Most toys that cross Foxie’s path rarely last. Rope toys are torn to shreds. Squeaky ones fall silent in her paws. Stuffies lose their eyes and ears once Foxie’s 12-pound frame gets hold of them.
But when Andy Batdorf and his partner gave their senior Yorkie-Maltese mix a soft, miniature lamb wearing a birthday hat, Foxie was different. She played with the squeaky toy gently and even wanted to carry it outside on a walk. Mr. Batdorf recalled wondering whether Foxie’s tenderness toward Lamb Chop was because they looked similar — both white and fluffy.
“Her maternal instincts kicked in,” Mr. Batdorf, 35, said. “She treats it like her own little pup.”
One of the hottest dog toys in America is a squeaky stuffed animal toy named Lamb Chop. On the surface it doesn’t look unique, but it has taken a mysteriously strong hold on the country’s dogs and their owners: Millions are sold annually, and it is consistently one of the top-selling toys on Chewy, Petco and Amazon, where listings get thousands of rave reviews.
Dog owners throw Lamb Chop-themed parties and photo shoots. They dress their dogs as Lamb Chop for Halloween and buy them Lamb Chop beds to sleep in alongside dozens of their Lambys, as they are affectionately called. One dog owner even has a commissioned painting of his dog walking through a forest with Lamb Chop. The dogs, from rat terriers to Rottweilers, seem to be equally enthralled.
“There definitely does seem to be some kind of bond that I can’t really explain,” Mr. Batdorf said, adding that Foxie’s Lamby remained intact, remarkably, more than a year later.
The roots of its popularity date back decades.
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