Bored with toys

[Jinnytee]

Luna, now 20 weeks old, seems to get bored with her toys quite quickly these days. I have always done the toy rotation thing, and keep them out of sight in a black bag hanging in the kitchen. She is excited when she sees me going into the bag and beside herself with joy when she is first given the toy .... but 10 minutes later, it's ignored.

How long should the toy be "out of action " ? ...... She has eight toys and there are always 2 out. I take one toy away and bring out a "new" one every day, so she wont have see the newest toy for about a week.

What do others do to keep things interesting for their babies ?

Other dogs I own/ or have owned in the past, lost interest in toys after puppy-hood, aside from interactive games with balls and frisbees .... but I am sure it was not until they were much older then Luna.

Jinny

 

[TwoDogs]

Frankly, none of my dogs ever played by themselves with toys very much even as puppies. All of them preferred to play with a toy with me. I think the more social a breed (or particular dog within that breed) is, the more playing alone with a toy doesn't make sense or appeal to them. In my experience, if a non-food stuffed toy can hold your pup's interest for 10 minutes of independent play, that's a good toy.

Of my three, my female is the one that will "play" with toys the most but really I think she is just gentler in the manner in which she "kills" the toys so the play lasts longer. She will throw toys for herself and then pounce on them. Even still as a puppy this would only last for about 10 minutes or so at a time and then she'd either go on to something else or try and solicit play from a person.

My rat terrier will play by himself but only certain games. He's learned to drop a ball down the stairs and chase it. He also devised a game where he will give a ball a good push toward a piece of furniture and then pounce on it at the last minute to keep it from going under. In effect he's created his own rat to chase.

Play is for fun, but it's also Mother Nature's way of letting baby animals practice for real life. The best kind of play will mimic hunting, catching and killing prey or fighting with another of their species. Therefore, most interesting kinds of toys will create opportunities for those activities to occur. I've found that stuffed toys with appendages are favorites of my dogs. They can shake the toy and the toy seems to fight back by whipping around and smacking them in the face with its arms. Another favorite is toys with bungees or elastic in them. During tugging the toy "pulls" back and tries to escape. Balls and toys that roll all wobbly and wonky are another favorite because they might "run" erratically and give a more exciting chase game. Any food-stuffable puzzle toy ranks really high with my dogs. They like searching, poking, prodding and gnawing to get at the food.

Figure out what part of the game of hunt, catch, kill or chase/fight your dog likes best and pick toys that will fulfill that drive. My rat terrier loves all of them so toys that move erratically, squeak, and can be stretched and pulled entertain him. My female clearly likes the chase more than the kill so thrown toys or lightweight toys that she can throw for herself are more to her liking. My big male loves food so stuffable toys like the rubber Kong keep him entertained. My rat terrier doesn't have such a powerful jaw and loves things that skitter around so his favorite food puzzle toy is the Kong Wobbler. My friend has a hound--for that dog it isn't so much playing with the toy as it is searching for the toy that rocks that dog's world. My old Lab used to LOVE to throw her own toys, get them and then carry them around. Any toy with a handle or sturdy mouth-sized area to grip instantly became one of her favorites.

Frankly, my favorite dogs are the ones who've preferred playing with me over playing with toys alone. In my experience they are more biddable and easier to train. When I evaluate puppies, I will always choose a pup that brings the toy back to play with it with a person over the pup that is content to play with the toy by itself.

 

[Kisaq]

"They can shake the toy and the toy seems to fight back by whipping around and smacking them in the face with its arms."

HAhahaha! Kisaq loves doing that.
His favorite toy to play with on his own is a blanket or towel.
But he would always prefer that you play with him. Either tug, catch it, or keep away (he doesn't fetch, ).

http://i1211.photobucket.com/albums/cc440/endlessamusement/02120413091_zps7aa4fc47.jpg

But I will let him choose his own toy in the store.
It makes it such a treat for him. He's allowed one toy or treat of his own choosing. And so far I haven't had to say no.
He'll wander along the isles and sniff, and look up and down. And if he sees something too high up, he'll stop and stare at it until I bring it down for him to look at more closely. Sometimes he'll take it, or I'll choose the wrong one and he'll ignore me until I pick the right one. LOL. He's quite the character. You know when he's decided because he'll head off to the checkout with the toy in his mouth.

Last time he couldn't decide between a chipmunk with a squeaky, and a great big purple turtle/octopus/thing with different sounding squeakies in it's body and it's legs... luckily he went with the chipmunk because it was about $30 cheaper! (I may have had some influence in that decision - ).

His chipmunk (which I'm convinced he thinks is a squirrel) is his best cuddle friend more than a toy. He'll carry it to bed with him all by himself. I think the big purple monster was more of a "Oh my dog, what IS that" interest. LOL.

Kisaq and his cuddly friend.
http://i1211.photobucket.com/albums/cc440/endlessamusement/Feb2014026_zps79aefaac.jpg

 

[Jinnytee]

The "THING "

Kisaq- that is just too sweet for words ... taking his chipmunk to bed with him. It made me laugh to think of your boy making you get down the toys from the top shelf for inspection I wish we had a big box pet store. We only have two very small pet shops on this island- neither great ... mostly catering to aquariums, and their dog toy selection is one basket ! Not that they would ever allow a dog inside, but if they did, at least Luna would be quick in making her mind up !

Two dogs, I loved your descriptions of how different dogs play, and I can see the similarities in my dogs . Like your Rat Terrier, I had a female Jack Russell Terrier, Mollie, who taught herself to throw a tennis ball about eight foot into the air and then she would jump and catch it mid-air on the way down. People used to see her, and think that I was a brilliant dog trainer ( Ha Ha ) .... but it was all her own doing.
You may remember I posted ages ago, when I first got Luna, about her trying to take toys away from my other two dogs. Well, as you rightly predicted at that time, the other dogs really didn't want the toys themselves, I guess it was just the novelty of lots of toys suddenly appearing ... so it was only an issue for the first few days ! Luna is the only one of them that seems to like a toy. The JRT I now have, Charlie, has no interest in toys,or balls, even if I am playing with him. He sniffs them and looks with utter disdain as if I am bonkers to be offering such a thing to him. He much prefers to be stalking lizards and chasing wood-doves in the garden. The exception being the arrival of a new stuffed toy, which holds his attention only for the 20 minutes it takes him to rip it apart and pull out all the stuffing ... "killing it", as you say. So Luna has some stuffed toys with the long leg appendages that you speak of, but they are all now sadly lacking their innards My Lab has no interest in playing with toys, but she loves to carry something in her mouth. No-one can be greeted by her unless she has something to "bring ". If there is not a toy to hand, she will pick up a stone, or a leaf. She loves to play fetch, and would play until the cows come home if she could. Luna will play fetch, and I have trained her to bring the ball back ... but I feel she only plays as she thinks she will get the treat for bringing back the ball, whereas for my lab, the game itself is the biggest reward there is, and even if I happen to have treats, she is too focused on the ball to care.

It had seemed odd to me, that Luna had gone from enjoying her chew toys constantly throughout the day, always having one, to not being interested in them, even the squeaky ones, which had been her favorites. I was presuming she was bored by their familiarity, but thinking about it all, I think that Miss Luna is just growing up and has outgrown the need for chew toys. However, you are absolutely correct about her best toys being those that mimic prey ... so taking your cue of something stretchy, stuffed, and with long appendages to fight back, I made her "Thing". Pair of old woolly tights, stuffed and knots tied in the legs. Oh boy, she has played with that for over 3 hours this morning, tossed it, shaken it, stood on it and stretched it out, chewed it, ran round madly with it, and is now exhausted asleep at my feet as I type this.

 

[Kisaq]

"Thing" is awesome!!
Isn't funny how sometimes the best toys are the homemade ones? LOL.

Kisaq has an old worn out pair of winter socks that are tied in a big knot in the middle (four "legs" dangling out). He loves that thing.

Luna is such a pretty girl.

 

[Jinnytee]

"Thing" is awesome!!
Isn't funny how sometimes the best toys are the homemade ones? LOL.

Kisaq has an old worn out pair of winter socks that are tied in a big knot in the middle (four "legs" dangling out). He loves that thing.

Luna is such a pretty girl.

Living here I have had to improvise with quite a few of her toys, as we have limited options to buy, although I had my daughter post me some toys from the UK when Luna was a little pup ! No food stuffing kongs here, for example ..... but dry kibble pushed into an empty plastic water bottle provides about 30 minutes of entertainment while she knocks it around with her paw, picks it up in her mouth and shakes it, figuring out how she can get the food out through the small bottle opening

Thank you for the compliment ... and she has a brilliant temperament also, very calm and gentle, easy to train, and well behaved. I really lucked out when I chose her.

I must say that Kisaq is a very handsome boy too. I think white boxers are extra special.

Jinny