Fave dog toy & biggest disappointment

Tess&Coco · 06-06-2007, 06:03 AM

Thought this might be a fun thread: What is your dog's favourite toy (and why) and what is the biggest toy disappointment you've bought?

Tess's fave toy is a "migrator" soft toy shaped like a duck which makes a quack sound when you squeeze it. We got one three years ago when we moved into our house and she still hasn't destroyed it (I had to perform surgery to mend the noise once) and moreover nor has the puppy!.

She also loves tennis balls and the biggest disappointment was getting "pet touch" tennis balls designed specifically for dogs which she cracks in half within minutes. Then they don't float and she gets distressed looking for them in the water....

Coco's favourite toy is a small soft rubber cockerel with a squeak. We got it when she was too small to make other squeak toys squeak, and she's chewed and tugged and played with it and it's still in as-new condition!

Biggest disappointment was Loofa Dog - she's had two because she loves them but they have both failed to withstand "normal" puppy play. One split up the side and the head came off the other.

This may be why...
http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t...Picture013.jpg

RonE · 06-06-2007, 08:18 AM

For Esther there is nothing in the world as wonderful as a tennis ball. I think she defers to me because I am The Keeper of the Tennis Balls and, normally The Thrower of Tennis Balls.

But they have to be the tennis balls made for tennis (though she doesn't play tennis.) If I give her a pet store tennis ball, it has an extremely short life (measured in blinks.)

The biggest disappointment was her Rubic's Cube. It took her at LEAST twenty minutes to solve it.

Lorina · 06-06-2007, 08:24 AM

His favorite toy is a fleece flip-flop that I got for 50 cents at Target on clearance. The squeaker was either broken when I got it, or shortly after, but it's still his favorite, even though, or maybe because, it makes a rattle noise instead of a squeak.

Biggest disappointment: the Kong. No interest whatsoever, no matter what I put in it.

Tess&Coco · 06-06-2007, 09:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RonE

The biggest disappointment was her Rubic's Cube. It took her at LEAST twenty minutes to solve it.

LOL I knew I could rely on you Ron!

Lorina - funny you mention that because Tess has a hideous cross-between-donkey-and-warthog toy which has a rattle that used to be a squeak, and both dogs love to play with it.

very_vizsla · 06-06-2007, 09:18 AM

jerseys fave toy is a plush trout with a squeaker in it. the biggest disapointment was a kong. i found out that she doesn't like hard plastic toys.

Tess&Coco · 06-06-2007, 09:21 AM

Wow, I'm astonished that there are folks out there with dogs who don't like Kongs! I thought it was the LAW to have/use/love Kongs. Maybe you guys should start a support group or something...

blackrose · 06-06-2007, 09:28 AM

Blackie and Rose don't normally play with toys, but they will kill for a stuffed bone, or a bone of any kind, really. Rose loves rawhides, and Blackie loves 16'' beef bones.

Chloe loves different toys depending on her mood. lol She loves her Kong (with food in it), and she also likes her nylabone and a stuffed monkey that I gave her.

I would say the biggest dissapointment was when we were raising Sadie and I bought a tire with a rope attachted to it, thinking the tire could withstand a Lab's chewing....that thing cost me 15 bucks and she destroyed it in a matter of days.

RonE · 06-06-2007, 09:52 AM

People who talk about soft-mouthed labs weren't referring to mine - or apparently yours, blackrose.

Zeke has the world's largest private collection of stuffed toys. They start out the day in and around his crate and migrate throughout the house during the day. Sometimes I'll go get him early, to go to the dogpark or doggy day care, while my daughter sleeps in. He'll run out of the crate and start to follow me, then stop and run back to get a toy to bring with him.

Sarah has repaired a few of his stuffed toys that were apparently victims of tug-o-war between the two dogs (a game that frequently results in Zeke become airborne.) I believe she may have inadvertently combined parts of different toys, 'cause I'm sure I saw Frankentoy on the kitchen floor the other day.

Tess&Coco · 06-06-2007, 10:20 AM

Ha ha! I like the idea of airborne Zeke (although I'm sure Zeke would have his own opinion!). Ours are pretty well-matched in size now, although Tess can always win a game of tug by emitting a blood-chilling growl (funny with her mouth full of stuffed toy!).

I've tried to repair some of the toys too, with differing levels of success. We have "headless loofa" which is still going strong - I just sewed up its neck. When Coco performed a quack-ectomy on her migrator goose I sewed it up, but obviously my seamstress skills were inadequate as she had split it again within seconds.

blackrose · 06-06-2007, 11:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RonE

People who talk about soft-mouthed labs weren't referring to mine - or apparently yours, blackrose.

Haha, no kidding. She could shred rope toys, chew through rubber toys, and she would have a stuffed toy dead in about three seconds. We stuck to tennis balls (she could even kill those after a couple of days), nylabones, and kongs. lol

iwantmypup · 06-06-2007, 11:49 AM

peps fave is now ( she loves tennis balls too!) but now its a blue rubber ball with a bell in it

Biggest disappointment : Also the kong for me.. she got soo frustrated!!! y:P

RonE · 06-06-2007, 12:09 PM

I LOVE watching Esther with a Kong. (It's actually a Kong look-alike from Nylabone called the Rhinocone. The Kong died young.)

I put biscuit treats in it. Once she discovered that she couldn't rip the toy apart, like she did the Kong, and her tongue isn't long-enough to reach in there, she started throwing it against the wall and dropping it down a flight of stairs.

It's noisy, but entertaining and - eventually - the cookie crumbles and falls out.

I'm not sure I would have thought of that strategy myself.

iwantmypup · 06-06-2007, 12:10 PM

LOL Ron!!!!! Esther seems like a blast , but yeah Pepp.. hates her puppy kong.. she needs to try that stategy!!

RonE · 06-06-2007, 12:14 PM

Yes. That's the way the cookie crumbles.

dawnalina · 06-06-2007, 01:00 PM

Ha! This is a fun thread!

Lucky loves stuffed squeaky toys, but he destroys them in a day. The one that has held up the best is a cheap Milkbone plush stuffed bone, with ropes on the side.

The biggest disappointment was a toy called the Bumble Ball. Anyone heard of it? Used it? It has batteries and jumps around and is supposed to be completely fun and fascinating for your doggie! Lucky yawned. ;-)

onyxdaily · 06-06-2007, 02:17 PM

My lab, Jynx, loves any type of ball. He has several (tennis ball, squeaky basketball, and a squeaky soccer ball) he plays with, and he alternates between them equally.
My saint, Jasper, likes to gnaw on things, and since I am tired of him gnawing on my table, I got him a braided nylon toy that he loves.
My hound, Brandy, actually loves any toy that she sees the other 2 playing with. Whatever they decide to play with immediately becomes Brandy's favorite, lol.

I really can't think of a disappointing toy because they actually play with all of the toys we got for them.

petlover · 06-06-2007, 03:42 PM

Gugul likes any toy which is in my daughter's hands. Right now she has her eye on my d's big teddy bear (her birthday gift) which is in my d's room. Gugul goes to my d's room (upstairs) after she goes to school to bring the teddy down. But until now, she is able to climb up, but cannot carry or drag the teddy downstairs. Poor girl!

p.s.: she has many small teddies, but she wants only that one which is taller than her.

CrzyBritNAmerica · 06-06-2007, 04:10 PM

Let's see, Bridgette has a few favorites. She absolutely loves her kong...and it sounds like she does exactly what Esther does.

She will sit and work on it until every last crumb is gobbled up. (I put cut up Natural Balance roll in it) She also really loved her BoBo (what T&C called a loofah dog) she had a purple, headless one.

Yet it is now headless, but she ABSOLUTELY LOVES the sound of it's tail end squeaker (it sounds like a dying rabbit and not a normal squeek) and we've found that if one of us stands on it for a few seconds and then lets up the thing squeaks high pitch and the squeak goes on for ages....it drives her into a very excited frenzy!

I think her least favorite is a tennis ball. She'll get really excited when I hold one up, but she absolutely refuses to fetch...which is fine with me although she thinks that the ball lovers at the dog park are crazy! LOL.

Jen D · 06-06-2007, 04:14 PM

Tennis balls for Kramer and Peekaboo likes everything he has! When we watch the Lab next door the tennis balls are great because Kramer can't swim because of the large chest and the Lab is a pro so I throw one out in the middle and the other a few feet from shore for Kramer. Keeps them busy for hours those tennis balls!

blackrose · 06-06-2007, 09:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RonE

I LOVE watching Esther with a Kong. (It's actually a Kong look-alike from Nylabone called the Rhinocone. The Kong died young.)

I put biscuit treats in it. Once she discovered that she couldn't rip the toy apart, like she did the Kong, and her tongue isn't long-enough to reach in there, she started throwing it against the wall and dropping it down a flight of stairs.

It's noisy, but entertaining and - eventually - the cookie crumbles and falls out.

I'm not sure I would have thought of that strategy myself.

LOL Yep, the only problem with Kongs is when the dog is smarter than it is. When we would give a Sadie a kong with some milk bones in it, she'd get the bones to fall back into the small part of the kong and then chew on it with all her might. This would cause the cookies to turn into crumbs and she'd just dump them out and eat them. It kept her occupied for....two minutes, maybe.

Chloe hasn't quite figured that out yet. If she can't get the treats out after a while, she gives up, so I break them up for her so they are possible to get out after a little bit of work. She just throws and pushes the kong around until one of the food peices bounces out. lol