Toys for Staffy cross

[katylou]

Hi All,

I've been a lurker on this forum for a while, just enjoying all the tips and help - so Thanks for those!

I'm going through the process of rehoming a Staffy cross fromthe RSPCA, just waiting to have the home assesment and hopefully I can bring my new girl home (I expect I'll be posting more questions on here as I go...)

I'm buying the bits and bobs I'll need - beds, bowls, food etc, and I'm wondering what toys to get. She'll be home alone for around 2 hours each morning and afternoon, and I want to leave her with something to occupy her. The problem is most of the toys I've looked at state that the dog shouldnt be left alone with the toy, supervision required etc. Can anybody recommend a brand or some toys that in their experience wont harm the dog? I'm not too worried about her destroying toys, as long as she's having fun and will be safe!

Thanks in advance

K xx

[ClareMarsh]

Hey there, welcome to the forum As you have found a lot of dog toys aren't great for unsupervised play (especially when you don't really know a dog and how it will play with them). And a lot of dog toys are really only fun for the dog when there is a human attached to the other end playing with them

THe best things you can get right now are things like kongs which you can stuff with food (whatever her food is mixed in with some bits of cheese, meat, fish, stinky stuff) and leave her to work on. As she gets better at them you can start mushing her food up in water, stuffing the kong and freezing it and then giving it to her frozen, that is a lot of very rewarding work. If you google kong recipes you'll find loads of ideas.

There are lots of variations on the kong theme but I'd start with a couple of kongs (so you can stuff and freeze a few ready) and see how she does with those before you invest in other ones (I bought all sorts of stuff early on that I ended up passing on because my dog wasn't interested etc). If you buy othere versions of the kong be careful that there are two holes in them, the one you stuff and the dog eats from and one to avoid the tongue making a vaccum and getting stuck

The other thing you can do is cardboard box and paper toys which involves wrapping food in newspaper and stuffing it into a cardboard box and giving it to her to rip up and find the food. I'd give these supervised to start with and make them easy. As she gets the hang of them you can make them more difficult and you'll know if it's safe to leave her. Always make sure any staples are removed from the boxes first

Hope this helps you, and we love photos once you've got her

[Edited to add: Christ that photo came out LARGE ]

[gwd]

if your girl is a powerful chewer...........this is the toughest dog toy known to man.

and yes........pic's please!