Dog Toys

Do dogs really need toys?  What is it that makes them so appealing?  Do toys replace or fulfill the dog’s need to hunt and chase?  Do they really think the stuffed bunny is a real rabbit?  I guess the answer to that one is obvious.

What’s also obvious is that dog toys are now a huge business.  There are dog toys for each holiday!  We all know how dogs love the holidays and the new toys that are sure to be their possession.  My dogs like Easter because they like to chase rabbits.  They don’t dare chase Santa!

Let’s face it. . .the toys we choose are usually for us.  Personally, I seldom let the dogs have stuffed toys because the disemboweling makes a fine, white, fluffy mess I am left to clean up.  Unlike a real rabbit, they don’t eat these “guts” – or at least we hope they don’t!

The truth – dogs are happy being with us and while they love chewing and playing, it can be a cardboard box or plastic water bottle.  It’s similar to how a small child has to learn that what is in the box is more important (and supposedly more fun) than the box!  Dogs are much the same.  Don’t feel like your dog won’t be happy if you don’t buy expensive stuffed animals.

If all of their toys are left lying around, they are sure to get bored which will lead you to buy even more toys.  Leave out a few at a time and rotate the others.  What was once old will be new again!

Some dogs do get a bit possessive over a stuffed treasure as though they hunted and killed it themselves.  I do believe they fully know the difference between a “real” rabbit and the sherpa bunny.  In case they don’t, I won’t be the one to spoil it for them!