Christmas Presents

[Posey]

When we buy Nicky anything new, and it will be something for "aggressive chewers" he still makes little bits out of it. Funny thing is his baby puppy toys from the time he was seven weeks old, he never harms them in any way. But a new one he rips apart. I am limited to buying him sterlized bones, (rawhide doesn't agree with him) or larger rubber balls. Any suggestions?

[Guest CarCarDawn]

Hi! I go to the grocery store and ask for those marrow bones that are used for making soups - - I then bake them in the oven for about 20 minutes until the little bits of meat and any fats are cooked up. Riley will gnaw on these for hours trying to get the marrow out - - when the marrow is gone I will fill them just like the "kong" toys - - he never gets tired of them and I get a much needed rest!!!

[Senator Cody Wilson]

I would suggest a Kong, the one we got Cody 4 months ago is still going strong as they claim to be indestructible. He chews it even if it is empty, must be the smell of the treats we put in there. I think they make a variety of shapes now rather than the beehive shaped one.

We usually throw out most toys he gets as gits after s few moments as he tears apart most of them. The rope toys seem to last the longest for him.

[wags]

Wes used to like the rope toys too- in fact he would probably still like them- but he started eating the string so we had to take them away. We probably could use the toys with the ends tied in rubber holders.

He also makes short work of other toys.

[Guest Guest]

Another vote for kongs. I put some peanut butter in it and Ernie goes crazy...he loves it!

We bought him a tug toy...a tennis ball attached to a nylon handle. He immediatly started chewing the nylon handle off the ball. Guess he didn't think it was necessary! Even funnier, I had to through out the tennis ball because it had a hole where the strap was connect...but now Ernie LOVES the nylon strap. So silly that he even plays fetch with it.

[Mama Kim]

Piper likes the Kong but after a few minutes she's ready to move on. No matter what I stuff them with, she gets it all out in about 10 minutes. Hardly worth the effort on my part. Thankfully she isn't too destructive with her toys.

[hallswel]

Rebel loves the greenies. They don't last very long but it is a special treat once a week. I got him this new toy it is a bee hive with three little bees in it, I stick a treat in the hive with the bees and he has great fun taking the bees out and finding the treat. Then he brings a bee for me to throw and play catch or tug. I think the toy said you can teach them to hid the bees back in the hive HAHAHA .

[bradl]

That beehive thing is a very cute toy. There's a squirrel version, too. Another 'taking things out' toy is just a fabric cube with a bunch of soft balls inside. I got one at a Discovery toy store a couple years ago but I bet they're all over the place by now. Our youngest is rarely seen without a ball hanging out the side of her mouth. All the dogs love extracting the balls from inside and they each do it differently -- one paws at them, one tries to bite them out while standing on the cube, another shakes the cube to make a ball fly out and another grabs one ball in her mouth and then shakes the cube off the ball.

I will say the soft balls end up looking like like Frankenstein from being stitched back up, though, with the more aggressive mouths. My recommendation is macho sticks. Not a toy, but at least they can stand up to an hour of intense chewing.

Another tactic for destructo dogs is to go for quantity instead of durability - stock up on empty water bottles. You may have to take it away or replace it every five minutes but at least they are cheap (or free) and most dogs seem to love all the noise the bottles make as they are demolished.

[LORI]

we use 1 gal. size milk jugs for Brandy. She loves them. It is extremely funny when she is in the back yard after the snow falls and there is alittle ice, she has a heck of a time catching it. She is mans best little buddy.