For some dogs - such as terriers - the most joyous moments of their lives are when they manage to catch something small and furry - preferably a rodent - and kill it.
The sheer ecstasy with which they carry their prize is evident in their shining eyes, posture, and the carriage of their ears and
tail.
Sadly, the better they get at catching vermin, the fewer there are around for them to catch.
So BorgCo are developing a super-ruggedized range of animatronic rodent models.
With a titanium skeleton protected by kevlar (to avoid the risk of the doggie damaging its sharp little white teeth on metal) and an audio system programmed to emit a very loud, distinctive squealing when the model is picked up by the neck and shaken vigorously, a covering of real rodent fur, and specially formulated rodent odourant, the toy can be planted in a likely location, and when the dog approaches it makes a desperate attempt to escape, leading to a very satisfying chase and pounce.
Once the toy is "dead", the dog can be bribed to give it up, and it* can then be rinsed, dried, and reset ready for the next bout.
Thus can the hunting instincts of the dog be satisfied, keeping them in trim for when a real target shows up.
Available in rat, squirrel, rabbit, chipmunk and capybara**.
*Certainly the toy, possibly the dog too, depending on how excited it gets and the viciousness of the struggle.
**Special order for Yorkshire Terriers, who have no concept of the fact that they are smaller than most cats and will viciously attack just about anything, because of their inherited eyesight problem***.
***The well known "wrong-way binoculars" effect meaning that to a Yorkie, the bigger it is, the smaller it looks to them, leading to enthusiastic but ultimately futile attacks on anything up to and including musk ox, tigers, grizzly bears, and elephants.