Magdalena is our big, sweet, lovable Siberian Husky. She can look intimidating, and I suppose if she really wanted to she could stop an intruder in their tracks. The only drawback is the intruder would likely find her less terrifying because she’d be carrying her stuffed Gizmo (from the movie Gremlins) toy around in her mouth. It is her security toy that makes her feel safe, sort of like Linus’s blanket in the Peanuts cartoons.
If you want to get Magdalena upset, try to take her Gizmo toy away from her. Then she gets mean. Especially if one of the other dogs tries to take Gizmo. If they even walk near it she’ll jump up and defend the toy. She’ll snap at Sirocco, because he’s smaller, but she’ll watch Major Tom and grab the toy if she thinks he is likely to grab it first. She will bark if I pick it up and try to snatch the toy from my hand.
Sirocco strategically bides his time. He won’t go out in the backyard if Major Tom and Magdalena are outside. He’ll go out by himself first, then when he comes back inside, the other two dogs will go out. When that happens, Sirocco bolts into the living room and gets to play with Gizmo for a few minutes until Magdalena comes back in. As soon as she gets to the door, Sirocco drops the toy and acts like nothing is happening.
We have a rule in the house that the dogs don’t take their toys outside in the backyard. The few times they have managed to sneak them out the toys usually end up wet and muddy. This lowers the play appeal of them ad the dogs will abandon them. Most of the time I’ll see the toy in the yard then either tell the dogs to go get it, and usually they will, or if they don’t, I’ll go out and get the toy. Hey, dog toys can get expensive if you have to replace them all the time.
This evening Magdalena was heading out the back door and at the last second I saw she had Gizmo in her mouth. I made a grab for the toy but she tossed her head and got it away from me. Then she was out the door and into the snow. I hoped that since this was her security toy she’d keep it with her and bring it back in. No such luck. When she came back in the house, there was no toy. I couldn’t see it from the porch. She may have dropped it behind the shed or around the corner of the house.
I’m not going in the backyard to retrieve the toy this time. We’ve got a foot of snow out there and I don’t have boots to trudge through it. There’s no telling where she dropped it. Each time the dogs go out I tell them to go get Gizmo. So far, none of them have brought the toy back inside.
Ultimately it will be found and brought back in. The condition it is brought in is another matter. I suppose if it gets all wet and muddy and Magdalena abandons it, then she’ll adopt another toy as her security toy. I just have to hope she doesn’t decide one of the other dog’s favorite toy is her new security toy.
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