base and a hollow top with a small hole where the treats come out. As the dog nudges and paws the Wobbler around, its heavy base brings the toy back upright, keeping the furry one guessing. As they roll the toy around, the treats dispense from the small hole in the top, rewarding their brave curiosity and playfulness. Sounds awesome, right?
So I put some of these IQ treats inside, knowing Theo would go nuts over them. They are 100% salmon. What's not to like?  If nothing else, I would buy these treats again.  And as you can see, the base unscrews from the top for easy filling, though you can also just drop them through the hole in the top.  After I snapped this pic I broke each piece in half, which was recommended on the packaging.  I wanted to make things as easy as possible for Theo.

Vote For Theo!

Fellow Corgi rear-end obsessed blogger, Kelly, at Corgi Butts has been awesome enough to put together another Corgi Blogs calendar!  Just like last year, all proceeds will be going to support Corgi charity.  This year, however, she's leaving it up to us to vote between the finalists for who makes the calendar, and Theo is a finalist!

Want another month of admiring this guy?


Vote here!  Just make sure to include number 6 in your vote!  You know...if he makes your list.  I won't be surprised when he doesn't win this year.  There are some truly awesome pictures to choose from.  I guess I'm really going to have to step up my photography game if I ever want to see Theo's pretty mug featured anywhere again!  It's hard when you have a dog that is scared of your camera...

A huge thanks to Kelly for taking the time not only to organize another great calendar, but for raising money to support a great cause!

Fun On The Farm

We're back!  You might think since it's been forever and a half since I posted anything, Theo and I have been sitting around watching paint dry.  Not true!  We only paint the walls just to watch them dry Tuesdays and Thursdays.


I mentioned many moons ago that Theo experienced a big change in routine when I got laid off from my job.  Unfortunately, my job hunt has been wildly unsuccessful, so Theo is still hanging at home with me.  I feel terrible about this, and even though I walk him twice a day, I still do my best to get him out and around dogs.  I figure he was neurotic enough before he stopped hanging with other dogs regularly.  I don't want him to become totally incapable of interaction.

I figured out pretty early on that the dog park just wasn't going to work.  Or at least, regular trips to the dog park.  Sure, he goes bananas when we pull into the parking lot.  He can't wait to get inside the park and bark his brains out.  But after about 5 minutes he's done.  He's said hello to the other people, presented his bum to the dogs for sniffage, and he's peed in all the spot he's interested in.  Not exactly the mental or physical stimulating exercise I'm going for.  You know what does keep his interest?  Corgis!  Of course!

I've become much more active with our local Corgi community!  I used to attend a few of the meetups every once in a while.  When I was working I would get so busy on the weekends that I missed them a lot of times.  Not anymore!  I make it a point to get some Corgi time in for Theo at least once a week.  Sometimes more!  There's a group that meets Friday mornings for hikes and walks in different spots around the area.  I could never go before because I was working, but now I'm there every week, Theo in tow!

Theo's grown to love our weekly Corgi walks so much, in fact, that he knows when it's Friday!  He waits on baited breath all morning for me to get ready, and when I finally emerge and begin gathering our things, he goes wild!  He yelps, he yips, he whines, he paces!  He makes noises I've never heard him make before.  And if I ask him if he's ready to go, the barking begins and doesn't stop until we're in the car, pulling out of the driveway!  Seriously!  It's kind of hilarious, if not a little deafening.  Husband didn't believe it until he finally witnessed it.  It took a couple extra minutes to get to the car that day because we were too busy rolling on the floor laughing.  I've been meaning to get a video of the scene, but I always forget!  It's comedy once you know that he's not, in fact, dying a slow, painful death.


Um, I'm sure it has nothing to do with that fact that there are often treats involved.  Naw....



There have also been two extra special Corgi outings in the last 2 months.  A farm!  There's a small farm about 25 miles away that hosts a very limited Corgi meetup once a month.  The owner has two Corgis, and she invites the first 12 people who RSVP to come and romp around the farm with them.  Since I have nothing better to do than check the meetup website everyday, I've been one of the lucky few twice!

One of them was just last weekend, and Theo had the time of his life!  Unfortunately, these pictures are from the time before that, which was merely an awesome time.  So you'll just have to use your imagination.

Or I could tell you about it.

He ran!  With the other dogs!  Up a hill!  I've never seen him go so ballistic over new sights and smells.  Since everything was fully fenced, we were allowed to let our pups romp around off leash.  When Theo is off leash he always sticks pretty close by me, or at least he's always obviously aware of my presence.  If he wanders away from me at the dog park, he always peeks back to make sure I haven't moved from where he left me.  Not at the farm!  If a dog could say "See ya, Mom!", he would have!  That dog would have made Toucan Sam proud with all the following of his nose he was doing.  And he peed on everything he could find!  Theo's not generally much of a marker, but that place was screaming (wafting?) "Theo" when we left.  Maybe that was his way of saying he never wanted to leave?


And since it was a farm, there were animals! Chickens, a horse, and ducks!  All safely tucked away and out of a herding dog's reach.  Except one unfortunate, lone duck.  During last weekend's meetup Theo happened across a duck they weren't able to catch and put away before the dogs arrived, and Theo made sure to teach it a lesson for it's obstinacy.  But this is Theo!  My chicken!  The dog that wouldn't herd sheep because he was afraid of getting stepped on.  Well apparently he put on his big boy diapers that day because when he saw that duck, he launched after it!  I totally lost sight of the chase, but Husband said Theo caught up to the duck and pounced on the poor thing!  Not sure what he was trying to accomplish by squashing it.  Maybe he was just trying to jump on its head?  But thankfully no harm was done.  Husband said one of the farm workers gave him a very dirty look.  What did he expect?!  Put your dang duck away next time!  But it's a good thing to note.  Theo is not scared of ducks.  Perhaps we'll give duck herding a go sometime!  Then again, perhaps it's just a singular duck he feels tough around.  A whole herd might bring him back to his senses.




And that's only the tip of the iceberg!  Ok, it's more like the entire underwater portion and there's that little tip that sticks out above the water line.  I'm talking about blog material, of course.  Theo and I have been getting up to some other shenanigans, but that'll have to wait for another post.  Which I am fully committed to posting soon!

Initiating Play

I've often mentioned how Theo got a bit mixed up in the play department.  He rarely plays with other dogs, but he will always play with me.  As if I'm a dog!  I say I don't know how it happened, but that's a lie.  I totally know how it happened.  I initiated play with him!  I gave him the doggy signals that I wanted to play.  It's all about speaking the doggy language!