Small things

Do you shop at Marshalls? Marshalls is awesome. You can get all kinds of nice kitchenware for much cheaper than you'd pay at Bed Bath & Beyond. Right now they have a ton of nice luggage, too. Turns out suitcases kind of expensive. 

Anyway, I've got Kirby in an obedience class right now since I'm super middle class and have extra money to throw around on teaching my dog how to lay down and touch my hand with her nose. So I went to Marshalls to pick up some treats for class. Also, we realized that if we give her her dinner in a toy that makes her work to get it out she uses up a bunch of her mental energy and then doesn't whine and run around and jump up on our laps incessantly until she gets a walk. Mental stimulation: dogs need it too. Especially dogs who I suspect have some Jack Russell in them and are generally pretty dang smart.

The problem is that we only had one such toy, and she gets the treats out by flinging the thing around the house and throwing it down the stairs (seriously). So to Marshalls I go during my lunch break, hoping to score some cheap treats and discount toys. Hoo boy, I hit the mother lode yesterday. They must have just gotten a shipment of dog stuff -- huge pile of nice doggy beds, a shelf positively overflowing with stuffy toys, and a whole bunch of chew and pull toys. I got: 

• An egg-shaped toy with a weighted round bottom and adjustable holes leading to the top part, that the dog rolls around to get at the treats. Bullseye! 
• A rubber thing with a little star shaped hole that attaches to a water bottle so the dog gets the satisfying crunch of the water bottle PLUS treats. 
• A crinkly squeaky rabbit. The thing sounds like it's got a Sun Chips bag from their first go at decomposable (decomposible?) bags. Hazel LOVED the pig I got (for Kirby) that has a velcro pouch to put a water bottle in, so I thought this would feed his need for crinkle-crunch.
• A squeaky fluffy stuffingless (less mess!) chicken for Miss K.
• A heavy duty rope toy for tug, since currently Kirby prefer's to play tug with the little scrap of the bear toy I gave her when I first got her. It makes for a lot of finger biting.
• Oh yeah, and I got some REALLY stinky chicken liver treats. The dogs went nuts for them.

Jackpot. Retail therapy with a tangible benefit: calmer, more engaged dogs. Less grump from C and myself. Everyone wins.