Dog toys and other rubbish

We love dog toys at Pack Leader. Whenever we have a dog adventure I will always have my back pack with our assortment of dog toys. There is all kinds of stuff in there, your usual couple of balls (which I tend not to use a lot really) frisbees (kong and also cheapie plastic ones),a canvas dummy, a couple of small cuddly toys that we use for scent/find it games, and maybe a ball of rope (or some such cheapie toy from TK Maxx) I have more recently been using some homemade toys, inspired by dog trainer Dave Davies and what can only be described as his back of rubbish that he has found and turned into dog toys, old gloves, bits of plastic piping etc that all my dogs went bonkers for! I have done the same, some pictures below. As Dave would say If I throw a kong into the see and none of the dogs see it can be very  disappointing to see  £8ish float off to France, whereas a length of hosepipe I can replace for free at the beach which is where I found the last bit.

Why so many toys?

Well much like us humans different dogs like different things! Lily may like a frisbee, Max prefers a kong or a soft toy, and Alex the pointer will retrieve anything! Over time I want the dogs to learn to explore the environment or play with me. The don’t really play with each other, they will occasionally chase or play tug but if I think they are getting too excited and are going  to start playing/mouthing each other then I distract and the toys come straight out. I want to be able maintain their interest ALL the time. I feel I have a responsibility to the owners to send the dogs back better (or certainly no worse) than I took them out, so I try and give the gift of play. Well I wouldn’t expect everyone to take a bag of toys to the park but my job involves entertaining, training, playing with a small pack of dogs every day. I want them interested in me, and to think I am the most interesting thing in the park, woods, town, and beach so I want a good variety to help me to do that. The more stimulating the environment (think how many smells there are at the beach) the harder it could potentially be for me to maintain control/interest in the dogs. If I see another dog on the beach coming towards us it is much more pleasant for me and the dogs if I just have to get a Frisbee out to have three pairs of eyes glued to me (rather than put everyone back on leash) We can all walk down a beach off leash and they will ignore (most of the time) any other dog/person.

 

                                                                          Focusing on the toy

                                                                 

Not the toy it’s what you do with it!

Finally, most importantly and hopefully you have worked out by now, it’s not what kind of toy it is but what you do with it. You would think I was a right fool the way I mess around with the toys (when I am with the dogs obviously!) my high pitched voice dancing around talking to them about the toy, then running, teasing, playing, sharing, retrieving,  anything to get them interested. If I got the ball or frisbee or even a little cuddly toy out of a happy meal out on the beach they don’t know whether I’m going to hide it, throw it, dance with it, ask them to sit or spin or wait for it and that’s why they watch me,  what’s he going to do? What can I do for him to get that toy that I love playing with him with, but you have to keep them guessing! You bring the life to the toy be it a £12 Kong or a sock with a busted tennis ball in it. Your dog will not be checking the receipt to see how much you paid for it but if you act like to think it’s the best thing since dried liver then he probably will too.

                                                    Max with Hula Hoop we found on the beach