Tikva loves her toys - the more the merrier - but they must be soft and be squeaky so she can race around with one in her mouth squeaking like mad - both indoors and outside in the yard! She is not interested in tuggies although there are a few in her toy box, not is she interested in balls which is A Good Thing as they have always ended up under the couch or under wherever, leaving me like a stranded whale on the floor getting them out... tuggies have also landed me on the floor in the past as Tikki is far stronger than I am! So our games mostly consist of her chucking toys off the couch, me picking them up with a picker-upper, squeaking them and then throwing them back onto the couch where she leaps to catch them, sometimes overbalancing and landing on the floor - oops - but each time I throw one back there are yet more toys on the floor waiting for me to pick them up and continue the game. Having had a mad half hour of playtime, Tikva is now fast azonk on her "nest" on the couch... ...and there are soft toys all over the floor!
but Tikki definitely gets far more exercise than I do in the process! Erm, umm, she probably - make that definitely - has! Tikva is probably the happiest little dog with whom I have had the pleasure of sharing my life. That is not to say that none of my Griffs, my Lexi, or my beloved Pereg were not happy because they all were and all showed their happiness and love for me, just as I gave them all as much love as I had. I do not remember what sort of toys my Griffs had but it was such a long time ago. Lexi loved empty 500ml plastic bottles, and Pereg? Her monkeys of course, which she used to bring to bed. Remember this? Tikki is somehow different - possibly because she has been with me since she was far too young, but she loves her soft squeaky toys and has so much pleasure when we play together with them.
It's difficult sometimes to look back and remember just how small they once were. I find it hard to believe that Pepe was once able to walk underneath Bogie.
Tikki really was tiny though - I saw her on the Tuesday, 2 June, when they said the pups were three-weeks old [they were not] and was told I could have her in another two weeks. Still much too young. And then on the Friday, 5 June, it was "come and get your puppy now" - with the unspoken "or else", and she was barely three-weeks old then, with her teeth yet to come through. That I remember vividly. I also remember telephoning Ram asking for some puppy milk substitute but I do not remember who picked it, two tiny bottles and some teats, up from the surgery. So she had already been with me for 13 days when I took that photograph of her. I used to put her in a small bowl and weigh her on my digital kitchen scales! Oh, and when I was weaning her and she used to paddle in it, I would put her under the tap in the sink!
