When a dog mauls your $10,000 blue Ooshie

That particular Ooshie is a collectable, and according to more than a few online posts, worth more than $10,000.

This Ooshie has flecks of silver embedded in its rubbery skin, which the internet says gives it even greater value.

The dog had no business playing with my Ooshies.

Never heard of an Ooshie? Neither had I until a few weeks ago.

Having only half watched a television news item about Ooshies, my interest was never more than flagging at best.

Ooshies are a tribute to the Lion King, another animated film reboot of what was a terrific children's story, puzzlingly released a second time by Disney.

What was wrong with the first, I wonder? It's only about 15 years old.

Supermarket giants obviously thought they get in on the act as well.

Blow the environmental niceties of plastic waste and all.

Cashing in, that is.

Some marketing whiz teamed up with a cheap Chinese toymaker to come up with a Lion King tribute.

Little rubber toys, featuring the Lion King characters now become little rubber blobs supposedly to fix to the top of your pencil.

I see the packaging recommends use for five years and older, and a warning about choking potential.

Ooshies are the perfect size for a youngster to swallow, I would have thought.

I can just see mum and dad pointing to the packaging and pulling out the birth certificate saying no, you're too young.

Spend $30 at Woolies and they hand them over.

Spend $2000 there and they give you $10 to spend in-store - part of their Rewards program.

There are 24 of them, and they've gone viral - in a little, rubber toy way.

Kids just love them, Woolies wouldn't mind their popularity either.

Kids collect them, swap them at school, the supermarket has even held its own swap day.

So, my kids are beyond Ooshie age, but my wife is a school teacher so we started grabbing the things as well.

Then I saw this news item about the blue ones being ultra rare, and I happened to see one in our kitchen.

"The dog was playing with it," my wife said.

Ye gods.

A quick search of the internet suggested $10,000 plus, a slower search when the heart stopped racing said maybe $5.

Anyway, the dog didn't read the warning about a choking hazard, nor take any notice of the news item.

Oldies like me remember the little toys in the cereal boxes when we were kids, delightful choking hazards then.

There also needs to a be an added warning on the yellow packet - keep clear of dogs.

Katherine Times