Cookie, our Chocolate Lab has been with us since he was a puppy of just 12 weeks. You can imagine as new 'puppy parents' we spoiled him with toys of every type: squeaky, plush, tuggy, chewy....you get the idea! That was just his indoor collection. For out of doors we had flying discs, ball slings and anything else we thought he would fetch. Of course they are certainly not as attractive to chase as your garden variety stick and while Cookie loves to run after thrown objects, for a retriever his 'bringing back' skills leave a lot to be desired. While he certainly has favourite toys, which I will talk about later, he seems to like different things for different reasons.
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| Cookie |
Maddy, our Lab/Collie cross, has been with us since she was approximately 4 years old and while the shine of new puppy parents had slightly faded we spoiled her with toys just as much as we had Cookie. The only difference is she really had no interest in them, until recently. Indoor toys were largely ignored and same as Cookie she prefers a stick to chase outside...as well as squirrels, a habit that took a long while to break! Even though it has been more than 4 years we have finally found a toy that peaks her interest and gets her to play. Maddy has discovered a long-tailed Cuz toy is very much to her liking and she will 'possess' it and squeak it for ages. It also doubles as a pillow when she is at rest...very cute indeed. We aren't sure why this toy above all others has done it or if it is simply a matter of persistence. Of course it does ever so slightly resemble a grey squirrel..........????!!!???
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| Maddy |
Until recently we never really had to worry about jealousy over toys but now that Maddy has a favourite we wanted to be sure that no disharmony ensued. In fact we have adopted a stance where the toys actually belong to us, the people, and we allow the dogs to play with them when we choose. That isn't as cruel as it may sound; it gives the doggies boundaries and teaches them which toy goes with which dog. Since Maddy can tend towards dominance over Cookie this approach has seemed to work. Maddy will occasionally allow Cookie a sneaky play with her Cuz but she gets it back from him when she thinks he's had enough. Cookie on the other hand would happily share his toys with the world.
Cookie's favourite toys of the moment are plush and squeaky and he alternates between a polar bear and a duck. When he first gets something new he will carry it around for hours, wagging his tail proudly and whimpering with delight. He is always so grateful when he gets a gift from his people. But this little angel wasn't always so good with his toys. From puppy up until about age 2 his first instinct was to rip a toy to shreds as soon as our back was turned. Unfortunately this included the biggest toy of all a leather 3 piece suite, but I digress.
It took a lot of patience, trial and error with Cookie to get him to the point of now treasuring his toys rather than eating them. We had to develop lightening quick reflexes and eyes in the back of our heads to quickly snatch toys away the moment it looked like he was going in for the kill. Even toys that are billed as indestructible are no match for a determined dog and his teeth as we found out. Although both dogs are now mature we do not allow them to play with toys unsupervised so that we can control potentially destructive play and to ensure they don't accidentally swallow any bits that could result in such play.
I am not sure if Cookie and Maddy have developed such a different relationship to toys as a result of either nature or nurture. It isn't really possible to draw a scientific conclusion as they came into our life at very different times in their lives. However, in Maddy's case it seems it is possible to teach and old dog new tricks!
