Kipper's Kong

Kipper's Kong and all his other dog toys are made of red, thick, hard rubber. There's a reason for that.

Once Steve (Kipper's dad) retired, he found himself home much more often. What started to become obvious was that Kipper could be left out of his crate for short periods of time--say 15 minutes without him wreaking havoc (see previous blogs about his diet of sofa's and armchairs). Eventually, we started leaving him for an hour or two.

Advancing age and the security of having someone home more during the day eventually led to Kipper's release from the crate. Call it probation, time off for good behavior or whatever you want. Kipper is now free.

Still, Kipper suffers from separation anxiety and everyone once in a while shows it. He has a particular fondness for my shoes. He ate my favorite black velvet pumps. He also ate his dog bed, socks, pillows and the ever popular paper bag. What is interesting is that his taste always varies. Anyway, we may be fools but we trust him now and put up with the occasional eaten sneaker as it makes our life so much easier to not have to bring him down to the basement and put him in his crate. I mean, we are so much happier being able to let him roam the house free. Are you buying it?

So Kipper has mellowed considerably. He's around 9 years old; so it is to be expected. But he still has plenty of antics up his sleeve (or fur, in his case). In future editions I'll tell you about his penchant for popcorn, his love of music and his yearning for speech.

Yes, Kipper's Kong is hard rubber because he chews, digests and voids any other type of material.