Does your dog distroy its toys?

[Lilavati]

I'll stand with Dekka on this . . . Sarama is a natural toy destroyer. Or more correctly, a natural toy surgeon, because she will stop at nothing to get that squeaker out. Once I determined that she does not swallow stuff from the toys, I simply decided that she would only have stuffies on occasion, when I had spare cash. She LOVES dismantling the toys, and if she can't do that, she's not interested. (Except, oddly, in a very small number of toys that were given to her by our trainer. She has desqueaked them, but she plays with them anyway and won't let Docket near them. She even plays with the rubber one and she hates rubber toys. I don't offer an explaination for this, except that she seems recognize that those were awards from a very tough teacher for very hard work)

If I don't want stuffing all over the place, or are feeling poor, I give her something like a bone to amuse herself with, or throw a ball for her. But she generally has no interest in playing (by herself) with something she can't dismantle. When I've tried to teach her not to do that, she didn't . . . but she didn't play with the toy either.

[Jules]

Originally Posted by elegy

yes. mushroom will be gentle with his stuffies, sometimes for weeks, but then one day he decides they have to die. or luce gets ahold of them. she killerates everything she can get her mouth on. steve will destroy things sometimes, sometimes not. he likes to surgically remove squeakers, though.

i used to not let them have the toys if they were going to destroy them, but then what was the point of having them? i just don't buy expensive stuffies. i'll buy cheap ones at the thrift shop for a quarter or we'll get them as prizes (rally trials, class graduations) but i'm sure not spending my hard earned cash on stuffies.

x2. T-Bone will just run around squeaking some toys, but they mostly get shredded within a couple of days (of course, first the eyes, nose, and then ears have to be removed so stuffing can get pulled through the wholes). I don't buy expensive ones and just let her have some fun.

[Dekka]

Originally Posted by Lilavati

I'll stand with Dekka on this . . . Sarama is a natural toy destroyer. Or more correctly, a natural toy surgeon, because she will stop at nothing to get that squeaker out.

The correct term is a 'squeakerectomy'. Dekka has great surgical skill when it comes to performing that particular procedure. Once the squeaker is out there is little interest in the toy. She is also adept at defuzzing tennis balls.

Here is an example of Dekka's surgical skills


this toy is supposed to be for really touch chewers, it has special reinforced fabric underlayers, special seams and no stuffing. This was < 3 min with a very preggo Dekka...

[BullMastiffMama]

Capone saws down bully sticks in no time, can't have stuffed toys because he guts them once innards are visible, habitually pops tennis balls, etc. He is a gnawer at heart.

I will say this: ONE toy that lasted two years was a Tuffies ring with tiger-like stripes on it. Seven layers of canvas or something like that.

[Xandra]

I figure dogs like destroying things. When we get something we like we keep it nice, dogs see it and want to maul it.

My dog gets sticks, bones, tennis balls, pop bottles and cheap thrift store stuffed animals. He enjoys himself and when he wrecks them I chuck them.

Now, more recently my mother moved in with her dog and she has a bunch of toys for hers and mine has killed a couple but for the most part I prevent him.

[iibao]

Yes, that's why I don't have any at my house.
When we take them to our cousin's, they destroy all of them.

[cwebbatya]

Not too bad.. We usually stick to buying balls that way a dog really has to destroy it to wreck a tennis ball. Guess it depends on how big your dog is too..

[iibao]

Originally Posted by cwebbatya

Not too bad.. We usually stick to buying balls that way a dog really has to destroy it to wreck a tennis ball. Guess it depends on how big your dog is too..

Not always, my klee kai will destroy as much toys as my husky.

[Dekka]

Originally Posted by cwebbatya

Not too bad.. We usually stick to buying balls that way a dog really has to destroy it to wreck a tennis ball. Guess it depends on how big your dog is too..

I don't think size is a factor. I have had a few fosters who could chew through a black kong in min (JRTs),

Dekka can kill a tennis ball in less than an hour. First she takes all the fuzz off, then she chews it into little pieces, and she is only 11 inches tall and 12 pounds.

[Lilavati]

Originally Posted by Dekka

The correct term is a 'squeakerectomy'. Dekka has great surgical skill when it comes to performing that particular procedure. Once the squeaker is out there is little interest in the toy. She is also adept at defuzzing tennis balls.

Here is an example of Dekka's surgical skills


this toy is supposed to be for really touch chewers, it has special reinforced fabric underlayers, special seams and no stuffing. This was < 3 min with a very preggo Dekka...

Sarama hunts down the seams and gets the squeaker that way. I've seen her get through reinforced canvas toys designed for tiger cubs that way. The only one she didn't destroy was one of those tiger striped rings, but I think the reason was that her jaws aren't powerful enough, or large enough, to squeak it, so she figured it didn't squeak and had little interest.

As for chewies of kind of another . . . she was given a braided bully stick during a training session (all the dogs were, it was to train them not to be possessive). The trainer turned around a few minutes later, and looked at Sarama happily grinning at her . . . "What happened to her chew?" "She ate it" says I. "Whole?" "Nope, chewed it up into shreds and swallowed it." "Good god"