Beats the heck out of a ball or a squeaky toy

December 30, 2021 8:49 AM

For Christmas, the residents of Saveafox get a camera-equipped RC car to chase. And chase it they do.

The Saveafox rescue organization made the front page of MeFi last year when Dixiedo stole her caretaker's phone. In the first scene Dixiedo (pronounced like Scooby-doo) is seen here inspecting the front of the toy, while on-again off-again boyfriend Finnegan sniffs around the back.

Also featuring many of the Saveafox residents: the awkward, goofy Muttias, cute couple Jagger and Sophie, pals Luka and Valentine, ingenues Serafina and Floofala, and visiting former resident Malachi.

posted by zaixfeep (10 comments total)

Someone in my local park has one of these that has a MPH display on the remote. Clocked Shakedown, my Husky / GSD roommate, at 27mph when she was 3.
posted by dobbs at 9:52 AM on December 30, 2021

I have an old RC car that I got for Christmas like 15 or so years ago. I recently got it going again because our bulldogs LOVE chasing it. It’s decently fast but they’re pretty good at catching it when I have to turn it. I need to figure out how to 3D print a new shell because they’re crunching it good.
posted by azpenguin at 9:56 AM on December 30, 2021 [1 favorite]

We have a lot of urban foxes living around us. If my dog leaves a squeaky ball in the garden, we are sometimes woken at 3am by a fox cub playing madly with it. One night, a vixen sat on the shed roof, watching her baby proudly as it went bonkers.
posted by MinPin at 10:35 AM on December 30, 2021 [11 favorites]

I've been thinking of getting a RC car for Mr. Bordercollie to chase. Any recommendations as to what to buy?
posted by maxwelton at 10:48 AM on December 30, 2021 [2 favorites]

Currently I'm listening to Bill Monroe, and for some reason (!) the chase with musical accompaniment becomes a little more animated and funny. Of course, I don't get out much ever, so it's diverting when the wind blows...
posted by datawrangler at 11:07 AM on December 30, 2021

dobbs, your dog is absolutely SPLENDID. I love her whiskery face. Please tell her from me that she is a very good dog.

I also liked the foxes with the remote control truck, don't get me wrong. But I'm a big Shakedown fan now, and there's no going back.
posted by Well I never at 11:14 AM on December 30, 2021 [1 favorite]

I would like to think that for a sort of justice of symmetry the RC car is dressed in a bright red jacket, white breeches, and knee-high patent leather boots. Or maybe as a greyhound.
posted by Nelson at 12:02 PM on December 30, 2021

Man, I've wanted one of those things to play with for ages but they're really most fun when you have a big open space to run them and your dogs after them. Tie a bit of rabbit fur to the end and you have one hell of a lure for a coursing game. It's the only thing I've seen that prevents the dog (or dogs) from figuring out how to "trick" the car and ambush it at a tight-turning point. There's lure coursing at our new city, where the dogs are chasing a plastic bag run on a pulley system on individual runs, and I'm excited for the chance to give that a try with my guys in the spring.

I was fascinated by how long the foxes were willing to chase; they're one of the least cursorial canids, after all, which is why this sort of thing is a little less popular with cats than with dogs. I'm also pleased that they left in the bit where they were accustoming the foxes to the car and the possibility that it might move ahead of time--lots of animals of all species spook at that!
posted by sciatrix at 12:35 PM on December 30, 2021 [1 favorite]

So cute! Nice to see such pure joy.
posted by rpfields at 1:08 PM on December 30, 2021

This was really fun to watch. Nyooooooooooooom!
posted by theatro at 1:34 PM on December 30, 2021