Keeping Your Dog Interested In Toys

Dog Tips

Aug 5

Do you find yourself buying toys for your dog, just to see them laying around after a few days?

Your dog looses interest in the toys you buy and starts chewing you shoes or couch instead. Especially if you have a high-energy dog who is always looking for trouble, it is easy for them to get distracted from toys.

Below find 6 tips on how to make your toys more interesting for your dog.

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Six Tips to Keep Toy Interested

1. Rotate Your Toys

A few trainers recommend to take away all your dog’s toys, so you can decide when it is playtime. If you have been around for a while, you know that I don’t like these dominance games. Instead: try to leave out 1 to 2 toys, let your dog play with it and once he gets bored of the toys, exchange them for two different toys the next day. Once your dog gets tired of those two toys, exchange for the initial toys or two different toys (depending on how many toys your dog has).

2. Buy Interactive Toys

The Kong or toys with small openings might be more stimulation for your dog than regular toys. You can hide treats or kibble in them to keep your dog interested in the toy. If you fill the toy with peanut butter and freeze it overnight, its not only a delicious treat but will also keep your dog busy.

3. Buy a puzzle

Your dog might need a toy that keeps him mentally stimulated. Buying him a puzzle and hiding treats in it will keep your dog engaged. There are different levels of difficulty. I started with this one. It took a few days for my dog to actually figure this one out. He had to learn how to use the lever and push object to the side with his nose. It is a lot of fun to watch him struggle with it. I bought another one that is a little more difficult and switch between them.

Pro Tip: If your dog eats his meals too fast, you can try to hide his dry kibble in one or two puzzles to slow down his eating pace.

4. Get different types of toys

Your dog might have a different preference for toys than other dogs. My dog Luke loves rubber and squeaky toys. Sure, he will play with stuffed toys as well but he will either take it apart within minutes or quickly loose interest. It is easier to keep your dog interested in a toy that he/she already loves than a toy that he semi-likes. I have some really sturdy rubber toys that also squeak, but sometimes I buy him soft rubber toys that he loves to take apart.

5. Make your dog’s favorite toy accessible

Give your dog access to his favorite toy. I can’t have a squeaky toy laying around all the time because my dog would never stop playing with it, but he has always access to his Kong. He might take a break playing with it for a week but always comes back to it after a few days. He either brings it to me to play fetch or just chews on it for a bit.

Access to your dog’s favorite toy gives your dog the opportunity to engage with you or to play by himself whiles you are gone. It's a good idea to have one toy always around and rotate the rest of his/her toys throughout the week.

6. Play with your dog

Sometimes all it takes to get interested in a toy is engagement. If you are excited about a toy, your dog will be too!

To keep your dog engaged in his toys can be challenging, especially since dogs are easily distracted. These tricks will help you (and your walled) to make “old” toys appear new again and help engaging in playtime.

Happy Playtime!

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