Toys!

[Handsfullofholes]

Any recommendations for cheap/durable toys? We appear to be going through a toy destroying phase…..

What breed of dog do you have? Our Golden Retriever is generally good with the rope filled bears and other cuddly toys but she destroys any tug of war toy in minutes. Which is annoying because they are the best for tiring her out!

I have a working Cocker and he destroys toys too.

The longest-lasting ones (that actually hold his interest) have by far been squeaky tennis balls and rope-filled plush toys, like the Kong Tugger Knots ones. The latest one is looking half dead but is still going after 2+ months. Anything else, he destroys within 15 mins.

I've found toys cheaper looking on websites like ZooPlus. Pets at Home and Amazon tend to be £15 a toy, which was costing way too much!

He’s a working cocker! Normally fairly good with toys but has suddenly started a phase of chewing holes in toys and then pulling out the stuffing. It’s also coming up to his birthday so I’d like to buy him a few new toys for that too haha.

He gets on well with rope toys usually (well one has gone from being a fun reindeer to now just a piece of rope he’s carrying round!) and the stuffed bone shaped toys, and usually cuddlies as long as they don’t have faux fur on them!

Empty plastic bottles with the labels/plastic collar thing removed - our lab goes mad for them and we use two of the same type for reinforcing give/drop commands as he will swap like for like really quickly! Supervised play only and they are taken away at the end otherwise he will gnaw on them.

We quickly learnt that he's best with hollow rubber toys as they give him less purchase to destroy! We've got some really good ones from TK Maxx and if you can afford to, getting two of the same is great, again for swap/drop/give reinforcement!

I'd love him to have a cuddly toy to snuggle into but going on his form, it'll be destroyed within the half hour.

He goes nuts for these (recommend by dog trainer) but again, they are strictly for supervised play! tug-e-nuff.co.uk/blogs/news/top-toy-picks-3-of-the-best-toys-for-retrievers

And this www.thepetgundog.co.uk/Home/RetrievingRoll has been great for reinforcing recall and bonding.

I think our mistake is leaving the toys out, we probably need to do supervised play only with the tug of war ones. But the kids forget and then I find it in tatters in the garden...

If he likes rope toys, Kong do a range of ‘knots’ which are soft toys with knotted rope instead of stuffing inside.

You can also get flat soft toys with no stuffing inside.

Squeaky tennis balls are always a bit hit with mine and boomer balls are great for the garden, as they can chase them around, but not get their teeth into them.

If he enjoys destroying toys then there's a lot to be said for rolling with that and buying toys so cheap you don't care if they are destroyed.

For us this meant going through a phase of buying children's soft toys from the charity shop for 50p each. Just make sure you get ones with stuffing (not beans) and avoid (or cut out) any hard eyes and noses.

I've got some toys off Amazon.
They have no filling in them, cost I think £17 for 5.
They last a year with my Belgian malinois but anything else last as long as it takes me to cut the label off.
I was really surprised how durable they are. Only just had the first casualty. The skunk lost and ear.

Camel scalp
split antlers
sheep horns
nyla bones
no stuffed toys as they last 3 seconds 😂

www.pond-planet.co.uk/pet-c6/dog-c130/dog-toys-c36/nerf-dog-two-tone-tpr-spike-ring-p3025 These Nerf rings are good, my destructo dog has only managed to gnaw off a couple of bits of the outer plastic. I got one in Lidl, went back and got two more!

The dog is chewing a plastic bottle though, anything he can steal from the recycling bin is a winner for him.

I don't waste my money on toys anymore as he destroyed them in thirty seconds and more than once he, vomited up bits of stuffing, so I always worried about a blockage. Please be very careful - only give toys if you're there to supervise.

Mine gets natural treats now (again, always under supervision in case he chokes) - camel skins, moon bones, trachea, buffalo skins, hairy beef skins, pigs ears etc all go down well here. He also loves pizzles but the price is insane lately!

Nylabones
Toys without stuffing
Real bones stuffed with mild Cheddar
Anything as long as you are supervising!

The worst was a supermarket toy (can't remember which) that lasted less than 10 seconds. Many of the cheap toys do well to last 5 minutes. Most durable has been a Kong Wubba (several months and still intact). Favourite has been a mole from Pets At Home - although we've had to replace the squeaker a few times, the toy itself has lasted a year and continues to be the favourite.