Story 3: Arranger of Things, Lover of Kongs

This might be a relatively shorter story, but since Laika's few toys (that were not destroyed) have been left around the house I want to share about one of her more quirky habits: arranging her Kongs. Those who knew Laika will know for certain that she was an extremely powerful chewer. Any toy given to her would more or less immediately meet its demise (more stories to come, obviously)...except the sturdy, treat-giving Kong! For those of you who don't know, Kongs kind of resemble a snowman's body with a large hole on "bottom" side for filling the inside with treats. They come in two colors: red for regular chewers and black for power chewers (which was also the signifying color of being military-grade rubber); and are also available in many sizes. Laika preferred Large. I would also buy the black ones, as they never degraded or cracked. I think they survived based on their magical ability to reward her chewing with treats.

Laika enjoyed Kongs to no end. Even without being full of treats, she would throw them around herself to see their odd bouncing patterns and try to pounce on them straight-legged like a kitten. She would sometimes like fetch them when I would throw them for her, but for some reason preferred to play with them alone. (Yes, she was really smart.) I would also fill them with peanut butter (her favorite, which she was sadly not allowed to have for the last few months of her life due to massive allergies), dry food, gentle snackers and, more recently, pumpkin puree. As I would fill the Kong, Laika would sit patiently, mouth-watering and tail flailing. Her whole body would fill with immense, vibrating joy at the sight of the Kong being put on the counter and the peanut butter being opened. She would then take the Kong and immediately lay down on the nearest rug, still wagging her tail furiously as she ate the delicious filling. If you ever looked at any of the rugs closely, you could see that there were hazy peanut butter stains dotting the surfaces.

After the first handful of times that I gave Laika a Kong to play with, I noticed a very odd behavior. Almost 75% of the time that she played with it, she would stand it on end when she was done...kind of arranging it as if it were her job to keep the miracle, treat-giving toy some type of respect for its powers. I might be reading too much into this behavior, but given the whirlwind of destruction that she was usually known for, Laika was surprisingly careful with how she treated Kongs. This behavior of arranging them after play continued throughout her life. I would sometimes come home and know that she had been playing with the Kongs, as they were in different locations and were left standing on end.

This morning I saw the larger of her two Kongs still standing at attention in the living room. It was kind of comforting to see that it was still waiting in the same position that she or I (as I learned to leave them that way, too) left it. I have been around lots of dogs over the years and have not seen a specific behavior like this. It was really interesting and endearing to me that she took such care of that specific kind of toy, while shredding pretty much everything else she could get her teeth on. Even until her final days, Laika's pure joy for chewing a full Kong never wavered. I can only hope that any of my actions exhibit the same type of unbridled bliss that Laika showed when playing with and arranging her Kongs.