One of the great joys of owning a dog is playing with them. Anyone who’s owned a dog will tell you it comes natural to them because dogs were born to play. As owners, we want safe, colorful and attractive toys for our dogs.
Confronterd with a wide assortment of dog toys to choose from, how do we decide which is the best toy for our dog? And how do we pick one that our dog likes? The best dog toy in the world isn’t any good if your dog won’t play with it!
Making The Right Choice
The right toy for your dog can be found by answering three questions.
- What do you want the dog toy to do?
- What does the dog like to play with?
- What’s safe for him to play with?
In future articles, I’ll guide you though the decision making process. We’ll take a look at some different types of dog toys to help you pick the right one for your dog.
The Right Toy For The Job
First we’ll look at what you want the toy to do. Do you want a toy to entertain your dog while you do something else, like watch TV or go to work? If so, you should choose a good dog chew toy, preferably with a food dispensing feature.
If you want to stimulate your dog to play with you, you’ll want a high value interactive dog toy, and if you want your dog to play peacefully with another dog, you’ll want a low value interactive dog toy.
What Turns Your Dog On
If you want a toy to motivate your dog to play with you or to achieve higher levels of sports performance, please read Choosing The Right Interactive Toy. This article discusses the types of interactive dog toys that might interest your dog based on personality, breed and size to help you choose the type of toy your dog may prefer.
Safety First
And last but not least, in future articles we’ll take a look at what not to buy. I will tell you which dog toys are unsafe or unwise for your dog, and how to spot bad choices.