A dog without a... toilet paper holder?

We have a tan and white Pekingese, large for that type of dog but still small as dogs go, and a Boston terrier. One day the Pekingese found something out in the yard and started chewing on it. I went closer to see what it was and found it was an old wooden toilet paper holder, painted black with most of the paint gone. It was the part that goes inside the roll of toilet paper, with a spring inside so it could be pushed in to fit into the holes and then pop back out to lock in place.

I thought it might not be a good thing to chew on, so I decided to try to take it away from him. He knew I wanted to get it, though, and kept looking at me while he softly crewed on it. Every time I started to get close he got up and ran to another part of the yard. Finally he was back by the cedar tree, laying down under the edge of it. I slowly got closer to him, talking softly while he eyed the hand I had way out in the air, slowly moving it closer to him. His mouth opened slightly, ready to bark or bite, his eyes looking to the side and upward at my hand. Suddenly I grabbed the toilet paper holder with my other hand, and flung it toward the side of a large bougainvillea bush.

He gave a startled yap and walked over there to try to find it. He nosed around the tall grass there for quite a while, looking disappointed but hopeful, and perhaps a little embarrassed at having fallen for the trick. He didn't find it, though. A while later I looked for it too, but didn't find it either. Over the years since then I've kept an eye out for it as I've cleared the grass away and raked the area, but I've never seen it. Maybe it got raked up with some grass and leaves, and was hidden by them. Or maybe it's still out there somewhere, in a place I haven't looked.

Several days ago I was telling the story again to my mother, and she suddenly looked very interested and said she was thinking about that toilet paper holder a few days ago and wondered what had happened to it.