Holiday Gift Exchange

It is tradition each year to bring a gift for the puppy gift exchange at our puppy club holiday party. This year, LW brought a cute, little stuffed Rudolph reindeer –“squeaky noise included”. Other gifts for the holiday exchange included treats and snacks. These various and sundry holiday offerings were then lined up on the floor, and starting with the youngest puppy each is given opportunity to sniff and then select their favorite. LW as a 6 month old, is still among the youngest, so with her turn, there were plenty of interesting packages from which to choose. Wonderful, delicious holiday offerings including nylabones and snausage treats as well as colorful stuffed animals (the likes of which my granddaughter would envy); it was a puppy’s greatest dream. So, off we go with the anticipation of sniffing each and every secret surprise, of savoring the moment and after careful selection making the “perfect choice.” Our goal: to obtain the best available gift to be gleaned from this stack of endless holiday joy possibilities. So when her turn arrives, LW grabs the first bag she comes to (sigh) and claims her prize. (PS to the raiser who brought this gift, my apologies) As we unwrap this prize and much to the delight of LW, what was revealed is by far the ugliest blue “thing” you could imagine on the planet. In my mind’s eye, I could already hear the crowd of onlookers, in a manner similar to the gallery of a golf match when the star player misses the putt by mere inches: “ohhhhhhhh!” As I stared down at the object which has four blue appendages hanging from an oblong object that could have been a blue head….or was it the other end? I wasn’t sure. But LW absolutely loved it! She couldn’t have been happier if you’d handed her a bag of kibble! After closer study, this small blue furry mass appeared to be an Octopus albeit with only four legs. As a result, we have now named it the “Quadrapus” and since that fateful night she claimed it as her own; LW is rarely without it. We’re unsure if its because she’s merely inquisitive, and like us, wants to know exactly what it is, or if she’s intrigued by its beauty. They say there’s a gift for everyone and its these varying tastes that “make the world go round”. But in this case, I think its merely the canine equivalent of a time honored human tradition. The “quadrapus” can be considered the “fruitcake of dog toys.”