Dog Toys

Choosing a toy that lasts

• Be honest about how your dog plays. Gentle carriers can have the plush; power chewers need solid rubber or a toy sold specifically for heavy chewing.
• Size up rather than down. A ball or chew small enough to sit at the back of the throat is the one real hazard, and the gap closes as a puppy grows.
• Squeakers, ribbons, plastic eyes and stuffing are for supervised play. Leave a hard chew or a stuffed rubber toy for unsupervised time instead.
• Check toys over weekly and retire them once the rubber splits or the stuffing is out. Rotating a handful in and out of a cupboard also keeps the old ones interesting.

Puzzle toys and slow feeders

If your dog finishes dinner in thirty seconds or gets restless mid-afternoon, a puzzle feeder or a stuffed, frozen rubber toy will do more for them than another squeaky plush. Moving part of the daily food into one costs nothing extra and buys a surprising amount of quiet.

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