Holding it just out of reach he stares intensely, with his mouth slightly ajar and his little pink tongue hanging out the side of his mouth. The little orange bear is the center of his universe at this moment and nothing I can do can break his concentration. I throw it and he goes careening across the slippery wood floor with no heed for furniture or his own personal safety. There has been plenty of laughter over watching Ollie crash into the wall or bowl over Shyla in his attempts to get the little rubber toy as quickly as physically possible.

As he joyously trots back with his prize he chews on it as if loving the feel of the cheap rubber between his teeth. Laying on the floor with the little bear between his feet he proceeds to chew and chew and chew until one-by-one the little feet, then the hands, then the head are consumed until the little bear is no more. Even the squeeker is gone, thank you. Although, have you ever see the movie Snatch? Yeah, the dog swallows the squeeker and ends up with a squeek for a bark. Please, god, no.

I hate these toys; the constant high-pitched squeek they make anytime they are bounced, chewed, stepped or pounced on. I know; do dogs pounce? Well, my dog does, just like a cat...but without that whole butt-wiggle thing before hand.

Even when I make an attempt to hide one of these beloved squeeky toys he will search, non-stop, until he finds it and he never forgets where I put it. So even when I TRY to distract him with another toy, he always goes back to my hiding place (between the couch cushions) to look for the missing one. He's pretty fixated, maybe I should take him to see a shrink.