Inexpensive Toys

[Rebekah Hartman]

There was a thread in DD about toys dogs love that are free or cheap and I was thinking it would be good to start another one here. I'd add that suggestions for toys that may cost money but last a long time would be helpful, too.

To start us off, we learned (by accident) that empty plastic milk jugs are a fabulous toy. We had one sitting next to the trash and Samson confiscated it, so we took it away and removed the label and cap, put a few pieces of kibble inside and he's been playing with it for ages (actually, I trade it out when we have a new one empty). The plastic is sturdy enough that he can crease it; it bends instead of breaking into pieces that he could swallow. It's been great during teething. Best of all, it's free.

[Chris Smith]

This is a great idea for a thread, Rebekah. I don't even want to think about how much $$$ I have spent on toys for Nalu in the 4 months that I have had him. He detroys a $5 - $10 in 5-10 minutes virtually every time I buy him one. And I wind up buying these things a few times a week since I always feel bad that he doesn't have any toys left to play with!! That adds up pretty quick. Seems like between food costs and toy costs, half my paycheck is being spent on him right now!

I will try the milk jug idea. Nalu has his adult teeth in now, so he can really shred up a toy in no time. So any ideas on cheap/free stuff to use would be great!

Or indestructible toys!!! I keep buying tougher and tougher materials and he still manages to get through everything. So far, the only thing that can last with him is the super hard rubber balls (kong type balls). He loves soft toys and I like to get him something he can swing around with his neck/mouth (the break his neck trick) since he has such hunting instincts. But he rips those things to shreds a minute after he gets them.

[heathea]

Well, we use the classic 2 liter bottle. she tears them up after running in the house with it like she won a prize. That is the only free one we use. We have had great luck with fat cat inc. soft toys. You can buy them at target or online (but you have to buy a bunch at a time from the company). They are the only soft toys that stand up to dogs. They are great! Another way to get cheap soft or other toys is garage sales. You can get baby toys for next to nothing and then as they tear them up, you just throw them away.
Good Luck.
Heather

[Liz Gilbert]

Cocoa likes to play with ice cubes, grapes and the empty rolls of paper towels/toilet paper :)

He eventually eats the ice cubes and the grapes, and once he starts tearing apart the roll, we just take it away from him.

~Liz

[Rebekah Hartman]

Sorry to throw a health-related tip in here, but it's important. I didn't know this until fairly recently, but grapes and raisins are now considered toxic to dogs. Apparently they cause kidney failure, so definitely not a good idea to feed them!

[Krysta Smith]

I usually give Lola empty boxes, paper towel rolls and empty pop bottles. She loves to tear things up so card board is one of her favorites. I used to let her tear up newspaper but I think she got bored of it. She only likes pop bottles if I squish them up first otherwise she can't get her mouth around it. They're especially good on tile floor!! She'll knock it around the room and chase after it for hours!!

[Jesse Cruz]

ohh my babies like to play with socks. so i give them old socks to tug on.

[Chris Smith]

After reading these posts, I'm starting to think I have a dog with jaws and teeth of steel :(

Nalu gets through a cardboard box, paper towel roll, even the plastic coke bottles in a matter of seconds. Forget the socks - he's gotten through Levi's jeans and running shoes in minutes. And I have tried those crunchy fat cat "soft" toys from target but they were gone in under 5 minutes. He tore a tennis ball in half in under 3 minutes the other day.

He is currently working on a real beef bone and managing to get chips of it off. Maybe I should have him gnaw on a diamond???

I am starting to wonder if he will get any teeth damage from successfully chewing such hard stuff...

[heathea]

oh. you have one of THOSE dogs... :)

I saw an apparently indestructible ball on animal planet that lights up. Also, Nylabone make Galilleo bones just for dogs like yours. They are pretty rough and tough. If I were you, I would make nice with a butcher and start givin raw bones to your baby. They are hard and will keep them interested, but won't make them sick or hurt teeth.
Good luck,
Take care,
Heather

[Jody Hayes]

I too have dogs w/ steel teeth:) They wrip everything apart! Nothing is safe. I am going to the butcher today:)

[Cecile Vargo]

Maggie likes to play with old plastic nursery pots. In fact yesterday I heard some commotion in the back yard and looked out - she had a half chewed up one she was carrying around teasing the other dogs.

When my new neighbors had their brand new refrigerator delivered last year, we asked them for the huge box it came in and it served as a tunnel for all three dogs to play in for a couple of months. Maggie was a tiny pup then and she loved it, but even my old dog got a kick out of running through the square cardboard tunnel. Of course they eventually chewed it up, but they got more than their money's worth out of it.

[Andre Mendizabal]

Nala enjoys about everything so it isn't hard to find her a cheap toy. This morning she was playing with a string of rope that was hanging from the fence, she looked so funny! she also likes playing with pines from trees, sticks, carton boxes, plastic bottles, etc. The good thing about it is that she won't eat them, just tear them up to pieces!!! Another fairly cheap toy is the "rope" to play tug-o-war, mine also has those steel teeth so she goes through them in a matter of minutes (well, she did that mostly when she was little, now they last longer)... so I bought in the hardware store 12 feet of thick cotton rope and just cute pieces of three feet and did a knot at each end, so whenever she destroys one, she has a spare one... and for little money I got to have a lot of toys!!!!
:cool:

[heathea]

I cannot recommend the raw bones more. I LOVE giving them to my dogs. They focus on them for HOURS. Chew the heck out of them, it never makes mine sick the way smoked bones. When I am oogied out by them, I throw them away. They are usually pretty cheap as well. Good luck!
Heather

[Andre Mendizabal]

Ohhhh, good old bones!!!! yeah, Nala loves her raw bones too, and my butcher gives them for free!!!!

[Rachel]

I started Sophie on raw bones (another teeth of steel dog...) and I was wondering how long they keep? If she doesn't finish it in a day will it still be good tomorrow or should I just toss it? Also do you keep them frozen?

Rachel

[Clair Taberner]

for the bigger dog, u know all the odd socks that yr machine leaves behind and they pile up? put one in another twisting as u go to make a ball. Amber loves hers and as she gets through a layer i just chuck it away and it lasts a while, if yr dog isn't a huge chewer.(poppy took just under a week to get through one i made that was bigger than a tennis ball size and solid sock!)

[Chris Smith]

I have only tried a raw bone once because I was so concerned about Nalu resource guarding with it like he has done with all of the "fake" bones. He initially did guard it a little and of course buried it, but after digging it out of the yard a few weeks later, he no longer guards it at all (I can take it from him and give it back, etc.) and he is still working on it!! It does appear to be the most undestructible thing and it holds his attention the best. So I will have to get to know the butcher! And cheaper than most toys!

Can they really "go bad"? Nalu has had the same bone for a couple of weeks now (as well as the time it was buried somewhere) and it still looks and smells the same. It is all bone - no sign of meat or marrow at all. Some days he gnaws on it a lot and other days it just lays out in the yard. I figured I would leave it alone until he buries it again or manages to destroy it but maybe I shouldn't??

I do have another new one waiting for him that I have been storing in the freezer.

[Rachel]

Can they really "go bad"? Nalu has had the same bone for a couple of weeks now (as well as the time it was buried somewhere) and it still looks and smells the same. It is all bone - no sign of meat or marrow at all. Some days he gnaws on it a lot and other days it just lays out in the yard. I figured I would leave it alone until he buries it again or manages to destroy it but maybe I shouldn't??



Oh, the one I got from the butcher did still have the marrow and a little meat on it thats why I worried about it.

Rachel

[Andre Mendizabal]

I started Sophie on raw bones (another teeth of steel dog...) and I was wondering how long they keep? If she doesn't finish it in a day will it still be good tomorrow or should I just toss it? Also do you keep them frozen?

Rachel

Rachel, each week I go over to the butchers' and he gives me a small bag with bones, I immediately put them in the freezer (kills bacteria) and after a day I start defrosting the bones (one by one), I also get them with a little meat and marrow, that I usually take out and put in her food (a bonus!!!) I usually give one and she spends the day chewing it, at the end of the day I'll take it away and throw it out... I never keep a chewed bone (personal thing, specially because sometimes they still have meat in it) but I've heard people that will clean it up and put it back in the freezer... and they last for a looooong time!!!!

[heathea]

Okay, just to let you know, the freezer does not kill bacteria, it just slows it down for a while and as soon as things thaw they start "up" again.

Once my dogs clean out the bone of all the marrow and meat (doesn't take all that long-maybe a day?) the bone looks like one of the "sterilized" bones that you can buy from the pet store. At that point I will let it lay around until it either 1. gets dirty or 2. I step on the freaking thing and it hurts and I jump up and down. At those points, I usually throw them away.

My personal recomendation (means absolutely nothing, I am not a vet or advisor, although I do have a degree in biology) is that you get new bones as often as possible and they can be kept frozen and even given frozen. Obviously if it smells bad, etc., get rid of it.

I don't let my dogs take their bones outside 'cause we will never see them again until decomposition starts. Which, although I am sure the dogs LOVE that, grosses me out.

It is something I have never done, however I believe if you wanted to keep the same bone after all the marrow meat etc was gone you could wash it using a dish detergent and rinsing very well. This is just a theory...

Take care,
Heather

[Rachel]

Thank you guys for the info. :tup:

[Luciann]

Well my darlings will play with stuffed animals until they start coming apart then they want the stuffing out so i throw them away. I get most of mine at yard sales.

For the more durable (not for your darling, Chris) toys we use to take a 20 oz soda bottle and take the cap ring and labels off and put something in it to rattle around put the lid back on and let them play with it.

Mine only want shoes and socks that have been recently worn, they carry them around the house but do not tear them up. Mine also like hair scrunchies.

[Liz Gilbert]

Thank you again about the grape info! I didn't know that they were considered toxic.

The couple of times he had one, he just played with it until it was smashed :) then it wasn't fun anymore. I think the last time I gave him one, was the time he ate it.

No more grapes I guess for Cocoa! :)

Thanks again!


Liz

[Sarah Moore]

Well, my toy recommendations aren't exactly cheap, but many of these have last over a year with up to 3 dogs playing with them at any given time, so at least they are a good value :) Durable Nylabones are a lifesaver so destro-chewers (Thats my Teddy, chews anything and everything). My dogs really like the chocolate flavor (these are the non-edible kind, no real chocolate here). Of course Kong toys, the regular shape, the balls, I haven't had them destroy anything made by Kong. The cheapest toy that holds its own is the indestricible tennis balls. I get a pack of 2 for $1.50 and they don't seem to be able to chew them up as fast as normal tennis balls. Thos are pretty much the only toys I am able to leave out without fear or them chewing and swallowing large pieces off. On a side note, I gave Ginger, my min pin, a stuffed animal while the big dogs were eating, and forgot she had it. They beheaded it and unstuffed it together in about 5 minutes, but the body has been a good tug of war toy for the past 3 days ;)

[Summer Magic]

About the wrecked stuffies. I just buy a bag if polyester stuffing and keep it in the closet. When they shred them I just restuff and resew them. I currently have 16 in the basket awaiting surgery.