Toys For a Dog

Baby-sitter toys. These are the toys that appear to be entertaining your dog or keeping her busy, but may be harmful in some way for her, either mentally or physically. They are baby-sitters because they remove your responsibility of supervising and interacting with your dog. While it is okay to have a mindless game for your dog at leisure times, remember that it doesn't replace their need for your interaction, your direction, and your one-on-one quality time with them.

Balls that make sounds like children or animals may cause problems with your dog, especially if he is in a formative learning stage or has a high prey drive. If a dog learns to chase and mouth toys that make sounds, it may accidentally teach him how to chase down similar sounds.

Avoid "edible" chew toys. Though they are approved as safe for your dog, they can tend to promote chewing as a form of destruction and ingestion. The concept of chewing for relaxation and release is lost in this case. These toys can also change your housebreaking schedule and your dog's stool if too much of this product is consumed.

Natural chew toys like pig ears, cow hooves, rawhide, and natural bones can all stimulate the wrong instincts in your dogs. Dogs can easily become possessive of these items since they stimulate a survival instinct that tells a dog to protect the "kill" or food source.

Some retrieving toys can be excellent for retrieval, yet physically unhealthy for chewing.

Watch for things that can easily be destroyed and ingested. Most toys that are easily or quickly destroyed are made of material that is indigestible to your dog.