I have two Chihuahua's and one of them loves his stuffies and has a routine playing with them. In the morning, after I wake up he'll go to where I have three or four of his soft toys laying on the floor by his storage bone box and pick one. He brings it to the bed and I have to toss it in the air several times, and he attempts (with success) to catch it in his mouth, while on the bed. After we do that, I have to take the toy and throw it as far as I can into another room. Later in the day, he'll pick another toy that is laying out and I have to toss it from the couch where I'm sitting in the living room, down the hallway, and into the second bedroom. He chases it, and brings it back. Rinse repeat about three times. All his toys are in a Pet Zone Dog Storage Bin. There must be at least 50 toys in there. They are small. Once a week I'll take the toys that are laying out near the storage bin and put them inside and switch to another set of stuffies. I don't know if he knows they aren't new toys, but he seems to like the rotation.
I cant keep up with toys for my dog, they dont last very long....doesnt matter if they are cheap or expensive, he manages to destroy them all!
I've never had a dog and, although we have a whole box of cat toys, they are used mostly as props by Cutie, one of my older cats, who uses them to buy box time, more food, or treats, which is a long story that I've told elsewhere in the forum. We only have one cat that actually plays with toys, but she prefers toys that she has chosen, such as plastic bottle caps or stuff that she's stolen off my desk. About once a week, I wash the actual cat toys since Cutie carries them in her mouth.
Chipper does not play with toys now that he is getting to be an older dog (he will be 13 in January); but when he was younger, he loved having toys. His all time favorite was his Talking Elmo doll. He would pat Elmo on the tummy until he would "talk" (Elmo loves you !) and then he would bark back at Elmo and bounce around happily. When he was a puppy, his first toy was a little stuffed squirrel that was almost as big as Chipper was, and he had those little squeaky bubbles inside that would squeak when squeezed. Chipper was just like a little kid, he had to have his squirrel when he went to bed, and since they were about the same size and color, we had to look close to see which was which. Although he still has his toys, and will play with them when I bring one out, he does not enjoy them like he did when he was younger. He does recognize the toys that he has, even when he has not seen them for a while, and he will get all excited when he sees it; so at least some dogs DO know whether it is a new toy or one that they have played with before. Here is Chipper posing in his carseat with his Elmo doll.
What a cute picture of Chipper. I love taking photos of the dogs, because it's interesting to see how much they change over the years. I have a picture of Chico from the first week I got him. He was a rescue from a puppy mill, weighed only 1.2 pounds, and every ounce was full of sweetness and joy. Here is a picture of him with one of his stuffy toys from the first week. His muzzle was a deep black, and now it's almost white -- he's 10 now.
I love that toy bin Toby. Yes I rotate but not every week, maybe once a month. My dog has a LOT of toys. I have a good sized basket for them. About 6 months ago I started buying kids stuffed toys at the Goodwill store. They are freshly cleaned and in perfect condition. I only get the ones with safe "eyes" and not stuffed with those granular things. Mostly they last longer than toys made just for dogs. They cost 99 cents each!!
That's a good idea, Ruby and yes can't have the eyes that can be chewed off. What I find is that usually all the stores where toys are cheaper than Petsmart, the toys are always so big. I have a hard time finding smaller toys.
Chrissy, yes it's a bit more difficult to find little ones, but my Shih Tzh like the larger ones too.
Speaking of dog toys, this is the best toy I ever got for my little one, in the appropriate size of course http://www.petsmart.com/dog/toys/st..._id=36-10504&_t=pfm=category&pfmvalue=faceted LOL, I couldn't save an image. Anyway it's a soft treat ball. She loves trying to dig them out. Keeps her busy for quite some time.
Same here, my dogs like the soft squishy toys that have a squeaker inside. Sometimes the squeaker will stop squeaking, so I'll take my small scissors and create an opening in a seam, remove the old squeaker and put in a new one, sew it up, and it's just like new again. Even when I had oversized dogs (like my 200 pound Alaskan Malamute or the Collie Shepherd Wolf Mix), they didn't like anything made of rubber. I had one dog that loved to chase balls -- my Border Collie. But he liked to chase anything that moved -- they're born to run! Chrissy, you mentioned you can't find small dog toys. If you go online and research "small stuffie plush dog toys for Chihuahuas" you'll find a lot of results.
Thanks Toby, it never occurred to me to look online.....funny considering I spend so much of my time on it.
Chrissy, you're welcome. One place I bought a lot of toys for the Chihuahua's was at G W Little.com http://www.gwlittle.com/product/lil_pals_plush_squeak_toy/tiny_dog_toys Li'l Pals Plush Squeak Toy When I got the lion dog squeak toy, I removed all the furry hairy stuff, because it scared the dogs! But, the dogs love Li'l Pals. You might be able to get them cheaper on Amazon.com
I took a look, Toby. Maybe I'll make Pickles a Christmas wish list and give it to my daughter. The most I'll spend on a dog toy is $5.99 as he tends to destroy them quickly.