Chew Toy Recommendations

[stormi]

Much as she gives the impression of being a little angel, (and she is most of the time), Lily (cocker spaniel) can be very destructive. She's costing me a small fortune in new chew toys, so I'm wondering if anyone has recommendations? To date her longest lasting chews include kongs (extra large, black), nylabones and doggy rubber tyres, but even these do not last as long as I'd prefer. Things like tennis balls, rope, and normal rubber toys do not last more than 1 day, and I prefer not to give her them anymore as she breaks off sections large enough to cause problems if swallowed...so most things sold in our local pet shop are not appropriate for her. Harder plastics are too brittle for her as she breaks them up leaving sharp edges :dogsad: . Marrow bones last longer, but I worry about her breaking her teeth on them? I also give her things like the inner cardboard rolls from kitchen paper and strips of old clothing I've tied together that don't cost me anything (but also only last a few seconds/minutes), and dried tripe sticks. Her current 'bedding' is towelling as this seems to last the longest before it is torn to shreds and no longer usable :dogwacko: . Whilst I understand she will probably always be a chewer I can't afford to keep buying her stuff that she wrecks within minutes...has anyone found a toy that is really good? I do lots of extra things with her outside my college time, but whenever she's awake and not 'working' she likes to be chewing!

 

[tx_cowgirl]

Mudflap(Border Collie) and Rusty(Rottie/Pit/?) are awful chewers...I feel your pain. I've finally kind of found toys that work for them.

Nylabones come with a little slip of paper inside that say to mail them your proof of purchase and receipt(or the bone, can't remember) if you dog destroys it---they will send you a refund or a new bone..again, can't remember. Haven't bought one in a while. Mudflap really likes the big rings that you can buy at Petsmart. It's three connecting rubber rings. They don't feel all that tough, but they lasted her forever. (The smooth ones, not the ones with the little teeth--they didn't last at all.) She's also developed a fondness for squeakers. The "Bad Cuz"/"Good Cuz" toys and other things of that variety are very durable. The squeal is incredibly annoying, but Mud has yet to even get a tiny chunk out of her Bad Cuz toy. These are hanging with the rings I mentioned earlier. I'll see if I can get some pics at the end of this...
I avoided squeakers for the longest time because I figured Mud would just destroy them anyway and I didn't want to hear the squeak. But, her first squeaker toy lasted her much longer than the others...I think she likes the noise, and she won't bite as hard on them. At first she was scared of the noise though, lol! The tires don't last long at all. Hmm...what else have I tried.... Retrieving dummies are good(the ones for hunting dogs). Petsmart carries some, but the higher quality, more durable ones are at hunting/camping supply stores and are anywhere from $3-10.

I've tried toooons of toys for Mud and Rusty. If I think of any more I'll add... Hope this helps!

The larger variety might last longer.

Made by the same company as the rings. Most of their products are great.

Mine is half white/half black and very durable. Very hard.

Hunting supply stores:
Cabela's
Academy Sports & Outdoors
Gander Mountain

Also, try to stock up on a ridiculous amount of toys. Only put one or two out at a time, and put them away when she's snoozing or not playing with them. This way they aren't laying around all day waiting to be eaten. Lol. I also teach my dogs to only play with designated toys. Zeke(BC/ACD) is a snuggler, and likes stuffed animals and tennis balls. Nick(teacup chihuahua) has teeny tiny toys...so obviously if everyone shared that'd be a problem. Mud and Rusty sometimes play with each other's toys, but usually I just try to stick to everyone having their own. They do very well with this. Zeke's stuffed animals are all in tact and no one bothers them, Nick's toys are untouched by anyone but him, and Rusty and Mud can gnaw on their tough toys to their heart's content.

 

[stormi]

Thank you so much tx_cowgirl :dogsmile: Gosh...two chewers...eeeeek!

Yes, bad cuz are great! Breeze had one (the largest size with the less annoying (but slightly rude sounding) squeak)...she decided she didn't like the horns on it, so removed them :msngiggle: (no real problem) and it stood up to her testing her jaws on the feet, however, Lily chewed the feet off quite quickly :doghuh: She managed to get a chunk out and from there she could really get her teeth into it :dogph34r: . Breeze has a new one now, which only she and Merlin are allowed :dogsmile: They love it!

I've always bypassed the rings you mention, but will get some next time I go to Pets at Home (UK version of Petsmart). I'll also look out for the dummies you suggested. I have seen someone at agility with them, so am sure I will be source one from somewhere. Thank you for your recommendations :dogsmile: .

Aww...Zeke sounds like my Storm. She loves to hoard soft toys (or any of my possessions) :doglaugh: She keeps them immaculate and they last forever (unless she leaves them e.g. to go out/for a drink and Lily gets her teeth into them before I get there first :dogrolleyes: ). I do tend to leave a couple of 'chewing toys' down most of the time...Lily especially will seek out something else to do if there isn't something for her to work-out her jaws on.

 

[tx_cowgirl]

The rings don't feel all that strong, but they really stood up to my chewers. Could just simply be Mud's preference, but who knows. Worth a shot I suppose. I did recommend it to a guy at Petsmart with a freakishly huge Malamute who I know weighed much more than I do, and I saw him again a couple months later--said they were great and he hadn't eaten them as of yet. Lol. But Kongs didn't last. ^^

Lol, Zeke is my first big dog who isn't destructive with toys. Tennis balls with Mudflap will last less than an hour if she is allowed to play with them continuously...Zeke's tennis balls last literally forever--the only reason I chunk them is they get really nasty and the fuzzy stuff starts to wear. Lol!

I completely missed that you live in England. >< Oops! Sorry. You should still be able to find similar products though. Teaching a soft-mouthed retrieve might relieve a bit of Lily's rough chewing. Of course, a chewer is a chewer and I generally don't try to discourage toy chewing as long as they are chewing appropriate things. But for tricks like this month's challenge, a soft-mouthed retrieve is kind of crucial. I added a vid of a coin drop trick in this month's challenge thread. EmilySnider, the YouTube member whose vid is the challenge example, started out teaching her dog to pick up and drop ice on command. From there she progressed to coins, then a variety of other retrieves(eggs, etc, like the Easter Egg Hunt trick). It may not help at all, so I'm not guaranteeing anything, but if she sees that she doesn't have to be so destructive to have fun, she may let up a little. When I was working on picking up the plastic eggs with a gentle mouth, Mud decided to sneak a toy into the game...so I tried it with it too. It was a soft squeaky ball, and just to be creative I started trying the same tactic. She quickly learned to retrieve it with a soft mouth as well. When's she's playing she's perfectly content to be as rough as possible, but perhaps working on soft-mouthed retrieving with Lily could help her a bit? Oh yeah, and how old is she?

 

[stormi]

Hi tx_cowgirl. Oh...the rings definitely sound the way to go with my next toy purchase! I'll let you know how we get on! The UK Pets at Home is pretty much the same as PetSmart (it used to be called PetSmart...several rumours went round as to why the name changed). I know we get the rings and cuz over here (exactly the same as in the photos)...and I have seen people with dummies similar to those in the pic :dogbiggrin:

Lily is the most destructive dog we've ever had...drop something and if she gets her teeth into it before you get there/give the 'leave it' command it's got teeth marks in! If it's a pen or clothes peg she's snapped it right through :dogrolleyes: That's why I tend to leave a couple of chew toys down.

She can have a soft mouth when it is for things I've trained it for. It's something I've worked hard on since she was about 6-weeks old and she's usually very good. She always seems to feel the need to exert as much force as she can with her jaws unless it's something I've tried to train against and I still have to keep going over soft-mouth exercises with her to remind her :dogph34r: . Doing that work with her doesn't seem to have affected her chewing or destructiveness though. She's 19-months now, so that's why I'm thinking she will always be a chewer :dogclosedeyes: .

 

[onwards1981]

I understand your pain too.. we have an American Bulldog who loves to chewchewchewchew... we have kongs, nylabone, rubber balls etc.. but our problem is that Feeby LOVES (I Mean LOVESLOVESLOVES) plush toys.. she cuddles with them, sleeps with them but then she seems to "forget" and then will chew off an ear or something... I end up doing a lot of patching... has anyone got any recommendations for tough plush toys? I know thats a bit of an oxymoron.. tough plush.

 

[tx_cowgirl]

Lol, haven't found any tough plush toys. Think they're all pretty much easily destructible, lol!

Yeah I think some dogs just feel the urge to gnaw into things more than others. I don't think anything could make Zeke really want to destroy something. He's a big old softie inside and out! Lol. With Rusty and Mud I've found that just keeping an insane amount of tough toys, but only a couple out at a time, helps them last longer. When they get to snoozing or playing with each other rather than the toys, that toy goes away for a while. I'll bring out another after a little while and they'll play with those...this way they aren't tagteaming to destroy one toy in a matter of minutes. Toy rotations keep things in good shape.

 

[stormi]

I got Lily one of the rings toys yesterday, so will let you know how we get on!

Tough plushes...hmmm...I know there are some being sold here atm that claim to be 'battle-tested' and very strong (nylon material outers perhaps?). There are also the leather-outers, but I've never tried either of these products as I think Lily would wreck them fairly quickly! She loves to pull all the stuffing out of soft toys. All I can suggest is using old socks to stuff the inners from the toys into, or buying lots of soft toys from charity shops or car boot sales. Good Luck!

 

[snooks]

The larger orbee balls like the socker ball and larger solid balls 5+ inches so far have not been destroyed by the uber chewer here. Hurley bones are also so far unscathed and are guaranteed if destroyed to be replaced with another or I think second choice a nyalbone? there are also hurley balls and other toys made of the same stuff. so far this is my favorite and the dogs fav just to chew on and it's soft so no broken teeth.

The orbee planet balls tend to have all the continents come off and become ocean balls so i stuck with the solid color ones. orbee cosmo balls

Kong balls are pretty darn near indestructable.

vibram balls are so far unscathed too

i very much sympathize with the small/large fortune in exploded items. the devil balls with horns and feet somehow puppy was able to chew off the feet and HORNS which I don't even see how she got hold of....Oy! :dogtongue2: the rings are very good so far too.

 

[onwards1981]

Great idea on the stuffed socks Stormi! Thanks

I think I'll buy new socks though so they don't smell like the ones I still am wearing... Feeby has been really good about no chewing on shoes/socks... fingers crossed I haven't "lost" a shoe or sock to her yet...

We got the orbee world ball... watch out.. the continents come off... I found blue rubber in her poop for a week.... but once the world is all an ocean, the ball is great!

 

[achieve1dream]

I like the stuff you recommended Snooks. Wasn't looking for a new toy, but just might have to get one anyway. Also has anyone tried the Jolly Ball (for horses) for their tough chewers? http://www.amazon.com/Jolly-Pet-Horse-Ball-Blue/dp/B0006G57YM How well did it hold up if you did?

 

[snooks]

Urm yes. 5 minutes and puppy had the handle/loop? off. :dogsad: It was okay for a while after but she kept attacking the holes so it bid adieu.

 

[achieve1dream]

Oh well it was worth a shot. Thanks for the info.

 

[tx_cowgirl]

The horse version of the Jolly Balls are muuuuch tougher than the dog ones, but I've never tried them myself for my dogs. Horses typically like to carry and toss things, but not chew and destroy...lol. So my horses looooooove them, but haven't tested one with the chewing duo just yet.

 

[stormi]

Well...I gave Lily the rings a couple of nights ago, but she quite quickly got a chunk out of one of them, and by sleep time she'd removed it and it was in several pieces *sigh*

 

[dat123]

dog toy warning

This isn't a chew toy, but a warning about a toy that turned disasterous.

One night while making dinner ,my boy Talin was annoying me. To distract him for 15 min I grabbed his plastic ball, threw a small amount of kibble into the hole closed the iris part so the kibble dosen't come out and rolled it down the hallway for him to play.

Little did I know, that several hours later and a couple of hundred dollars, plus a lot of trauma for dog and myself , this was a mistake.
He had come into the kitchen 5 mins later, under a lot of stress. The iris hole had failed, opened up and was caught on his mouth. Basically his canines went through the hole and got hooked inside. I couldn't get it off myself, and in the end he was rushed to emergency dog hospital, put under anesthetic, and ball removed with power tools.

This toy wasen't very old and only used a few times before this incident.

I highly recommend people DO NOT purchase this toy for their dog.

This is a photo of the toy..

 

[tx_cowgirl]

Dern. >< Sorry Stormi. Mud just seemed to like them. Maybe she's just picky, lol!

Dave is that the giggle ball? I don't remember the giggle ball being a treat dispenser but that sure looks a whole lot like it. It's sad that you have to be cautious just about buying safe toys now....ugh.

 

[good_doggie]

Try edible toys. That way, your dog gets full plus the benefit of having fun with it. try Dingo. It lasts very long. Hope this helps. . . .

 

[tx_cowgirl]

I like Booda bones. Wheat/gluten free. Even they only last a matter of minutes, but the dogs looooove them and they do keep their teeth pretty clean.

 

[snooks]

I loved the boodas too until my boy golden untied the knot one night, ate a huge hunk, and several hundred $$ later we had the rope back out. The vet told me they did a lot of surgeries to remove booda rope blockages. sorry to be a bummer but until we can figure out how to talk to our dogs about this a kong is the only thing i'll leave them unattended with.