Rio thinks the trampoline is his new bed. Notice he took his stuffed bear up there with him.
Having been petless for over 10 years, we realized after we brought Rio home, that we needed to buy some dog stuff. So I left Jay home with the dog and went off to Wal-Mart. I needed dog food, a dog brush, dog dishes, a dog bed, things to chew on, and things to play with. Boy, I never knew how much you needed just to be a pet owner!
So I am wandering around and around the pet department of Wal-Mart trying to find just the right stuff, when my cell phone goes off. “Honey, I think you need to get Rio some kind of stuffed animal.” Apparently Rio, in exploring his new home, found a stuffed gorilla that I have in my bedroom. He brought it out with him and was carrying it around the house. “If you want to keep your gorilla, you’d better get Rio something like it.”
Well, I went to the toy section of the pet department in search of a good gorilla replacement. There are a lot of toys in that department! A whole isle full! Now the most important thing to me was that this stuffed animal did not squeak. Outside squeaking is fine, but I can not tolerate inside squeaking. And Jay is even less tolerant of that than I. So I began going down the long isle squeezing every toy to try to find a quiet one. Do you know that they do not make toys for dogs that don’t squeak?! Really! I could not find one-squeakless-toy!
Then I came to a bin that had stuffed hedgehogs…sort of similar to a gorilla I think. I picked one up and squeezed. It made a deep kind of growling noise. That is a little better than a squeak, but I think it will still annoy us. I picked up another one. Same thing. Then I picked up one and squeezed it and it was silent! I squeezed again. Nothing. I squeezed different parts of it. I couldn’t get a sound out of it. Its squeaker must be broken! Just what the doctor ordered 
I threw the hedgehog in with all the other doggy items and headed to the checkout. Do you know I spent over $100 for all those pet necessities! I was shocked! (And believe me, that was not the last trip to the store for dear Rio)
When I got home I took the hedgehog out and gave it to Rio. He loved it. In fact, after a month of playing with it he hasn’t put a hole in it yet. He carries it around, puts it on his bed with him, chews on it softly but not enough to tear it. One thing he did do, though. He figured out how to make it growl! Oh well…I tried.
Next we need to see how he does with other dogs. Read about it on the next post, Rio Gets a New Friend.