Are you tired of purchasing dog toys that your dog ignores? Are you having trouble picking toys to motivate your dog? How can you tell what your dog will like before you buy a dog toy? Don’t feel bad, it’s not easy to know in advance what your dog will like and even training professionals can have difficulty making a good choice.
How Easy Is It?
Years ago I asked a famous dog trainer for her opinion of some potential new dog toys. Her comments were generally favorable with the exception of one toy, which she labeled ugly and generally useless. The instant she uttered those words her dog escaped his crate, grabbed the dog toy and refused to let go. His ardor for that toy was so strong the trainer insisted I give her that prototype for her terrier. It’s no wonder the rest of us occasionally make poor choices. But if even the experts can’t tell, how are you supposed to know?
It’s Not About Looks
The lesson of the famous trainer story is, don’t pick a dog toy on looks, or “don’t judge a book by it’s cover”. Years later, Genuine Dog Gear is still making that toy. We call it the “Jitterbug Tug” in the Fleece Toys category. And yes, it may be ugly, but no, it’s not useless. With a little understanding of doggie ‘hard wiring’ and some personal observation you can make a great choice for your dog.
Sense Stimulators
Dogs will play with toys that stimulate their natural senses. I call them sense stimulators and there are four: sight, bite, sound and smell. All dogs are stimulated by these senses in different ways and each dog favors one or more senses over the others. Your dogs “hard wiring” will give us some insight into his preferences. Let’s look at some common breeds and their attraction to different types of dog toys.
What The Retrievers Want
Retrievers will work all day for a cookie, because they have a good work ethic and are food motivated, right? Yes, but they’re also sight stimulated and bite stimulated. Retrieving is a joy for them because there are two attractors in this retrieval game. One is visual stimulation, ‘chase the toy’ the other is bite stimulation ‘carry the toy’.
I don’t think that it is a coincidence that retrievers like to chase things that fall out of the sky. They were bred to retrieve birds and bring them back to their masters. Now they’re chasing tennis balls, but the game remains the same. The toy stimulates their natural senses and the game stimulates their natural behaviors.
What The Shepherds Want
Herding breeds including Shepherds and Collies, like most dogs, are sight and bite stimulated. But being bred to herd stock they’ll be most motivated to control, grip or nip at a dog toy that simulates the herding experience. Imagine the sight, from the dog’s perspective, of a herd running in tight formation. Visual movement is a strong stimulator for them. Real sheepskin or a visually active toy they can grip and control could be their dream come true!
What The Terriers Want
How about terriers? Terriers were ratters; they find their joy in the dirt. Instinctually they’ll want to locate prey by scent and sound and then kill it. They’ll like toys that scurry and squeak or smell like vermin. Real animal scents like raccoon or squirrel could be just the ticket or an erratic floor level dog toy. While retrievers and herders should be sight and bite stimulated, terriers should be sound, smell and bite stimulated.
What Do All Dogs Want?
If you have a mixed breed dog, or your dog doesn’t follow the breed type, you should ask yourself what kind of toy your dog has enjoyed in the past and what creates the most excitement. Was it something at ground level, like a rolling ball? Or did your dog want to struggle for control in a game of tug, chase something that fell from the sky, or tear at something really smelly? What toys are ignored? Comparing the toys your dog likes and doesn’t like, based on how the dog toy moves and smells will help you determine what he wants.
My Dog’s Favorites
My lab Annie’s favorite toys are a plain old tennis ball and our two-handled Fur Force toy. Both are slightly furry with a firm but yielding bite, so I’d look for that in any new toy. We play fetch with the ball and tug with the Fur Force toy, which are bite and sight stimulations. But, the one stimulator you might not expect is actually the most important for her.
The ULTIMATE Dog Toy
The ultimate dog toy, from Annie’s perspective, is me. The interaction between us is the common thread and it’s what she really loves. So any toy that involves me will do because she will play with any object as long as I’m involved.
She ignores every dog toy we have unless I’m playing with her. She’ll take any toy off the floor when I return home to entice me into a game of ‘slow speed chase,’ where she trots around the house and I pretend to try and catch her.
It took a while for me to figure out that I was the common factor in her favorite toys. I bought lots of dog toys when she was young that she really had no interest in. Now, I don’t waste money on toys that don’t involve me because she won’t play with them. She only wants interactive dog toys and from her perspective, that’s the way it ought to be.
Easy Rules for Choosing a Good Toy
So, there you have it. Look for the common thread in your dogs desire to play in a certain way or with certain things, including yourself. He may like soft toys, but not hard ones. Or like to chase toys, but only if they are scented or baited. If your dog likes squeaky toys, perhaps he’s sound stimulated. But, if he ignores noisy toys if they don’t have a soft furry cover, then the fur is important to him. If squeaky toys frighten your dog, skip the noisy ones and look for a scent or sight-stimulating toy.
Is your sheltie too shy to tug? Then try a dog toy that is soft or naturally scented or a small toy he can chase and easily dominate. Our Soft Tug N Treat was designed to help shy dogs learn how to play with toys.
Does your retriever refuse cookies? Try a movement or a prey scent toy or a bite stimulation toy. If your dog only plays with you, perhaps any interaction toy will be fine.
The Right Toy For That Job
The toy I mentioned in the famous trainer story (at the beginning of this post) was the hot ticket for her dog because it was fluffy and bouncy, had erratic movements and was situated at floor level. From a terrier point of view, it doesn’t get much better. It was the perfect dog toy for that dog because it had the right size, it was in the right place and it had the right movement.
An Informed Choice
You can’t always tell for sure what your dog will like. But by understanding sense stimulation and interaction and by observing your dog, you can make a really good choice. We have a lot of great interactive dog toys here on our site and there are good toys in most stores as well. With some observation, and a little thought, it’ll be easy for you to get the dog toy that “your dog” will love.