Is It Fair To Dictate How Your Dog Plays

[MolassesLass]

My two young dogs are destruction machines and this is very costly in toys.

I do supervise but ripping the toy into pieces seems to be all the want to do with it, so I either take it away as soon as they start playing or I just give up and watch it get eaten.

Is it fair to train a dog to play in the way you want them to (in this case to chew on but not destroy)? Is it fairer if you do allow some toys to be destroyed but some aren't?

[persephone]

I have no answer...re the training side...

BUT If it were me- I would be limiting their toys to very heavy duty stuff only.

IMO- dogs don't need complicated,coloured,wobbly toys...

some good thick cotton/jute rope, a couple of soccer balls(leather) a few (poly) plumbing fittings to toss around (these are almost indestructible) and a kong or three.

[MolassesLass]

BUT If it were me- I would be limiting their toys to very heavy duty stuff only.

persephone I have!!! I think I just made them a challenge.

Hadn't thought of poly-pipe though.

[Just Midol]

If my dogs did that I wouldn't get the bastards toys

Gizmo doens't "do" toys anyway, he sometimes plays with tugs but only if you just hold it, no pulling. He loves toilet paper, but unfortunately for him, I cbf cleaning it up.

Montu doesn't get any toys at all unless it's a tug and I'm playing with him, however, he finds his own toys. He'll play with his water bowl so I have to get metal bowls as he doesn't like those as much. He gets sticks and throws them around, and sits there chewing on the tree. If I feed him in a plastic bowl and forget the bowl is demolished in 3 seconds. He can't have a bad, as that is also gone in seconds. He got a new blanket over his crate last night. Destroyed already. I have a feeling you're dogs are similar to Montu? If so, no, I wouldn't give toys Too expensive.

[MolassesLass]

Montu doesn't get any toys at all unless it's a tug and I'm playing with him, however, he finds his own toys. He'll play with his water bowl so I have to get metal bowls as he doesn't like those as much. He gets sticks and throws them around, and sits there chewing on the tree. If I feed him in a plastic bowl and forget the bowl is demolished in 3 seconds. He can't have a bad, as that is also gone in seconds. He got a new blanket over his crate last night. Destroyed already. I have a feeling you're dogs are similar to Montu? If so, no, I wouldn't give toys Too expensive.

No, they don't chew their beds or bowls, they just destroy anything given to them to play with.

Bolded bit: Sure that's an option but not the question I asked.

[Teebs]

i have spent so much money on toys, kaos is the same, wont touch anything else, but give her a toy and she will kill it! Never ripped a bed apart, only chewed a phone and a remote when she was a puppy, and thats it.

I now only give them GOOD toys, i have a few here that have lasted ages, I got a Rope Ball thing yesterday at work, wasnt sure how it would go... gave it to her last night and she loved it. Only cost $10, so if it dies, it dies

ETA: might actually answer the question

If they are ripping something apart (their toy, not something i own!) then i just let them do it, they are having fun, as long as nothing is eaten that shouldnt be, i let them go - they are just going to do it again the next time you hand them the toy if you take it off them

Edited May 26, 2009 by Teebs

[Seita]

I don't control how my dogs play, if they are going to destroy something let them at it. I just give toys that are really really hard to destroy and let them try their very best to kill them!!! So far the kongs have survived, as has a large cuz and a large starmark treat ball... everything else however... dead!

[Just Midol]

Montu doesn't get any toys at all unless it's a tug and I'm playing with him, however, he finds his own toys. He'll play with his water bowl so I have to get metal bowls as he doesn't like those as much. He gets sticks and throws them around, and sits there chewing on the tree. If I feed him in a plastic bowl and forget the bowl is demolished in 3 seconds. He can't have a bad, as that is also gone in seconds. He got a new blanket over his crate last night. Destroyed already. I have a feeling you're dogs are similar to Montu? If so, no, I wouldn't give toys Too expensive.

No, they don't chew their beds or bowls, they just destroy anything given to them to play with.

Bolded bit: Sure that's an option but not the question I asked.

Ahhh. Answering the actual question, something I'm not good at.

I think it's fair and not fair. I feel meaning giving them a toy then taking it off them I guess if Montu wasn't being raised for security I probably would not dictate how he plays but it would mean he gets very few toys as I have no money tree, and even if I did, he'd eat it.

Yay, I answered the question

[pipsqueak]

I have one dog who chews (or rather unpicks the stitching!!!) on soft toys. He gets to pay with the soft toy so long as he is running around and throwing or playing with the toy. As soon as he starts chewing/sucking the toy, it's game over, as I am afraid that he will eat it. He also sucks holes in blankets (doesn't actually chew them), so he doesn't get a blanket for his bed either. Probably mean, but I think it would be meaner if he ends up with a blockage. He gets kongs and treat balls to chew, and that's about it. If he starts destroying those, they will be removed as well - which would just leave bones that I am happy for him to destroy.

ETA - I also, at times dictate how my dogs play. If I am outside, their play can tend to get very rough (moreso than when I am inside). So, if it gets too rough or noisy, I will put a stop to it. I don't see this as being much different to limiting play with toys. I am "boss" in this house, so all toys belong to me - I get to say when play starts and stops - be it with me, each other or with toys.

Edited May 27, 2009 by ~pip~

[Sayreovi]

Nope.

Both my dogs get great joy in pulling apart toys, the concentration on their faces when they defluff a toy is hilarious. Their favourite toy is the colourful, star shaped squeaky toy. Darcy usually kills the squeakers first by continually chomping on them till they burst, then it is pulled apart.

I would be very happy to find a toy that was actually made to be pulled apart and then put back together, but until then I still allow them to do what they want with the toys.

[Aussienot]

Yes, I think it is "fair" to dictatate the play and treatment of the toys. I paid for the toys, I selected them, I denied myself something with that money. They are my toys that I loan to the dogs, and I expect them back in reasonable condition for the next time that I choose to loan the dogs my toys.

Mostly they get toys that we play with together. Tug, fetch and go find. Other toys are ones they get to keep them occupied when I've got other priorities, but they still will be at least nominally supervised with these.

With a puppy or young dog, I expect a certain amount of developmental chewing and distruction, and I'd prefer to choose the item that they exercise their teeth on. And for every dog, once in a while, it feels good to denude, desqueak, and destuff a toy. So yes, some of the toys I give them are earmarked for distruction, and I think that's only fair!

Edited May 27, 2009 by Aussienot

[callee]

I have 2 extreme kongs that seemed to have survived my dog, and 2 very tough rubberish balls that are large enough for him to pick up and down, but not small enough to put destructive effort into. Otherwise everything gets destroy (even toys that are recommended for the toughest of chewers). And the kongs may have only survived because we frequently replace the broken stuff.

He does want to play fetch (not a fan of tug-o-war), but the minute he wants a rest, or you get distracted by something else, he's found a nice grassy patch and putting his teeth through it.

He won't touch rope toys unless there is nothing else to play with. I love the poly-pipe idea!!!

My friends dog does not destroy toys, but if there is a dirt/dead patch in the lawn, she will just keep digging at it. I think she's trying to find an inexpensive way to China.

So my figuring is - I'll let him destroy his toys to save the yard (I'm a renter!).

I will discipline if he thinks something is a toy and it is quite clearly not, he learns quick enough. If he is playing with another dog and it gets excessively boistrous or too rough, I will make a low growly type noise to get attention but not demand them to stop (I got this idea watching a wolf discipline a pack at play that were getting rough with each other, the play became quieter afterwards, and it does seem to work on domestic dogs too).

[rastus_froggy]

With one of my dogs the only play she really enjoys is to shred stuff, she is not into retrieving balls, she think the point of any ball is to chase it when it's thrown then run away with it and chew it to pieces! I am a regular visitor to Vinnie's to buy their dodgy second hand stuffed toys as giving my girl one of these is just heaven to her. Also the biggest toy treat I can give her is a catalogue or newspaper, she even tries to steal them away if you sit in the yard to read, she absolutley shreds them.

So I guess I do dictaed how she plays as she only plays when I give these item to her and they are hers to destroy then.