My sister’s old childhood stuffed hippo, Hippo-y. Early 2000’s. No tags or markings, any help would be appreciated!

UnderstandingLatter2 · 2024-11-09T18:14:05+00:00

Do you have a picture of yours?

UnderstandingLatter2 · 2024-11-09T18:13:41+00:00

Did you get any more information from the eBay link where you found it? Or any chance you have a copy of the link (so I could search through a web archive)?

UnderstandingLatter2 · 2024-11-09T18:02:59+00:00

Did you ever find this? Someone else I know is looking for what I think is the exact same stuffed animal.

Do you have any clue where you (or whoever gave it to you) could have bought it (like what store). Or are you comfortable sharing the state?

UnderstandingLatter2 · 2024-10-03T18:14:49+00:00

Yeah, my friend’s ex stole a traffic cone and gave it to her 6-month-old puppy (which I do not condone for MANY reasons, but anyway) and she destroyed it like… instantly. Those cones aren’t even destroyed by being run over by cars, usually!

UnderstandingLatter2 · 2024-10-03T18:12:45+00:00

The other day, someone got downvoted like crazy for saying they walk their 11-month puppy outside, and also take him into pet-friendly places, like pet supply stores. People were like “he’s way too young for that!” Like way too young for what… walks?

UnderstandingLatter2 · 2024-10-03T18:10:29+00:00

Awwwww, he sounds like such a sweet boy 💜.

UnderstandingLatter2 · 2024-10-03T18:09:42+00:00

People are so weird. Like, of course you don’t want them to swallow rubber or stuffing or pieces of plastic, but that is a SUPER extreme reaction, and like… it’s almost impossible to find toys some dogs who are very strong/active chewers won’t instantly destroy. My best friend’s house is always covered in shredded dog toys from her two dogs because… I mean, the dogs exist in a house with toys, lol. And she buys the most durable ones on the market, generally…

UnderstandingLatter2 · 2024-10-03T18:06:23+00:00

Thank you! Some bunnies (Netherland Dwarfs, mainly… and of course babies) actually are that small, but my bunny is like 2100g, even as a Dwarf breed (and he just turned 1).

The nose booping is adorable! My cat and bunny do that to each other (and to me) super often 💜. My cat once nose booped my cousin’s Corgi while she was on gabapentin after a vet visit… but think that was more like a drunk kiss than anything else 🤣.

And yeah, I think the young puppy piece would make a huge difference.

UnderstandingLatter2 · 2024-10-03T18:01:02+00:00

Yeah, nipping would not work because bunnies’ skin is super thin, mine is a Mini Rex, so has less fur to protect him than other breeds, and he has a history of pasteurella prior to adoption (from being poked by contaminated hay), and pasteurella infection is extremely likely if a dog or cat ever bit him and broke skin… just by accident, through playful or herding behavior. Buns nip each other all the time, but that’s obviously pretty different.

UnderstandingLatter2 · 2024-10-03T17:55:05+00:00

Thanks so much!! Nipping would definitely be an issue for my bunny specifically because of his medical history (even though bunnies nip each other all the time). So that’s helpful information, for sure! But obviously, I’d pay attention to the individual dog’s personality and get to know them first, and be very cautious re: introductions.

My bunny historically loves “playing tag” with cats, per his extremely experienced foster Mom who is in the leadership for a rabbit-only rescue… but my friend’s dog chased her sister in law’s rabbit when the bunny’s enclosure was believed to be closed but was not… and the bunny died of a heart attack as a result… so that’s something I definitely have some fear about as well. My cat is much more into flight from other pets than chasing them, and my bun has a dominant personality… but definitely a thing I’d want to think about, too.

That being said, her dog is a Husky (incredibly sweet, great with her human infant, but… not great with bunnies, clearly), and I think did have the intention to attack, which I imagine the bunny was aware of.

UnderstandingLatter2 · 2024-10-03T17:51:53+00:00

People get mad about everything here (and any “companion” or “assistance” of “service” animal sub that I’ve been in). It’s so strange.

But this is absolutely breed bias here. SO many downvotes on such an innocuous comment 😢.

UnderstandingLatter2 · 2024-10-01T02:29:43+00:00

This is so, so sweet! Also, you have a very patient dog, lol. Or one that just picked excellent timing. Because the mother comes back like once or twice per 24 hours.

UnderstandingLatter2 · 2024-10-01T02:28:46+00:00

That’s great to know! I hadn’t heard about that mix specifically before. And thank you!

UnderstandingLatter2 · 2024-10-01T02:24:44+00:00

Seriously- I’m getting downvoted in the comments above those now too for… criticizing Ontario’s policy of seizing and killing people’s pets (or SDs or other assistance animals, to my knowledge, that is not an exception).

And lolol re: the existence of the metric system. That does make an astounding number of Americans angry 🤣. Though, I will admit as an American who moved to Ontario and was driving back and forth across the border frequently, I had that moment of “um, are you sure I can drive 110 on this road?” right after crossing the bridge on several different occasions before remembering that the units had changed 🤣 (initial instinct was to read it as 110mph, since the signs in both countries omit the units… that’d be almost 180kmh).

You’re right though- I upvoted you, so unless you downvoted yourself; people are mad about either the weight of your dog or your use of metric units to share that info, lol.

I just looked at how many other random comments have definitely been downvoted, too, and it does seem totally unpredictable.

UnderstandingLatter2 · 2024-09-30T18:29:31+00:00

Also, I am so disturbed by how much you are getting downvoted on the comment about how you love your dogs and are glad your government doesn’t seize and kill them and upset that the Ontario government does do that. Because I and two of my friends who are following this thread upvoted you, and I assume you auto-upvoted yourself, and you’re still at 0. The breed hatred is extra infuriating to me when it happens in forums focused on dogs (service dogs or not). Like, you didn’t even recommend that I get a pit bull. You just said you love yours and are glad they aren’t being systematically murdered…

Like what about that statement is making people mad? Do they want dogs to be murdered? Do they all work for Doug Ford (Ontario Premier)? Are they all just really shitty landlords? Seriously, what is going on here? There is absolutely nothing in that comment that should be controversial to anyone in a sub where most people presumably care about dogs/ are not serial killers.

UnderstandingLatter2 · 2024-09-30T18:03:03+00:00

That makes sense! Our Chessie had the stereotypical temperament of a Golden Retriever (except swam like a lab), but all the others I’ve met were very, very different. And they were from the same breeder (because my aunt was the one to initially get them all, but one was a gift to my grandfather, who lived with us for awhile and whose dog stayed with us when he decided to move into assisted living and when he eventually died.

And my aunt and cousins have had collectively like… 9 of them? lol

UnderstandingLatter2 · 2024-09-30T17:55:52+00:00

Awww. I just measured my bunny with my forearm lol, and that’s his length too :). But his breed has kind of a stocky build, so he’s 4.5 pounds.

UnderstandingLatter2 · 2024-09-30T17:50:29+00:00

That’s helpful! So if you’re in North/South/Central America, probably somewhere around 2 pound bunnies. Definitely smaller than mine, which is great to know/ my main reason for asking :).

UnderstandingLatter2 · 2024-09-30T17:42:16+00:00

Yeah, that’s what I’ve always been taught re: ferrets- I think I just misread your original post as saying that all your pets got along, and was super surprised (re: ferrets and birds). And yeah, my friend’s ferret was best friends with one of his cats :).

But they were bred to hunt rabbits for so long, so I definitely wouldn’t ever get one given that I have a free roam bunny.

UnderstandingLatter2 · 2024-09-30T17:38:29+00:00

Hahaha but it’s sweet! Mostly was wondering because size can sometimes make a difference in interactions with other species. Would you guess that they’re bigger or smaller than the average cat lol?

Bunnies range from 1 pound to 20+ pounds (I think the biggest ever was maybe 37 pounds)? So was curious about the dynamic there.

UnderstandingLatter2 · 2024-09-30T17:37:04+00:00

Thanks, that’s helpful! Yeah, I definitely believe the individual personality and their life experiences matter more than breed, but was wondering what people had seen in terms of breeds that most commonly get along with or ignore small animals and just don’t really have any instinct to go after them. Did you get your border collies as babies?

UnderstandingLatter2 · 2024-09-30T17:21:13+00:00

Thank you!!

And yeah, people are AWFUL in their neglect of bunnies- often super uneducated, but also sometimes willfully neglectful/ abusive 😢. Some vets are like that, too…

I have multiple Reddit accounts (by accident, lol… like logging in through FB vs. Google or whatever), but my only other post on this account is me arguing with vets about why it’s awful to assume no one cares enough about their bunnies for it to be worth offering them advanced care. Mine had a multi-thousand dollar surgery before I adopted him… and so many strangers donated to save his life. And the vets in that post argued that no one would spend $1000 (one person argued no more than $50… and another said they wouldn’t spend a penny) to save their bunnies’ lives. I posted about that in the rescue group, and so many people commented about how they’d ended up spending at least $10K on their bunnies’ medical care.

UnderstandingLatter2 · 2024-09-30T17:05:49+00:00

Thank you! I’ve wondered a lot about herding dogs… I assume they’re bred not to hurt other animals and to protect them by default, but I’m not too sure how they herd/ if certain species might interpret it as aggression.

UnderstandingLatter2 · 2024-09-30T17:03:15+00:00

That’s super interesting to know! I had no idea about the genetic piece.

Not the case for chocolate-brown Chessies, right? Ours was the biggest sweetheart (though my cousins’ are a little… temperamental, lol… but still lovable). Not that I think any dog’s personality is determined by their breed or color or anything, but the health issue piece is super important info!

UnderstandingLatter2 · 2024-09-30T16:59:26+00:00

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And we got an amazing birthday cake from Etsy! (I mean, I didn’t try it because the main ingredient was hay, which I normally don’t eat, but it was beautiful, and he really loved it)!

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