Chew Toys

[Darcy's Folks]

Hi All,

We just bought Darcy a few new toys yesterday... she has already demolished them. And one of them was the Flying Squirrel which she got some of the plastic off of the corners.

We hate spending this money on what seems like safe and durable toys that end up becoming trash in a matter of a day or two.

So what's been tried and true for your Cairns?? Especially the ones that LOVE to chew, chew, chew!

Thanks,

Kate

[Fiamma]

Well, this is a hard one. Normally, everything in Skeeter's mouth will eventually die (eventually means in less than 10 minutes).

Not too long ago I bought a toy named COMBAT. It was supposed to be made for strong chewers and it was guaranteed so I decided it was a good buy even though it cost $16.00.

To make this long story short, the toy only lasted less than 5 minutes (and I am not kidding or exaggerating with that number). The only good thing was that I got four of the same toy for the price of one because I kept sending the toy with the receipt to the company and they kept replacing the toy since it was guaranteed.

Anyhow, I got tired of sending the toy back but I'm sure they would have kept sending me the replacement stuffed toy for ever or until they file for bankruptcy.

The only toy that has survived my little one is a bone made from recyclable materials but, of course, Skeeter is not interested in that particular toy because he can't break it, sigh.

[maggie]

I have tried all the "durable materials made for even the toughest chewers" without much luck...The only thing that has stood the test of time are tennis balls, Air Kong toys [they are finished like tennis balls] and the regular kong toys [rubber ones]. I too tried the Combat frisbee like toy and that lasted less than 5 minutes, I hate not being able to get a bigger variety but I have wasted tons of $$$ already. I have had to do "the sit down and put the pieces together thing" to see what's missing, check the "poop" to see if anything came out...I know my neighbors must think I'm nuts! Stuffed animals are out. Squeaky toys are out. The only ones she didn't kill and seem to be safe are the original lamb and stuffed fleece bone that we got the day she came home. They have become her pillows and she will not tear them up...go figure. She also likes the Nylabone bone that has the green rubber like body with the white hard ends.

I love buying her toys and hate the lack of variety but it seems these are the only safe ones for her. DH keeps telling me dogs are color blind anyways so she can't tell that most of them are that tennis ball color...

[Teri9672]

the only bones I've had luck with are those hard nylabones.

I also like the small gallelio bones, but they are sometimes hard to find.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Nylabone-PETITE-Galile...1QQcmdZViewItem

Tabitha is a power chewer when it comes to bones.

[bubba]

Ours, when they are in the chewing mood, have the huge rawhides from Costco (so they are easily visible to us), and they usually attack them about once a day. Cooper really likes this purple thing that screws together and looks like a spaceship. You fill it w/treats and make them work at getting them out. He will sit w/that for an hour till he has everything out. And the toys they both absolutely love (but Cooper likes them the best), are the squeeky ones I buy at Walmart. They are goofy looking dinosaurs that come in bright colors and I think they only cost $1-2. The rubber is quite thick and Cooper will walk around w/one in his mouth squeeking away half the night. We have several, both at home and up at the lake place, and they have all lasted a long, long time.

pat.

[Guest Darcy's Mom]

Since Darcy was a small puppy, she has always loved to chew, tug on my husband's tube socks. Depending on her mood, she will either lay quietly and just chew away on it, or if she is in a playful mood she will bring it to me and drop it at my feet and whine for me to throw it and then play tug with her (gently). That is about the only thing that has held her interest for two years. Of course, when socks start shredding, we throw them away and go and look for ones that have no match since the dryer ate the other one.

[kayharley]

You've touched on a very common Cairn terrier dilemma...they just LOVE to chew and they do it so well. Some of the Orbee balls are pretty durable although they don't hold my crew's interest very long.

The bully sticks are popular as are the pressed rawhide although both treats have to be supervised.

I've found that all 3 of my Cairns tend to love the Hide-a-Bee toys. Yes, they do get destroyed but after the squeakers are removed (pulled out by them, discarded by me) they love to toy around with the "carcasses".

Also, the Fat Cat stuffed toys have lived a long time in our household. Right now I have the squirrel, the fish and I think a postman who have all their original parts. Some have a crinkely sound to them, others a squeaker that's rather difficult to get to.

I guess you have to try different products and see what works for your Cairn.

[Toto'smom]

I have also had good luck with the Wal-Mart squeekies. The only ones that survive are the goofy colored monster looking ones. I think I paid $ .92 for them. I have since bought stuffed squeekies but can't remember the name of them. You can remove the squeeky. One of them is actually 3 weeks old & doesn't have a hole in it yet.

[sj4iy]

I can't think of anything my dog hasn't chewed up, except for his favorite squeaky ball. I guess he won't b/c it was also one of his first toys. He also loves tennis balls (first thing he does is rip the green stuff off of them, then he's actually put a hole in one of them). I think the most mind-boggling thing he's chewed up is the linoleum on our kitchen floor. How he manage to even get it up, I'll never know. There goes our deposit. He's also managed to destroy a nylabone. Needless to say, anything soft with a squeaker in it lasts less than 5 minutes, as he feels the insatiable need to rip a hole in it and get the squeaker out (must go for the heart!!). So yeah, he has a very limited range of toys he can have now.

[Eliz222]

We keep some of our toys up high and bring them down when we can supervise. Scout is a chewer and will tear apart a soft toy in 2 seconds flat. Finch will chew on hers but she doesn't "chew and pull", so the toys stay together. I would say that the Kongs have held up the best. We do have several Dr Noy toys that have stood the chance of time, mainly the mouse and the Mallard. The Duck lasted about 3 min. Finch also has several soft frisbee's, but then again, she doesn't seem to shred her toys, and since she won't let Scout touch her frisbee's I don't know if they are strong or not...lol!

[ZephyrandCleosMom]

My dogs don't like "hard chews"... they like rawhide bones..but if it's something like a nylabone they won't touch it! Weirdos. In fact, my dogs don't chew up their toys either.. Cleo just kind of carts them all from one room to the next. They love plush toys! An excellent source for doggie goods is PetEdge.com The prices are SOOO reasonable~

[Guest mrskti]

i shop at Petedge too, good prices. Its' funny, i keep buying toys and what do they like the most.....cotton fabric that I have taken and braided it, they looooove that....and i also take cute design fleece and just make either a plain ol' square or a dog bone shape, stuff it, throw a squeeker in it, and they go nuts. Ellie walks around with her teeth chomping up and down squeeking it. It's too funny. The fleece stuff seems so durable, and if it gets chewed up, who cares, it's only scraps from other projects. I even bought what looked like an indestructable nylon frizbee with that real stiff edge....riiiiiiiip!

[Luckysmom]

Lucky is just like your dogs - 30 seconds is all he needs to destroy a stuffed animal and remove the squeaker. Sad as it is - we still waste money on the cute toys in moments of weakness (or stupidity! Like some thing different will happen THIS time - HA! He's four years old now, one should know better by now)

Lucky does love his kong and we have 3 of them (two in the house one in the car) - I fill it with a hard treat or some kibble and then surround it with cream cheese as a treat. Not only does he love the treat, it is actually pretty challenging for him to get everything out of the center. I have a friend who also uses peanut butter but my son is allergic to peanuts so we stick with cream cheese.

Lucky's other favorite chewies are cows ears. My vet advises against rawhide because they don't digest it well and cairns can wolf down a rawhide rather quickly. Cows ears have a similar texture as rawhide but are easier on their digestive system - Lucky loves them! Our vet also recommended pigs ears but Lucky didn't like them so we stick with the cows ears.

My Petsmart hardly ever has cows ears in stock but you can usually buy them in the bulk section at Petco.

Good Luck!

[Darcy's Folks]

Well thanks everyone.... feedback is always good. I've got some good ideas to look into now.

[hadway]

Try an empty plastic water bottle, but peel the paper first. The bottle makes a nice crackling nosie each time Simba bites down and he has hours of fun with it. Go figure.....

[CathyAnn]

We have this treat ball for Piper and he LOVES it!

http://www.petsmart.com/global/product_det...D=1129732733231

I have posted these before, but here they are again.

Cathy

[Milopup]

CathyAnn,

We bought that same treat ball after seeing someone (you, perhaps?) post about it on the forum - Bosco loves it! We fill it with about 20 cheerios and then off he goes - of course we only do this once in a while, though cheerios are relatively harmless.

About the water bottles - my pup loves loves loves them, but rips them into little plastic bits within a couple of minutes!! And then we get worried he will swallow a sharp bit.... :(

[Darcy's Folks]

Water bottles!!! I have a solution!!!!

We actually bought Darcy one at the store a while back. The kind with some sort of cutesy fabric cover over it. Well Darcy of course ripped that thing to shreads and ended up tearing the bottle into small pieces in a day.

We started saving water bottles and putting them in older tube socks. We tie off the end of the sock and it lasts 4-5 days before she actually gets through the sock and to the plastic. As soon as she gets to the plastic we throw it away and start a new one.

[Milopup]

That sounds like a great idea, but how do you then prevent your pup from chewing on other socks in the house?

[Bekah]

I cannot explain this but we bought Liddy some soft, puppy toys when she was young. They're plastic in the shape of a fire hydrants and a shoe and aren't "tough" looking at all but she loves them. The toys have held up really well but eventually tear because we play tug-of-war. Liddy destroys all toys but for some reason this cheap ones strike her fancy. I think they're called "Soft Chews" or something like that. We got them at Petsmart.

[Darcy's Folks]

Milopup - We can't control our "Great Sock Hunter" from chewing on other socks. We simply do our VERY best not to leave them lying around where she can get at them. Although, every weekend when we're doing laundry she always seems to fish one out of the baskets when we're not looking . Such a naughty girl.

[CathyAnn]

Milo.....so glad to hear your little guy loves that ball!! When we first saw it in the store, we were reluctant to give it a try. But, as you can see, he has a great time with it.

Piper brings it to us at least once a day asking for it to be filled !

Cathy

[Milopup]

Cathy,

What do you fill the ball with, and how much do you put in there each day? We put the treat ball up high or else he would be bringing it to us all day.

- Mp

[CathyAnn]

Milo....we break up pieces of Mother Hubbard treats most of the time as we purchased a HUGE bag of them. I put some larger pieces in that don't fall out too quickly to hold his interest longer.

Cheerios are a good idea, too. Maybe I'll have Piper give those a try.

Cathy

[rileyloveshismom]

Whew! Same here with my lil one. We actually call him Riley the destroyer. His new record time in destroying his toy is 1 min. We were so surprise to see him split his nylabone in half. My fiancee swears that he will never buy him a toy but come next week he'll ask me to go to the Petstore to grab something for Riley:)