Did you know not all dog toys are created equal? If you have a new puppy, or have recently adopted a dog or are looking for ways to grow a closer relationship with your companion, picking the right toys will help.
In the video below, I cover toys I DO NOT recommend and why, and share about the toys that I think are the BEST so that training is faster, easier and more effective (and of course FUN for both you and your dog!)
Looking for dog toys for our dog is something many of us enjoy. But there are some toys that are appropriate and some you might choose to bypass. An example is balls. It can be really difficult to be interactive with your dog if your dog has learned to play without you… and downright frustrating if he has learned to play ‘keep-away’. Retrieving is a great skill to teach your dog. You can learn about playing ‘fetch’ in my vlog “How to Teach a Puppy to Retrieve“.
Other toys that might not lend themselves to interaction with us are the toys that make silly noises or toys that can be easily pulled apart or damaged. Avoid toys that potentially have something your puppy or dog could remove and swallow.
Toys with some length are often ideal. With a toy like a long braided tug, you can snake it on the ground and get your puppy or dog excited about it and use it for a fun game of tug with you. There are many toys that are great for interaction with you that your dog will love.
Toys that inspire interaction between us and our dog are better for building a relationship of mutual fun!
If your dog might not be interested in playing with toys, I’ve got tips for you to help in “How to Create a Motivating Toy“.
While balls not might be my first choice for a puppy toy, they sure do make for a great photo opportunity.
What is your dog’s favourite toy? Let me know in the comments! It’s no secret that I love looking for toys and have quite a large collection for my dogs.
Today I am grateful for the mutual fun my dogs and I have playing together.
Awesome! i already used these tug toys. These all are really the best tug toys in my opinion. You are really doing an great work. keep it up. Thanks for providing us a right information and thanks much for sharing this awesome article.
My favourite tug toy, well actually Gracie’s favourite tug toy! Is the Redline K9 Robit toy by Dog Sport Gear in Langley BC. $20.00
It’s a mixture of sheepskin, leather and it’s in strips – so has lots of movement
A huge value !!!!
My dogs LOVE old plastic water bottles tied up tightly in a sock. The sheep’s wool tug toys they all adore we keep for special tugging games at training time.
Where do you get the last toy that you showed with a bottle and rocks please?
My mini Aussie’s has 3 favorite toys:
1) Is a Jolly Pets Romp-n-Roll ball. It has a rope through it so we can tug, but she loves to just run with it and then shake it.
2) Is a Bouncy Burrow Fox from Multipet. It has a ball in the head and a squeaker at the tail. She loves to tug with it and shake it.
3) Is a frisbee which she loves to run to catch and will bring it back to me to tug with.
My dogs favorite toy is from 4MyMerle and it is the round cow tug toy.
I am a little confused. Do you not leave toys out for your puppy to play with on their own? My puppy would destroy the bunggy toys if I left them out. She adores balls but not to play alone she follows me around wanting a game. II keep the plush toys for when we are training and I can control the game other wise my house would look like a war zone. MELE turns anything into a toy. She even turns her food bowl upside down and chases it around the room by pushing it with her nose. BORDER TERRIERS are not dull!
My Aussie puppy loves to chase empty bottles all over – when he starts to chew them I replace it with something else
My sweet monsters love to tear up toys. The best advice is to just have a tug toy that is the interactive toy and not leave it for them to dismantle. Additionally, a toy that’s left out all the time loses its appeal, so having a special toy is a great idea!
My year old puppy *loves* the sheepskin bungee tugs from Tug-E-Nuff, and we recently purchased some Bungee Bunny Loops from 4 My Merles. I’ve started to make sure that when I find a toy she loves, I get 2 identical ones so that we can practice toy switching rather than her playing ‘keep-away’! 🙂
I love their products! My dog was not interested in playing tug, though I tried with many types of toys. Then I bought a sheepskin chaser, and a rabbit chaser with a squeaker from tug-e-nuff. He is now obsessed! We play on the floor or on and off the bed (great for exhausting a dog in 10 min. or less). It is put away at the end of each play period. My first one lasted 8 months with a Bull Terrier hanging off the end of it, so it is exceptionally well made!
My 113 lb lab gsp mix goes through a lot of toys that are supposed to be indestructible. He lives the Bullymake toys that you can fill with food and treats. He can spend 30 minutes working the food or treats out.
I can’t recommend that you use this, but my crazy Sheltie’s favorite toy is a (clean) pooper scooper spade. She plants her front feet on it and loves me to drag her around. In second place is a snow shovel… You can’t believe how heavy a 30 pound dog can make herself! She plays tug-o-war with the grass next to the spade – luckily the zoysia grass can handle it. Definitely weird, but she has a blast!
Thank you to all of you.
I make tug toys out of discarded t.shirts and other stretch fabric cut into strips , plaited and knotted. The addition of a squeaky somewhere too , is a added bonus. They can be long, made into circles or balls. great way to use up old t.shirts etc
That is a fabulous idea. Brilliant. Thank you for sharing that.
I take a big tube sock and put a mushy water bottle in it and a squeeker- tie off both ends- and usually tie it to a fly/chase pole and drag it around on the ground in front of the pup to encourage chase and retrieve behaviors as when they pick it up we can tug or trade for a treat and then the pup gets it again…Works for confidence, chase, retrieve, tug, trade and interaction with me….
Soft Frisbee! You can play tug or throw it. I actually used one to train retrieval when I noticed my puppy was very keen to bring it back, so I could make it fly again.
The best toys I have ever found for pet dog and puppy training are the 20″ bouncy burrow series by Multipet. It combines the practical design of a tug toy with the attractiveness of a plush toy and drives dogs wild!!