Hand-Me-Downs

Barley, a dog, chews enthusiastically at a strange-looking plastic bone while sprawled on a carpet.

A while ago, a coworker gave me a bag of toys that their dog at home had either lost interest in or had never engaged with in the first place. So far, without exception, Barley has found each one I introduce to be very intriguing. This is a little surprising to me, because although she’s always excited to play with any new soft prey-shaped toys, she’s been quite a bit more selective with more rigid chew toys. My suspicion is that she can tell these toys are used, and the lingering evidence of some other dog’s attention makes these toys seem much more desirable. “Mine now!” has a low more caché when applied to things that used to belong to others.