How To Keep A Puppy Entertained When You Aren't Home

[deltoid]

I've got a little 9wk old Silky Terrier. When we go out we put him in his play pen with his toys, however I've noticed he doesn't really play with most of them (I leave a webcam on when I'm at work so I can keep an eye on what he gets up to to try and make adjustments to his toys / pen to suit him better).

Pretty much his day consists of sleeping (spends about 90% of the day doing this), wrestling with his bed and wrestling with his stuffed monkey (the monkey is about his size and has a squeaker in it).

I have a squeaky ball, a chew ball, a rope and a kong stuffed with his food in there as well but he doesn't touch any of those.

Any ideas? I want to make sure he has enough things to do so he doesn't get bored but yeah, he doesn't seem too interested in anything except wrestling. I haven't noticed him crying / barking on the camera (he does it every now and then but usually just for a minute or so)

I've tried putting peanut butter in the kong and he doesn't touch it. When I'm home he generally will play with his kong, rope and the squeakily ball (he doesn't really pay much attention to the monkey when I'm home).

[whiskedaway]

My pup's favourite toys are a stuffed bunny and scrunched up paper. She will play with scrunched up paper for ages. We also get toilet rolls/paper towel rolls and scrunch the ends over, put a bit of kibble in it and give it to her. She loves destroying the cardboard to get the tiny pieces of kibble.

[parrotpea]

My little SBT pup is nearly 12 weeks and has only really started to get into her kong in the past week. I think in the first few weeks she was home, she didn't have time to get bored really because she spent so much time sleeping. But now she is awake more, she has more time and energy to engage in toy destruction - I mean, playing lol.

A pigs ear keeps her going for several hours - a silky pup would probably be chewing on one for a week though

I got her interested in her kong by stuffing it with a mixture of soaked kibble and chicken mince then freezing it. I also rub a bit of vegemite on the inside of the kong before I stuff it.

I saw a good idea on a blog last night - have a look at this: http://thedexterdiaries.blogspot.com/2010/...-leftovers.html

[Nekhbet]

sounds like he's coping fine without you. Get him a couple of furry soft toys if he prefers wrestling.

[BonJosie]

Haha, my puppy's favourite toys are also scrunched up paper and toilet rolls! She is quite partial to 1.5L plastic soft drink bottles too!

[whiskedaway]

Haha, my puppy's favourite toys are also scrunched up paper and toilet rolls! She is quite partial to 1.5L plastic soft drink bottles too!

My one year old loves plastic drink bottles too. We often put kibble inside them and she spends hours trying to get all the kibble out - as soon as she squashes the bottle, it makes it very hard for the kibble to come out! We haven't given them to the puppy yet - might try her with a 600mL because she's a lot smaller than Akira was as a puppy.

[Clyde]

Small breed, only 9 weeks old. I would give him more time and then I am sure he will broaden his horizons with the toys.

[Nushie]

Jager still loves his cardboard, if there is a box of any sort left within his reach unsupervised it will be destroyed by the time we catch him. Doesnt really bother me, other than the fact i have to pick up shredded cardboard all the time

He has also recently discovered the soft drink bottles, i dont even need to put kibble in them, he just jumps all over them to make them go flying along the carpet and then tackles them again.

Kongs are the best investment i have ever made, he wasnt interested in them for the first week or two. I just started off with some dry kibble in them so that it would easily fall out, once he was in the habit of pushing them around to get that out, i put some wet kibble in to make a little harder, then started to pack it in so it would take longer, then freeze it, now i stuff it with meat and some veg and freeze. It only lasts an hour, but seeing as when we arent there he tends to sleep i dont think its a problem.

[luvsdogs]

I'm used to bigger dogs that tend to chew things up quickly. I would watch the soft toys & squeakers for wear. You don't want any choking hazards. As he grows & gets older he may start to take more of an interst in them especially during teething.

[deltoid]

Thanks for the replies everyone, very helpful. I will try the 600ml bottle with kibble in it one day while I'm home and see how he likes that.

Kongs are the best investment i have ever made, he wasnt interested in them for the first week or two. I just started off with some dry kibble in them so that it would easily fall out, once he was in the habit of pushing them around to get that out, i put some wet kibble in to make a little harder, then started to pack it in so it would take longer, then freeze it, now i stuff it with meat and some veg and freeze. It only lasts an hour, but seeing as when we arent there he tends to sleep i dont think its a problem.

He is currently at the stage that he will hit the kong with his paw to get the kibble to drop out. He has also started chewing the kong when it is empty (I usually play fetch with the kong and he will give it a good chew when he gets his hands on it). I might try the wet kibble and see how he goes with that. Possibly the problem is that it is too hard for him to get the food out (I was putting kibble with peanut butter, and he'd use his tongue to get as much as he could but wouldn't chew it to get it out).

I check his toys every other day for signs of wear / choke hazards but thanks for the tip anyway, I wouldn't have thought of it if I didn't see it elsewhere.