80's Pound Puppies

[Gator]

I collect the old 80's Tonka pound puppies.  In a pony corral thread, they talk about wondering what a ponies history was and how they ended up where they were today.  I recently acquired a pup with her name tag.  In the 80's, your pound puppy came with a paper you could fill out and mail away to get a tag for their collar.  As a child, I ordered one for my pup Mary, but it never came.  As an adult collector, its hard to find pups with their collars, let alone with a tag!  Out of all my pups, this recent one is only the second one I've ever found with a tag. 
It says "My name is Sugar and I belong to Amanda."
So poor Sugar.  How did she get separated from Amanda?  Does Amanda think about her?  Was she cleaning out her closet as an adult and booted Sugar out?  Or did Amanda move away after college, and after years of being forgotten at the parents house, the parents dumped Sugar at Goodwill?  If only they could talk.
Well, I still have my Mary.  She was the first toy I ever bought with my own money.  I remember walking the toy aisle all those years ago, birthday money in hand. 
My brother had Max, and he sadly abandoned him.  But he and Mary have been with me for well over 30 years.  One day I'll tell y'all about Mary's magic powers.

[flutterscotch]

This is making me sad.  I didn't have a pound puppy, but I had several pound purries (a "momma" cat and her three kittens).  Those toys were so great because even if you had, say, two grey kittens (which I did) you could tell them apart like you could real cats you were familiar with due to how they were all sewn and stuffed every so slightly differently.

I want to write a kids book about them and how they formed a secret society to help toys find their owners again.

[Gator]

I collect the later Purries that have the more cartoony eyes and faces, but lately I find myself wishing I hadn't passed on the early ones.

[flutterscotch]

There's no time like the present to start!

This is the one I had when I was a kid, roughly.
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She was pretty great.  Just like the perfect huggable size.   I named her Grissi because of this book.

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Because 80s.

[Shaz]

Aw, that is so sad yet cute about poor little Sugar!

I have some of the '90s kitties and puppies that I had as a child. Some of them came from a charity shop, and a previous owner had written names on their tags. Of course I continued to call them by those names.

[Gator]

I don't have any current photos of my collection on my phone, but 3-4 years ago petsmart was selling giant retro pound pups at their stores as dog beds or toys, I'm not sure.  It broke my heart that these were being sold for dogs to destroy.  I bought two, a gray and a brown one.  Here is my Heather lounging around with one.
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[NightGliderSA]

Poor Sugar! At least she is in a good home now. I still have my pound puppy; not sure about the tag thing, I don't remember that. But his name is Oliver and he lives on my bed. A couple of years ago I found him a friend at our local Charity Store who we have called Tramp. So now they hang out together.

[invaderhorizongreen]

I have a Tonka pound puppy still in her box, collar and all if anyone wants them.  The name on the tag says spectra.

[Skeen]

Aaah flutterscotch I have that same purry! 


Gator, here's a story for your "what happened" archives.  The one and only time I have been camping, there was a swimming hole we frequented.  Several times over the weekend we had stepped on something *squishy* on the lake bed and were at once terrified and curious.  Theories were flung around, the most prominent being that it was a dead fish or something.  Finally I decided enough was enough, and if I stepped on it again I was going to bring it up.  Imagine our surprise (and relief!!) that it was a small Pound Puppy!  He was white with brown spots and a red ribbon collar.  He had a small hole in his belly.  I felt awful for the poor thing, abandoned in a lake for who knows how long, stepped on and ground into the mud.  Of course I dried him out and brought him home.  Mom was able to put him through the wash and stitch him closed.  I still have him and his name is Clayton, after the lake he was rescued from. 

[brightberry]

I never got a pound puppy (really wanted one though).   However, I do have a container of the tiny ones? 

[Gator]

Aw, Skeen!  Glad you rescued him!

[Aadra310]

Good story, Skeen!  That's fun!

I LOVED pound puppies/purries.  Still have all my originals which is about 5-6 adults (including Cooler with his jacket) and 5-6 babies!  My story is I had a brown striped kitten that I took everywhere.  I mean, I talked to that kitten, petted it, loved it so much.  Then, when I was in second grade, it disappeared.  I cried and cried.  I even told my little brother that if he'd hidden it somewhere that I promised I wouldn't get mad at him if he would just give it back!

Months went by and I still pined for that cat.  My mom (unbeknownst to me) had been searching thrift stores, little independent toy shops, and the like because, of course, they weren't carried in the big toy shops, anymore.  One day, she brought me home another little brown kitty just like the other one!  But, there were subtle differences.  Her head sort of tilted the opposite way and her face was slimmer and higher.  I just didn't love that new kitty like the old one.

More months passed and I was helping my mom wrap a gift for some occasion.  She kept wrapping paper under her bed so I went to get it and BOOM!  Little brown kitten was way under the bed!  Oh, I sobbed like I'd never sobbed before.  It was bittersweet, though, because her eyelid paint on both eyes had come off!  So I was crying because I was happy to have found her and crying because her eyes were wrong!  My Mom (what a trooper!) found some grey paint and made new, albeit wobbly, lines and fixed my kitty. 

It was YEARS later when my brother finally admitted to me that he had taken kitty and hidden her but he had forgotten where!  He felt so badly about it that he never hid any of my toys ever again.


Not my picture but this was the one I loved so much...
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I now have about 8 of this particular cat because I have to buy it if I ever find one.

[brightberry]

Nice story, Skeen!   Yours too, Audra!  So cute.

If we get to tell stories, I found my first mini pup flat as a pancake in a parking lot.  He’d been run over many, many times.  I peeled him from the pavement and fluffed him up again.  He was always a little flat, but he no longer looked like he’d been run over.  I carried him in my pocket as a good luck charm for a long time.  He’s still in my closet with a bunch of other plushies.  He just never got unpacked after the last move. 

[Gator]

This week I rescued another pup.  His name is Duke.  It says on his collar that he belonged to a Bev Erich.  He also has a pound puppy dog house that they put his name on, and a bowl and bone.  Poor Duke.  His child grew up and he got sent to Goodwill.  But he's with me now.

[mlp4me]

I had a few back in the day. I think I have a bag full in the basement somewhere. I didn't  know about the paper tag; don't think I've ever saw one with it. See them at thrifts all the time. Will have to check if they have names/owner details. Loving everyone's stories!