If you give a dog a toy, they’ll immediately cherish it. But sometimes “appreciation” takes the form of destruction (unlike cats – they’ll just watch you throw it and then bat it under the couch where it stays for 3 years).
That’s why most dog toys don’t last very long.
But for one Alaskan Malamute, a very special stuffed toy has been with her for years!
And that’s despite the fact that she loves tearing into her other playthings.
Karissa Lerch lives with her pup Luca in Durham, North Carolina. But before she was able to afford to have a real dog, she bought a stuffed Alaskan Malamute from a local Toys-R-Us store.
When Luca came home, she decided to gift the puppy with the stuffed toy that looked just like her.
And it was almost as if Luca knew it had been a stand-in for her! She cuddles with it constantly.
“I passed the stuffed animal down to her and she has kept it by her side at all times ever since. It’s her baby :) She carries it around everywhere and always has it with her when she goes to bed,” Lerch posted on Reddit.
Here’s Luca at just 8 weeks old with the lookalike toy:
Is your heart not entirely melted?!
A year and a half later, here’s 2-year-old Luca with the exact same toy!
She’s still cuddling with it in the exact same way.
According to Lerch, many of Luca’s toys have come and gone over the years, but the stuffed malamute is still a prized and well-cared-for possession (at least as of a few years ago at her last update).
In a comment on Reddit, she said Luca “destroys everything else. Got her a new stuffed toy the other day and it was gone in 15 minutes!”
According to HuffPost, the toy’s name had been Luca as well, so to avoid confusion it eventually got renamed “Mr. Wolf.”
Lerch also told the outlet that Luca was going to get a sibling soon as well (and not a stuffed one!).
“We actually plan on getting her a little sister, or another malamute, in January,” said Lerch. “So we may need to buy another stuffed wolf soon!”
Judging by her Facebook photo from 2018, it looks like that worked out well!
Lerch’s post encouraged other Redditors to share similar stories about their dogs’ beloved toys.
“My nearly 12yo dog has a stuffed bear that she’s had for almost 6 years. She carries it around, sleeps with it, and when she gets excited she will run grab it and show it to me. She normally destroys stuffed animals within a week. No clue what it is about this specific bear,” one dog owner said.
And for some dogs, their most cherished possession doesn’t have to be an animal replica – or even furry!
“My golden retriever has a blue rubber ball that she always has with her. She goes to bed with it. She drops it in the water bowl when she drinks. She will come greet you and then two seconds later she has the ball and wanting to go play or at least let you know she has it. My dad noted that it’s like a little kid and a favorite doll. So we called it her baby since she won’t have pups of her own. We can even say ‘go get your baby and she brings us her toy,” reports another commenter.
What can we say? Dogs are weird – but almost always in the cutest way possible.
Does your pet have a favorite toy that they treat extra gently?
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