This week we're talking about dog toys!  There's a lot of them, and there's a huge variety.  Of course, there's a lot of potential for variety, since cats and dogs toys are different since they need different types of stimulation, and even if you only made toys based on animals, there's over 50,000 species of vertabrates alone-so you'd still end up with a ton of toys that are different from each other.  That's not even accounting for the material each toy is made out of, or how closely it needs to resemble the animal, or even what the toy is designed for (squeaking, chewing, fetch, etc).

Point is, the first couple toys are animal themed.

The first toy I want to talk about this week is Goldie Goldfish from Imperial Cat.  I learned a bit about the Imperial Cat brand this week, and they're pretty darn nifty.  They're a smaller business and are committed to eco-friendly, all-natural, engaging cat toys that work to stimulate and entertain your cat.  This toy is catnip-stuffed with their premium organic catnip, and is cat-approved.  Literally, they have over 20 'office cats' that test their products before they even hit the market, so you know your cat's going to love their toys.

Next, I want to talk about Kong.  Up until a week or two ago, I really only thought of Kong in conjunction with their treat-dispensing toy that my family always stuffed with peanut butter for our husky (especially when we wanted to hide any medicine).  I was visiting a house (well, really I was visiting their corgi, because she's adorable and I love her) and saw one of the Wubba Ballistic toys for the first time when she dropped it at my feet so we could play fetch.  I threw it down the hall and back a few times, and she went nuts for it.  It was really nice for me to be able to pick it up and throw it by its 'tail' and because the 'head' prevents it from bouncing in a regular way, she actually had to work harder to fetch it.

Last, I learned about parody toys.  Mostly I learned there's a lot of them.  Maybe its because its getting colder outside, but my favorite was the Starbarks Frenchie Roast plush toy from Haute Diggity Dog.  It took me a few read-throughs to realize it was 'Starbarks' but laughed out lout when I did.  I'm a wordplay and pun-lover as well as an avid coffee-drinker, so this toy was perfect.

I'm sure there will be toys next week too-gotta give everyone gift ideas before the holiday sets in, after all.