Ace of Spades Pet Thread, September 3

Good afternoon and welcome to the almost world famous Ace of Spades Pet Thread. Thanks for stopping by!

Kick back and enjoy the world of animals. Would you like a treat? Do you know where the good ones are? Let's enjoy the world of animals, maybe share some snacks and leave the world of politics outside today.

Misanthropic Humanitarian passed along the genesis story of the KONG dog chew toy. I had wondered. They are kinda different from other dog toys. Like many inventions, it started with an unrelated problem:

Prior to founding the KONG Company, Joe Markham owned a Volkswagen repair shop in a rough part of downtown Denver, Colorado which had experienced to a string of burglaries in 1970. Due to budget cuts, the local police precinct denied a request for increased police patrols near Joe's repair shop, and suggested that Joe should get a guard dog instead. Joe knew of a German Shepard that had failed out of the police academy's canine division for "excessive chewing" and needed a home, thus "Fritz" was adopted and became a fixture at Joe's repair shop. While the burglaries stopped, Joe became concerned after noticing Fritz had a fondness for chewing on rocks and as a result Fritz's teeth were grinding down in the process. Joe tried just about everything he could think of, talking with friends and veterinarians, all the toys in the pet store and even gave radiator hoses a try, alas nothing could deter or survive the voracious Fritz.

Read about what inspired the KONG toy's shape, or watch this video:

We have a couple of those toys in the house. None of our big dogs have been chewers. The smaller dogs can't handle the big-sized toys.

But I have met some dogs who could benefit from a chew-toy that resisted destruction.

I'm a long-time lurker...just call me Aaron in Texas.

Anyway, this is my pal Crash the Wonder Dog. Crash is an Australian Shepherd/Blue Heeler mix that came from a shelter. He's appropriated the dining room table to use as a watch tower because he can see the driveway when we're gone.

A dog with an excuse for standing on the table!

No nic for this big-hearted member of The Horde:

This is Fro, who came to us with the name of Aphrodite. She was a foster from the Durham Region Humane Society, and originally was going to be with us on a temp basis while they found her a home. When we got her, she was about 11 years old, and had mammary cancer, so we assumed we had her for the duration. Sure enough, after about a month, they asked is we would keep her. The answer, of course, was yes. When we got her, we were told she had 1-2 years to go. We pampered her for 3 years, and gave her a proper send-off when the time came. She will be missed.

A lovely cat and a lovely story.

This is Kylo. He is our daughters dog, but since we're dogless he's scratching that doggy itch. We spent three weeks with them while the rv was being serviced and he decided I was his favorite human. He is a great dog, very smart and kind. He chases bunnies but never catches them, no matter how close he is.

sent telepathically by Peggy

An impressive dog!

This is Nayro, (short for Nayrolothotep)our most recent bearded dragon. We're her third caregivers, and you've been kind enough to showcase our previous dragons. When my son found her she was scrawny and mistrustful of people. Two years later she has filled out nicely and enjoys being around us.

That's the look we get when the dinner dish is empty far too soon...

Thanks for the pet thread

Lurker and very occasional commenter Coelacanth

How we got her a couple of years ago

Looks like she has been well cared for. An interesting pet!

I thought the Horde might be interested on an update on my new kittens, first seen on the June 11 Pet Thread.

Schroedinger is over eight pounds, now, and enjoys sitting on the antique desk while I'm on the laptop at the kitchen table. Both of them will sit together there, with both of their butts in the alcove. I've tried to get a picture of them together, but Maddie gets too interested in the camera to remain in place. (I may have to rename Schroedinger "Snotlicker", as he likes to give me kitty kisses on the nose. Copiously. Excessively.)

Maddie learned that she can jump last week, and so has been getting more aerial. As you can see, she figured out how to get to the top shelf of the fiction paperback bookshelves. She looks puzzled because she's trying to figure out how to get down again.

Captain Obvious

We seem to have a lot of cats in The Horde who love bookshelves and desks. And these are so young to be studious cats!

Long time lurker that loves seeing everyones' best friends on the thread. This is Nike and Valkyrie relaxing after a long bout of fetch. They are from the same mom and dad but about 9 months apart. They are the friendliest duo I have ever met as long as you don't sneak up on them.

They look like dogs that could intimidate and intruder, but cheer others!

What a wonderful collection of pets and stories today. Thank you each and everyone for sharing your pets with us.

If you would like to send pet and/or animal stories, links, etc. for the Ace of Spades Pet Thread, the address is:

petmorons at protonmail dot com

Remember to include the nic by which you wish to be known when you comment at AoSHQ, or let us know if you want to remain a lurker.

Until next Saturday, have a great week!

If you start feeling nostalgic, here a link to last week's Pet Thread, the The Ace of Spades Pet Thread, August 27. Some special PetMoron stories and photos there.

I closed the comments on this post so you wouldn't get banned for commenting on a week-old post, but don't try it anyway.

posted by K.T. at 03:26 PM

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