Why does a dog need toys?
At first glance, the answer is obvious: pets need toys for fun and entertainment. But in fact, these items are much more important in a dog’s life, regardless of its age.
Toys help maintain the mental and physical health of the animal. Thanks to them, dogs splash out excess energy, maintain shape and level of activity. This is an important element of training, which allows you to teach your dog useful skills, such as hunting, guarding, concentration and relaxation. And during the game, close contact is established, trust and affection arises between the pet and the owner.
Nastya Bobkova
Specialist in dog behavior correction, founder of the educational project BO.big, author of the trilogy on dog education “Pet, Love, Praise.”
Training toys can be used to develop absolutely any skills. But there are a couple of nuances. When training a dog, it is important to rely on its motivation. The type of reward that will be most effective depends on the pet’s predominant motivation. For example, most dogs love food very much, so treats are the most popular type of reward, and food motivation is most often used in training.
Although there are dogs whose play motivation is more developed than food motivation, or just as well. Toys will be useful for raising such animals. But you need to understand that it is important to reward a dog that has successfully completed a task not with a toy, but with a game. A common mistake that owners make is that they reward dogs with toys as if they were food. That is, they put a ball in your teeth, as you would with a piece of meat. But this is not very effective, because dogs value not things as such, but the opportunity to play with them, realizing their hunting instinct. Therefore, it is most valuable when the toy “runs away” from the dog at the moment of reward. Simply put, the same ball should be thrown away from the dog, and not placed directly in its mouth.
In addition, chewing on a favorite toy helps your dog calm down, relieves stress and anxiety, and also has a positive effect on the health of his teeth and jaw muscles.
And toys will distract your pet from boredom when he is left at home alone. Moreover, some of them can be used to correct the dog’s behavior so that discourage it comes from the habit of chewing things, furniture and other objects.
Nastya Bobkova
For effective correction, we must teach the dog that playing with toys in certain circumstances is more interesting than creating all sorts of disgrace.
Toys do not act as a teacher when it comes to the dog chewing furniture. We simply replace toys that can be damaged with those that cannot. Let’s say my puppy is a big fan of pieces of wood. One day he took photo frames off the wall and chewed them up. Having discovered this, I bought him special chewing sticks with the same texture. The dog was satisfied with this, and he did not touch the frame anymore.
But there are forms of vandalism that the distribution of toys cannot influence. For example, if your dog eats the door in your absence, a brand new ball will not save you from this. Most likely, this is separation anxiety, which needs to be treated with more serious methods.
How to choose toys for dogs
Decide on the type of toy
Each type of product meets the specific needs of the pet.
Active toys
Helps maintain your pet’s physical fitness and develop basic instincts. Balls – rubber, plastic, fabric, squeaky – are suitable for any breed. With their help, you can practice the commands “catch” and “fetch”, train jumping and coordination. Another option is frisbee. With it, the dog learns to track and catch an object on the fly, assessing its trajectory.
What to buy
Ropes, ropes and knots for tug of war
They develop grip, strengthen chewing muscles, and help maintain healthy teeth and gums. Tug of war games strengthen muscles and train the dog’s endurance. True, the owner needs to be careful in the process.
Nastya Bobkova
Constrictions must be anatomically correct. That is, do not lift the dog’s neck, pull the toy parallel to the ground, use as much force as your dog can withstand. Do not tug too hard to prevent your pet from flying away after the toy. Teach to give away an item by exchanging it for a treat or another toy, and not by hovering over the dog with a menacing “Give it back!” Then the process will be associated with something pleasant.
What to buy
Stuffed Toys
They help the dog calm down and relax. Animals love to carry them in their mouths and also chew them before going to bed or in a stressful situation. Another function of plush products is imitation of prey. Dogs can seem to gut the toy by swinging it from side to side. Often there are squeaking or rustling elements inside that the pet tries to use.
What to buy
Chew toys
These things help remove plaque and massage your dog’s gums. All kinds of bones, rings and other nylon and rubber objects also strengthen the jaw muscles. Active chewing keeps your dog occupied when he is bored or lonely. And using such toys is a good way to wean a puppy from damaging things, showing him what he can chew and what he cannot. In addition, chewing a rubber bone will help your baby relieve pain from teething.
Inside such toys there may be squeaking or other sound elements that arouse additional interest in the animal.
What to buy
Interactive toys and puzzles
These options can keep your dog busy for a long time. They not only entertain the animal, but also develop its intelligence, forcing it to solve problems. Usually such toys have different levels of difficulty. For example, the simplest ones are balls and tubes into which treats or food are poured. The dog will roll them for a long time, trying to extract food from special holes.
More advanced options are puzzle stations, where in order to obtain loot you need to perform many sequential actions – for example, press a button, move a fragment to a certain compartment, and so on.
What to buy
Find the right size
Choose toys that are appropriate in size and weight for your pet. An object that is too small can get stuck in the dog’s throat, so the product should be larger than the mouth and not fit entirely into it. At the same time, you should not go to extremes: of course, a small Spitz simply will not be able to carry a huge and heavy rubber ring intended for an adult shepherd dog, and a large dog will quickly chew on a miniature ball suitable for a toy terrier.
Pay attention to the quality of the toy
Inspect the item and make sure that there are no sharp or protruding parts on it, such as small laces, sewn beads, as well as glued feathers and other decor that the dog can easily tear off and swallow.
Squeeze the product several times – it should retain its shape and integrity. Stretch the soft toy intensively to the sides, tug on the ears, paws and tail to check how securely they are held. Also study the composition of the filler: inside the item there should be no plastic balls, shells, batteries or other materials that can damage the animal’s digestive system. Soft polyester fiber is considered a relatively safe option, but if your dog has a habit of tearing toys into small pieces, then it is better to choose products without filler.
Sniff the toy – it should not emit any strong chemical odors.
What else should you consider when choosing a dog toy?
1. Rubber or nylon toys are suitable for puppies, which will help cope with the desire to chew on everything. By the way, such products can be pre-frozen – the additional cold will relieve pain in the gums during teething. At first, give preference to soft rubber items, and as your dog gets older, buy harder toys that can withstand the force of the bite.
2. Provide your pet with several toys of different types (stuffed animals, balls, chewing bones, ropes) and see what she likes best.
Nastya Bobkova
All dogs, like children, are different. And we cannot know in advance what toys they will like, and indeed whether they will show interest in these things. Therefore, there are no special rules on the quantity and quality of toys. If the dog is just in plans, before its appearance you can buy 3-4 options of different types and textures, and then look at the reaction.
3. When the dog’s preferences become clear to you, try to buy something similar. Thus, some pets are frightened by products that squeak too loudly or are completely indifferent to rubber toys.
4. Even the most favorite toys can quickly get boring for a dog, but you can resort to a little trick. Leave the dog 4-5 pieces, hide the rest and change the set every week. However, if your pet has a favorite plush friend with whom he sleeps or spends a lot of time, do not try to separate them, otherwise the dog may become offended or even show aggression.
Nastya Bobkova
One of my dogs loves only one toy all his life – a fur bison named Zuzu. She doesn’t need any balls, plastic bones or pullers for nothing. And for my other dog, it is advisable to offer a new rubber pig with a squeaker every month. For this month she alone will be the favorite, and then interest in her will disappear.
5. Consider the age and health of the dog. For elderly pets or pets with musculoskeletal problems, toys for active play are not suitable, so choose plush or chewable options for them. Also, with age, the dog’s jaw becomes weaker and problems with teeth may occur, so give preference to lighter toys, as well as products made from soft rubber.
For happy pets and their owners 🐕