Read Before Your Dog Plays With Or You Buy That Toy

By Jay Jacovitz

Your dog's size, activity level and play style are factors to consider when choosing a dog toy. Toys should be appropriate for your dog's size, and there is never a guarantee that your dog will be enthusiastic about your pick.

It is not uncommon for a dog owner to witness the canine family member treat an item as a toy that can have dangerous consequences. Things that are often the most attractive to dogs are very often things that are the most dangerous at worst or inappropriate.

Similarly necessary as for a small child, you should dog-proof your home and anticipate trouble before it happens. Check for children's toys that the dog might claim, things that can cause choking such as pantyhose, string, rubber bands, ribbon, and anything else that could be ingested. Balls that are too small and other small toys can be easily swallowed or become lodged in your dog's mouth or throat.

Soft stuffed toys are a good choice for the appropriate size or temperament, but are not appropriate for all dogs. For small and medium size dogs that are happy to just carry the soft toy as a comfort possession requires less consideration than selecting for dogs that want to "kill" the toy, where in addition to durable the toy should be the size of the "prey" the dog would instinctively hunt.

Often a selection will reveal favorites and they will likely fill different needs for the dog. One toy will likely be favored to carry, one to "kill", one to roll and one to just appear to bring familiar comfort.

Soft Toys Are Not Indestructible

Any toy your dog currently uses should be dog safe or at least dog-proofed -- remove ribbons, strings, eyes or other small parts that could be separated by tugging, pulling and chewing and then ingested.

Any toy that contains a "squeaker" buried in its center may be cute in the beginning; however it could represent a serious emergency if the dog has the inclination to tear and chew, and ends up ingesting the small part that squeaks. Any toy that starts to break into pieces should be discarded.

Does Your Dog Toy Have A Filling And Is The Filling Safe?

Problem fillings to look out for include but may not be limited to things like nutshells, polystyrene, beads and basically everything else that is not truly digestible.

Soft toys should be machine washable

For reasons that are obvious concerning hygiene, a soft toy should be able to be machine washed for sanitizing as often as needed.

Active And Interactive

More of your dog's toys should be interactive. Interactive play is very important for your dog because exercise is needed along with socialization that helps it learn appropriate and inappropriate behavior with people and other animals.

Your toys can encourage exercise with activities the dog finds stimulating and enjoys -- games of catch, fetch, and for balanced dogs tugging games along with long walks, jogging, swimming and biking.

Great Toys That Should Be Considered

Very hard rubber toys, like Kong, are super-bouncy and irresistible. Kong's exclusive super-bouncy red natural rubber compound is irresistible for most dogs, and five chewer-friendly sizes are available to satisfy dogs with typical chewing temperaments, along with the rest of the Kong toy offerings.

Other wonderful products to have are: A Ruff Dawg K9 Flyer disc, similar to a Frisbee, only more rugged, flexible and non-toxic for on-land or in water. Try a simple game with a rope tug toy, great fun as long as your dog understands play boundaries. If your dog has shown signs of aggression towards you, tug-of-war is not a game we recommend.

Also recommended are a Hyper Disc which is floatable, durable and soft on your dog's mouth, or a Hyper Ball Launcher that allows you to launch a ball up to 220 feet.

The above described toys and other quality dog exercise toys are available at CalloftheDogShop.com We have existed as a company since 1985, but it was a love of dogs, the dogs that have been a part of our life, and the passing of one dog in particular, Rusty, that inspired the creation of CalloftheDog.com and CalloftheDogShop.com -- created to provide the things your dogs and pets need. Visit us for great information and quality dog supplies! Be sure to see our About Us page as well. The two sites are dedicated to the dogs we have loved so deeply, and who have given us so much love in return. Purebreds and mixed breeds, but mostly rescues in need of a home. We educated them, but each one has had something to teach us in exchange.