Ratty Ol' Mouse

According to one of my breed books, Yorkshire Terriers were "bred originally to sniff out and catch rats for Welsh miners." They are mousers. I watched my first Yorkie, Buddy, chase a mouse across our large back yard when we lived in a somewhat rural area. He didn't catch it because he was stopped at the chain link fence and the mouse kept going, but he was on its heels the entire time. It was pretty exciting!

Half-a-mouse

So I guess it makes sense that our dogs love cat toys. When our youngest daughter lived at home with her two cats, some of their little toys were appropriated by the dogs. Skyler loved these little "mice" that seem to be a ping pong ball filled with something that rattles and is wrapped in a yarn covered fabric. They have pink ears, black eyes, a red nose, little whiskers and a tail. When Skyler passed away at the ripe old age of 15-1/2, he left his last mouse to Miles who absolutely adores it. As you can see, it is a ratty ol' half-assed mouse. All that is left is one eye, the nose and two whiskers.

When I'm reading or knitting, Miles will sashay -- I know, but sashay is the only way to describe it -- over and tease me with his mouse. He has this gleam in his eyes and he'll get just close enough for me to brush my fingers over his mouse and then he turns and runs like hell. He will play this game for the longest time, especially if I actually get up and chase him. Boy, is that fun!!!

Miles with his mouse

Sadly, we can no longer find any of these mice to get replacements. So we will keep washing it and live with this ratty ol' mouse until it disintegrates.