Favorite dog toys/treats?

[TatteredDaydreamer]

Morning everyone! It's been a while since I've had a dog living with me, so I'd love suggestions as to which dog treats/toys/etc are your and your dogs favorites! Thanks everyone.....I get to pick up my Emmet from Danny and Ron in three days not counting today!!!!!

[CatOnLap]

timely. I was just at Canadian Tire store last night and picked up my monthly allotment of tennis balls ( 3 for $0.99). Although, apparently this morning, my new tomato starts in their little pots are a favourite dog toy. I found one of them murdered in the dog kennel. I did manage to save and repot it, and it is in intensive care nursery right now.

As for the tennis balls? some day they will plow my farm under for townhouses and find about a thousand chewed up tennis balls.

[Ridinwyoming]

For treats my dogs love cheese and chicken jerky. For toys it's the nyla bones and stuffed animal toys that squeak. :yes:

[BuddyRoo]

Nylabones (to get a dog interested, you can boil some chicken broth..turn stove off, drop bone in and let soak for a bit)

Kongs

Kong balls

Cuz (I cut the feet off first)

I have a lab and he is quite a chewer. The cheaper rubber toys just get eaten and I worry about obstructions. (that's why I cut the feet off of the Cuz--saw a dog get an obstruction from eating the Cuz feet)

My dog seems to have some allergy to a protein, coloring, or chemical in some treats that set off seizures, so he really can't have anything for treats other than peanut butter in his kong or carrots, potatoes, etc.

[Mara]

Mine love their kongs and their soft fleecy toys that squeak. I have to fill the kongs with lowfat PB, though, because they have figured out that all they need to do is shake the kong vigorously to remove kibble.

[kdow]

Morning everyone! It's been a while since I've had a dog living with me, so I'd love suggestions as to which dog treats/toys/etc are your and your dogs favorites! Thanks everyone.....I get to pick up my Emmet from Danny and Ron in three days not counting today!!!!!

Some dogs just aren't interested in toys - Pirate is FAR more into sniffing around and finding out what treats you might have hidden on your person. :)

Foxy, however, is a toy NUT. She's not destructive at all (only chews on bones - toys she plays fetch with) so we give her suitably sized stuffed baby toys in addition to stuff specifically marketed for dogs. (I found a stuffed loon that makes an accurate bird call when you squeeze it. She loves it, it's hilarious.) So once you know the dog's habits you can possibly be a little more outside-the-box.

That said, her absolute favorite, hands down, no questions asked, she will follow you everywhere if you have this toy is...

An Orbee ball! (http://www.planetdog.com ProductInfo.aspx?productid=ORBEE%20BALL)

It seems to be standing up to use very well (we've had our current one for two years) and if you want to encourage play with it you could put some treats in the middle so that the dog has to move the ball around to get them to come out. (They also make other shapes in the same material.)

I have no idea what it is about the Orbee ball that makes it doggy crack, but she LOVES it.

[kdow]

My dog seems to have some allergy to a protein, coloring, or chemical in some treats that set off seizures, so he really can't have anything for treats other than peanut butter in his kong or carrots, potatoes, etc.

I have to try that nylabone trick...

Just a treat-to-try suggestion - Foxy really likes frozen melon. (Not fresh melon, mind you, just frozen. She sort of plays with it a bit until it's just starting to thaw on the edges, then eats it.) So assuming it's okay with your vet, that might be a treat to try for some variety? (Also, Pirate thinks cooked broccoli is the best thing ever. Pirate is weird. :) )

To the OP, as far as treats: I often just give my dogs a little bit of whatever we're having for a meal as a treat. (If we're having roast chicken, they'll get a couple of pieces of chicken without the skin, maybe a piece of potato, for example - whatever there is that's not really fatty or salty or otherwise bad for dogs.)

For more conventional packaged treats, they seem to prefer some variety, so there's kind of a rotating collection. Recent favorites have been:

Those dried chicken breast/duck breast/turkey strips (can get a big bag of the chicken strips at CostCo.)

The vanilla pretzels from the treat bar at PetCo - but ONLY the vanilla pretzels. Apparently none of the other treats are up to standard.

Freeze dried/dried fish treats of various types. (I got rolled up salmon skin things once - smelled REVOLTING but the dogs loved them.)

For more traditional dog bone type treats, they like the Old Mother Hubbard ones (I normally get the bag of assorted flavors) and the Nature's Animals Gourmet Select ones that look like they're made with wheat germ. (I get the little ones, as the big ones seem to be a bit too much at one time.)

For training treats (if you do things that way) I normally make up a sort of 'trail mix' of their kibble, broken up pieces of whatever other treats there are (so they're about the same size as a piece of kibble), and Zuke's Mini Naturals treats (which I'm quite certain the dogs could eat a whole bag of quite happily.) - So for any given reward they might get something nice, something better than nice, or something SUPER nice, which adds some interest to the reward. (And also means I don't have to spend a ton on really nice training treats, since the more expensive stuff gets stretched out by the addition of kibble and less expensive treats. :) )

[Mara]

I second on the melon. I had a cocker spaniel who LOVED cantaloupe. He'd smell it in the grocery bag and start whining!

[BuddyRoo]

For treats, I try to stay away from stuff with fat and protein. Most fresh fruits and veggies are safe and my dog likes them....

Potatoes, carrots, beans, peas, apples, etc.

I give my neighbors a bag of baby carrots each week as they just can't help themselves when it comes to giving treats. We suspect that they gave the offending treat(s) last year when the seizures started. And I know it was the hotdog they gave that triggered his pancreatitis last fall.

Mine is on a much more restricted diet than most dogs though...so that's why I just stick to the carrots for the most part. It's the action of giving a treat not so much the treat itself....

And yes..the nylabone trick works. Just not with the soft ones. Has to be the hard kind.

[bdj]

We're big on the nylabones around here - they're everyone's favorite!
I'd not heard of the chicken broth trick before (and it's not really necessary in our house)!
Another way to get your dog interested in a nylabone is to give them one that's been "started" by another dog - friends had a Lab that they swore didn't like the nylas... until he got one of my guys' "used" ones - he LOVED it! I let him keep it, and bought my crew a new one.

My pups have also been pretty happy with the new "GoDog" toys - they're stuffed, but have a mesh lining "under the skin" that helps keep my little girl from eviscerating them too quickly. PetSmart carries them, and right now, the favorite seems to be the flat pig - he only has stuffing in his head. His ears are a little frayed, but he's held up very well otherwise!

Treat-wise - mostly depends if they're "freebies" (my Mom thinks that they should get cookies when you leave the house) or training rewards. Freebies can be good quality, but "boring" biscuits (I like the EVO brand especially), but training treats are generally soft, smelly and small - I try to go as with the best quality possible, so minimal sugar, no food coloring, etc. Zuke's brand are good, and so are the soft Itty Bitty Buddy Biscuits, but most anything will do, as long as it meets the soft, smelly and small criteria. Natural Balance Roll Arounds are great, too - they're not soft, but break into small pieces really well.

[EponaRoan]

Kongs and Jolly Balls!

[Riley0522]

Kongs (black) or HUGE Nylabones. Anything else is lucky to last 15 minutes in my house. I've also never seen a dog not go wild over a Nylabone in the first place, never had to boil it in anything. I have what you would call "power chewers".

[Pirateer]

My dogs are labs, so they are big, they are orally-fixated, and they have very powerful chewing instincts, so that take that with a grain of salt.

They LOVE rawhides. My dog's goal in life is to gnaw the ends off of every rawhide in sight. All of our toys have to be super hard "indestructable".

Also they LOVE stuffed animals, little ones picked up from garage sales or Wallyworld clearance or whatever. They love them, don't chew but instead treat like babies :)

Make sure if buying Kongs or other toys you pay attention to size label- and overestimate weight. My girls pretty much destroy even the black kongs for BIG dogs. Again, labs :)

[Iride]

My lab pup loves empty water bottles or any other plastic bottle. They fly around and she chases them, then she chews them. I throw them away when they start getting too chewed through. She also loves sprayer bottles, for same reason. Unfortunately she most loves my socks and hats - we're working on ending that habit!

Her favorite treat is definitely a bone stuffed with peanut butter, frozen. Second to that is prunes. She only gets one. Ask me why.

For store bought treats she gets Newman's Own puppy biscuits. They're small enough to fit in any pocket for instant reward after she does the right thing.

[kdow]

Kongs (black) or HUGE Nylabones. Anything else is lucky to last 15 minutes in my house. I've also never seen a dog not go wild over a Nylabone in the first place, never had to boil it in anything. I have what you would call "power chewers".

My rescue guy seems to be completely confused by the idea of toys/chews. He understands chewing on edible things, but not playing or chewing for entertainment. However giving him edible things all the time is a) expensive and b) extra calories, and I do want to encourage him to chew (good for their teeth if the chew object is suitable) so Imma try this nylabone trick and see if it works. :)

[cloudyandcallie]

My shoes, the center of one couch, the dust ruffle (3 young dogs were tough on dust ruffles) any cat or dog bed that is lying around and all the stuffed animals (from human stores) they can find. Who needs dog catalogues?:lol:

[vacation1]

Dogs seem to fall into 2 categories about toys - hard-mouthed v. soft-mouthed. The hard-mouthed dogs like those hard rubber toy tires and Harley-brand stuff, love softballs, etc. The soft-mouthed dogs prefer soft rubber toys and cloth toys. My dog's firmly in the second camp; tennis balls are a little too harsh for her tender mouth.:) I like the AKC line of wildlife toys - the deer in particular is very sturdy for a soft toy. It has survived, largely intact, the tug-of-wars of my large collie mix and her playmate, a Yorkshire Terrorist.

For treats, it's hard to say. One warning - rawhides can aggravate a dog's stomach, especially if you (guilty, right here) lose your senses and give your dog several of them over the course of a weekend, thereby sending her to doggy hospital. She loved rawhides, but ultimately, they didn't love her. Apparently, their stomachs can get sensitive as they get older. Oops.

[LearnToFly]

my puppy's favorite toys are Old Navy flip flops and a plastic 1/4 c measuring cup.
The only toy she plays with regularly is a rope with two cow hooves on it. The thing freaking STINKS too!

[Mara]

I've gotten quite picky about my dogs' toys and treats. If they aren't "Made In The USA", my dogs do not get them. This can be quite a challenge to find, but I am not giving my dogs toys from China - who knows what could be in them?

Same with rawhides. Other countries aren't as strict about what the rawhide can/cannot be treated with. I'm not a big fan of rawhide anyway - have heard too many stories about obstructions, especially if you have a dog that likes to swallow big wads of it. I used to feed the compressed rawhide bones, as they lasted longer and I felt they were safer. But the only ones I can find are South American made. The dogs never had any problems with them, but to me it just isn't worth it.

[Rhyadawn]

my guys go nuts for a tennis ball or frisbee when outside. My boy likes toys with a squeeker, but my girl couldn't care less.

They both get raw bones a couple times a week that they chew on for a few hours. Love those. They have nylabones but really aren't that interested most of the time.

[Iride]

I got my lab puppy two nylabones and she sat there, looked at them, and blinked at me. Completely uninterested.

[wendy]

I've had a lot of dogs and not one has ever shown the slightest interest in nylabones. Tennis balls are really bad for dogs- the grit in the felt damages their teeth so stay away from those. As for treats, it's a lot cheaper and healthier to just buy some meat on sale and cook it and chop it into little pieces, or put it in a food dehydrator and make jerky. Most commercial dog treats are ridiculously over-priced and have incredibly unhealthy ingredients. If you use a lot of treats look into the natural balance dog food rolls- it's a balanced meal and dogs go nuts for it, so if say you go to training class and end up feeding the dog his entire meal in class you haven't unbalanced his diet. I use raw bones for chewing- buy a rack of ribs and cut up one rib gets a lot of chewing out of it. Toy choice depends on the dog so you might want to take the dog to the store and see what the dog likes.