Are Our Dog Toys Really Important?

Puppies love to explore the world with their mouth, and before they explore your furniture or other things, you need to be prepared with the best toys for your puppy, based on their age and chewing style. Toys are important for your puppy to keep him busy and out of trouble. Buying a toy is the first thing to do when you get your furry friend. Toys provide your dog with emotional and physical stimulation. When your puppy gets bored, toys are the best for him to occupy their free time.

Every dog has its own instinct. For example, "Golden Retrievers" own their instinct to retrieve; they may be attached to instinctively retrieve the ball or Frisbee. Hunting dogs may be instinctively attached to the toys like squeaky toys to satisfy their hunting nature and chew on them. Some of the toy’s act like a puppy for female dogs, and they can have an emotional attachment that reminds them of a puppy. Some dog breeds like Labrador, Border Collie, Golden Retriever, Chihuahua tends to love to chew toys because they love chewing.

Toys are one of the necessities in a dog's life and play an important role in a dog's well-being. Your dog will not get bored if he has different toys when you are out of the home. Toys leave a psychological effect on a dog's behavior when he is nervous. Moreover, toys can help to prevent to development of different behavioral problems for your furry friend.

 Major Categories Of Dog Toys

Dog toys can be broken down into four categories.

• Chew Toys

The most obvious and ubiquitous is chew toys. They are produced to fulfil the purpose to be chewed, mangled, punctured, gnawed on, and beat up on a regular basis. Generally, they are made of tough rubber or silicon or often with antlers and come in hundreds of different shapes and sizes. Some examples of chew toys are Buster cube, Treat Stick, Tug-a-Jug, Kibble Needle, and Everlasting Fun Ball.

• Dental Toys

Dental toys are also a pretty obvious category. These toys are made to scour teeth, massage gums, and promote blood flow. Dental toys can be supplemented with dog toothpaste if you feel necessary, but most dental toys are made to use alone. Dental toys are made of soft materials and are equipped with ridges, knobs, fins, and scales to work on the dog's mouth when the dog is chewing. Some of the dental toys are fully consumable sometimes.

• Interactive Toys

Interactive toys have a much bigger territory as compared to chew and mental toys. Interactive toys are ones like tug toys, balls, Frisbees, retrieval, dummies, and a wide range of other products. These toys also include puzzles and games. As mentioned from their name, these are the things that your furry friend interacts with for a higher level of training than just laying down and chewing. Interactive toys are great because not only do they provide mental stimulation, which is as important as physical stimulation, but these toys provide a lot of tactics and skills for a higher level of training.

• Plush Toys

Plush types are made of stuffed animals and stuffed shapes. Although it also includes the toys without stuffing. Generally, the plush toys are made of little animals or cute characters, plush toys come in hundreds of shapes and sizes for different types of dogs.

Benefits Of Toys For Dogs

Toys are really important for dogs, especially for puppies. Because they are growing their teeth and their gums can get very sore.

• Chew toys can help them to keep their teeth and gums clean.
• Toys are very helpful to reduce stress and anxiety.
• Toys play an important part in dog training.
• If you have just shifted to a new home, your dog may feel confused and stressed. Filling his toy box will help him to reduce stress and confusion.
• For dog breeds that have a hunting nature, toys act like prey and can satisfy their hunting instinct.
• Small puppies love cuddling with their toys a lot. Cuddling relaxes their muscles when they are tired.
• When your dog is angry and stressed, he may show some bad behavior like destroying your furniture or other things. The best solution to this bad situation is to provide them with chew toys. So, they can load off their anger to chew toys instead of destroying your expensive things.
• Toys keep your furry friend busy and active. It is necessary for your dog's physical fitness to provide them with toys like Frisbee or ball.
• All dogs love to chew something, and it provides mental stimulation to your beloved pup. Moreover, it satisfies their chewing instinct.
• Interactive and puzzle toys are wonderful for dogs. It keeps their minds engaged and prevents boredom.

How To Pick The Best And Safest

Walking down the toy aisle of your local pet supply store can be overwhelming. There are hundreds of toys available in the market to select from. Most people search for toys that look interesting or at least whatever their dog picks up and slobbers. The stores are full of hundreds of types of dog toys, but you need to pick the best and safest for your dog according to his "instinct". Here we derived off some important points to consider when choosing a toy for your furry friend.

There are several things to consider about the safety or danger of a toy for your beloved friend. But it depends on your puppy's size, activity level, and priorities. The environment is another thing to consider when buying the toys for your god. Environment means the place where your dog spends his time. But you need to follow the following points to ensure safety while your dog is playing with the toys:

• You need to remove all the things like strings, ribbons, rubber bands, children's toys, etc. These are the things that are too attractive for your dog, and he can swallow them when he is playing.
• It is very important to consider the size of your dog when buying a toy. Don't choose too small or tiny toys because dogs can easily swallow them, and they can be lodged in your dog's throat. It can become a big trouble for both of you.
• Is your dog playing with squeaky toys? Your supervision is very important. In search of a squeaking source to destroy, your dog can ingest it, which can convert into a terrible situation for both of you.
• Always select the "dog-proof" toys. Don't consider toys that are not dog-proof. Because your furry friend can swallow or ingest the things like strings, ribbons, or other parts of the toys.
• Check regularly whether any of the toys are broken or torn into pieces. Immediately discard such toys because your dog can swallow or ingest the tiny pieces of broken toys.
• Before buying the stuffed toys for your dog, remember to check the label whether it is stuffed with the safe material or is dangerous for the children.
• Avoid buying toys that are made of materials like hard plastic and nylon. These materials are often harder than your dog's teeth, and they can be harmful to his teeth if chewed.
• Some animal hooves and antlers are also made of harder enough materials to fracture a dog's teeth. Avoid buying such toys as they can fracture a dog's teeth.

Wrapping up

In all things, there is a strategy if you dig a little deeper. Toys are not different. You can use your toys to develop your relationship with your furry friend. You also can teach some essential skills and behaviors. It can generally make life a lot more fun for both of you. Dog toys have more benefits than just fun. Filling your dog's box with toys is a less costly way to teach them skills and manners. You can get the wanted behavior of your dog by using the toys. Buying a toy for your furry friend is one of the best things to do.