I'm a bad puppy mama! Re: toys

[gritsar]

Quote:
Next time I talk to the breeder, I'm going to ask them what they give their adult GSDs for play toys. Surely there's something out there.

 

[ninny]

My two are bad too. When they are inside and i can watch them. They get milk cartons to shred and water bottles and milk jugs. They go crazy over them. I'm watching them so when they don't make noise anymore, they bring them over to be throw anyway. Outside we chopped up an old garden hose. We toss that for them. Works wonderfully. We had a type of jolly ball for dogs that had a rope that ran through it. You could replace the rope. Got it at farm and fleet. It work well. They lost it though.

 

[Karrie13]

Quote:
That is what I have for my Rottweiler to play with and she has been able to take a couple chunks out of it but has worked the best for me. She has that or she plays with big sticks. Of course she has torn up every other dog toy on the place so the little dog only gets to play when he isn't around her and his toys can come out. The huge rope bones work for a little while too.... of course you end up picking up strings everywhere. I am nut sure if the dog Jolly Balls are as tough as the horse ones are or not, I just know the horse one works!

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
That is what I have for my Rottweiler to play with and she has been able to take a couple chunks out of it but has worked the best for me. She has that or she plays with big sticks. Of course she has torn up every other dog toy on the place so the little dog only gets to play when he isn't around her and his toys can come out. The huge rope bones work for a little while too.... of course you end up picking up strings everywhere. I am nut sure if the dog Jolly Balls are as tough as the horse ones are or not, I just know the horse one works!

I won't have a string toy in the house after my beloved chihuahua Chia got ahold of one meant for our big dog and swallowed some of the string. $3000 later, my vet was unable to save Chia and he died a horrible death. Apparently the string he swallowed cut through his intestinal wall.

I'm looking at the boomer balls and the jollys. Something the moose can't get in his mouth to those back teeth that do all the destruction.

 

[gritsar]

Does anyone have experience with the firehose toys?

I'd appreciate feedback.

 

[Rusty Hills Farm]

I've had Dobies and GSDs for years and years and have never found a "toy" that lasts more than 5 minutes. My dogs get some huge bones but only when in their crates. Otherwise all "play" around here is actually work-based: sit-stay 2 to hold a rope that #3 jumps. Down-stay so the others can jump them (think leapfrog here). Hide and seek that is actually based on scenting and trailing. Broad jumps. Tunnels. A-frames that they can scale. These are big breeds, after all, so I don't think it is fair to them to make them "play" indoors, which in my house is where they are not allowed to be boisterous. But they do need to get all that energy out, so we have an outdoor obstacle course they can run. Which they do without me telling them to...they play chase over it and seem to have their own rules that they all seem to understand. I get to sit back and watch and laugh cause I can even tell who is winning!

Indoors I do ask them to fetch and carry and they do seem to like that. They will find my glasses for me, search out the remote (and NOT chew it), carry logs in for the fireplaces, and bags of ashes back out. They love these kinds of chores and the only thing I have to be careful of is that each does get a chore. They pout if I inadvertently leave one out.

Some breeds just don't have the mind for this sort of thing, but Dobies and GSDs sure do. They thrive on the interaction and the attention. But give them "toys" and all they do is destroy them. I think work is a much more positive way to interact. It does seem to me to give them a sense of accomplishment.


HTH

Rusty

 

[MelissaR]

I have one of the black GoughNuts on order for my pitbull. A friend's pitbull has had one for about 6 months without getting to the red center. http://shop.goughnuts.com/main.sc

I've had mixed luck with fire hose toys. They've lasted longer than a normal stuffed toy but no more than a few weeks.

 

[Countrywife]

How bout a garbage can? Seriously, I looked out the back window the other day and my 9 mo GP was hauling an empty trash can around the field. I may try the horse toys.

 

[ninny]

Quote:
I do this too!

 

[CityGirlintheCountry]

I have a firehose toy that has lasted for a couple of years. Granted, once my chewer figured out she couldn't tear it apart she kind of last interest. She did play with it until the squeaker broke, but now it only resurfaces every once in a while. The good news is that despite her best efforts, she was only able to mangle one little corner of it. That is really good as usually she can destroy a toy in about 3 minutes.

Another interactive, if rowdy, game was that I would flick bits of kibble across the kitchen floor. Lily the boxer mutt would "attack" the kibble and eat it. That game still will keep her entertained. She dashes wildly about trying to catch them all and "kill" them. The other dog sits and watches her and will periodically roll her eyes at me and go back to gobbling the food up right out of the bowl. Lily prefers to hunt it down.

Lily also has a hard plastic cube that I can fill with kibble or treats. Again, dog #2 ignores it, but Lily will roll it all over the place trying to make the yummy stuff come out. It's too big to get her mouth around and its hard (not chewy). The interactive part will keep her busy on and off for hours. It helps that I sweeten the deal with random treats.

Good luck. I was pretty pleased when mine outgrew the worst of puppyhood. Now they are a little calmer. Before I would sit with a dozen balls and throw them down the hall over and over and over again until the pup dropped from exhaustion. Wait.... we still play that one.