My husband bought this stuffed hippo many, many, many years ago in Philadelphia at this time of year for our Pug Dog at the time. That Pug was my childhood pet and went with me as a young bride. While my husband and I (and our Chihuahuas of the day) sat on the sofa, the Pug also had his own special seat on the back of this hippo. He'd sit on the sofa, too, but this was his throne alone to sit & watch the world.

Many years passed between when that beloved Pug went to the Rainbow Bridge and when Chile came to live with us. Although no longer used, I had kept the hippo in our family room as funky decoration. With Chile's arrival, she suddenly found a new use for the stuffed animal. Unable to jump directly onto the sofa, Chile immediately started to use the stuffed hippo as a ramp. She's no dummy.

Older but smaller, Bailey and Bella were used to jumping directly onto the sofa. It still amazes me how such tiny dogs can jump so high. However, Chile never learned how to jump on to furniture as a puppy. Her breeder had custom made ramps for her dogs. It took a while, but then, Bella also started to use Chile's easy way up. Now, Bella & Chile constantly race up & down the hippo's nose while playing with each other. Bella will still jump down most of the times. But to this day, Chile (the largest of the 3 at almost 4 pounds) needs the hippo (or else for someone to lift her) to get both on and off furniture. Tiny Bailey continues to usually jump up. Bailey always jumps down. However, Bailey now past 10 years old has recently stated to sometimes use the hippo to get up in dim lighting.

After all these years, it gives me warm fuzzies to see our Pug boy's hippo back in use by a new generation of furbabies. They may be using it differently than he did, but the hippo is now part of their everyday life. Seeing them use "his" hippo reminds me of my first Pug.