Why
sight stimulation?
 Sight stimulation toys are obviously designed to visually excite dogs! Sure, but why would want to do that? And how does it get your dog to do what you want?
First it helps to realize that dogs, like many animals, must orient themselves to rapid movement. They don’t decide to pay attention to movement, it happens automatically. Spotting mice under the grass or noticing an enemy lurking in the distance has always been a critical survival skill for wolves, and our dogs carry those same genes and brain connections. Movement naturally stimulates dog brains, and dogs naturally orient to the location of the movement.
Sight
stimulation toys are for which dogs?
 Sight stimulation dog toys appeal to all dogs, but selective breeding by humans has increased the intensity of this interest. Herding breeds like Border Collies and Australian Shepherds are especially keyed to movement. They were bred to control other animal’s movements, so they can be a little more hyped about movement toys. However, almost all dogs like visual stimulation toys because it arouses their brains and their primal instincts to chase and catch.
Now
that I have their attention! How do I use sight stimulation toys?
You can take advantage of this instinctual orientation to movement to start games and training exercises. Shake or wiggle your toy to pique your dog’s interest then start the play games.
Tug games are a natural play behavior for dogs, so using visual stimulation toys that you can tug with are an excellent way to excite your dog into a game of tug o’ war. The more fun the toy is, greater your dogs interest will be in that toy, and the more willing the dog should be to work for the opportunity to play with it.
The Genuine Dog Gear sight stimulation toys are designed to move in a way that will get your dogs attention. You add the shake, jiggle, jerk, wiggle, scoot or boogy and the toy does the rest.
Begin your training exercises once your dog is interested in the toy and use a quick game of tug as the reward for performance.
Where
can I find the sight stimulation toys on the web site?
You will find these toys in many areas of our web site because we incorporate more than one attractor, sight, bite sound, and smell, into each dog toy. Take our Bungee Bar toys for example. These toys have a tassel for visual excitement, sheepskin stuffing for scent (smell) excitement, AND are stuffed to just the right firmness to appeal to most dogs bite pressure. Look for the sight icon on the product pages to locate the toys that are specifically geared to sight stimulation, or check out the products on this page.
Why
not just put one attractor into each toy?
Visual stimulating a dog to play is great, but if you can further interest your dog by presenting him with a tug toy that is also very pleasurable to bite and hold, you have raised the bar and your dogs interest in the toy. Higher interest leads to higher play drive and a higher willingness to work for the dog toy. If you want your dog to work then pay him well! Pay him with praise and an exciting game of tug with a really cool tug toy!
Can
other toys be visually exciting too?
 Sure, you betcha! Take our Jungle Tug toy. We don’t put it in this category because it doesn’t have any ‘moving parts’ or tassels. But if put that toy on the ground and snake it around like a spastic snake or lizard and it’s likely to drive your dog wild. It’s not so much the shape of the boat, as the motion of the ocean!
How
do I play with a sight stimulation toy?
Shake ‘em, snake ‘em, toss ‘em, throw them in the air! Bounce them, wiggle them, hold them still then twitch ‘em. Try to make them look alive or shake them like crazy. Act like they’re about to jump out of your arms and get away! Drag them on the ground or toss them towards the dog and snatch them back. There are as many ways to play with sight stimulation toy as there are toys and dogs. Each toy offers a little something different in regard to movement. Try different movements and try shaking the toy at different heights from the ground until you find your dog’s sweet spot.
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