Playing Mind Games - Dog Activity Toys

Whilst it's relatively easy for us humans to give our brains a workout - a cross word puzzle, learning a new skill or reading a book  - how easy is it for us to give our dogs' brains something to work on?

Nowadays there's a whole host of interactive toys, which are great for providing our dogs with mental stimulation. Although some of the more popular brands can prove to be quite expensive it needn't cost the earth to provide our dogs with games that get them to use their grey matter.

It's quite easy to make homemade interactive games - all you need is imagination and a few props.  One of my favourites is the tennis ball teaser...which involves a muffin tin, tennis balls and treats.  It's really simple to create as the video shows.




Some of my, and the hounds, favourite homemade toys and games include:

• Tuggies - you can make your own tuggies my plaiting together strips of fleece, for a fraction of the cost of a shop bought toy
• Stuffed socks - if you've got a toy killer/stuffing shredder and squeaker seeker extraordinaire like Mina, an easy - and cheap - way to fulfil the shredding tendencies is by filling an old clean sock with stuffing (and a squeaker, if you're feeling extravagant) and knotting it.
• Find the treat or scatter feeding - hide treats around the house (under cushions, and send your dog on a 'find the treat' mission or scatter some of your dog's daily kibble ration in somewhere like the garden
• Destruction boxes - I could hire out Stevie as a secure shredding service.  He loves shredding magazines, post and newspapers; when given the chance.  A destruction box provides him with a great outlet for this. Just fill an old cardboard box with layers of newspaper, magazines, old toilet roll/kitchen roll cardboard tubes and add a few treats.

With any game or training activity, it's important to set our dogs up for success. In the video you'll see that the first thing I do, is give Mina the chance to eat the treats straight out of the muffin tin. This helps to build Mina's confidence and to get her used to looking for treats in the muffin tin.  Then I can add the tennis balls and, if need be, help Mina understand that she needs to dislodge them to get to the treats.

It's also important to supervise your dog with interactive games to make sure they don't get frustrated and to ensure they remain safe.

I'll definitely be on the look out for some new game ideas at Crufts and would love to know what your favourite games are to play with your dogs...so please don't be shy and do leave a comment on the blog.

Remember, every comment left on my February 2012 posts gets entered into our Countdown to Crufts giveaway to win* a pair of Crufts tickets.

*Terms & Conditions:
Giveaway is open to UK residents only. Prize consists of one pair of tickets to Crufts for each of the two winners (tickets are valid for the day of the winner's choice).
The winner is responsible for arranging their own transport to and from the NEC.
Closing dates for entries is Tuesday 28 February 2012
Winners will be notified by email and/;or via my blog posts

Mina's top 5 (virtually) indestructible dog toys

aka: The Alternative Toy Story, Part 2

For a greyhound (shhh... we don't tell her that technically she's a lurcher) Mina is pretty good at destroying toys. As earlier blog posts have shown Mina is a Squeaker Seeker and Soft Toy Slayer Extraordinaire.

Over the years we've been on a mission to find toys that are 'Mina-proof' and, believe it or not, there are some toys that can withstand Mina's squeaker seeking ways. We've whittled these down to a list of the top 5, virtually indestructible (according to the Minaometer^®) toys and thought we'd share them.

So, what's made it onto the list? In true Hollywood style, the results are in reverse order.

The top 5 most Mina- proof toys...

5. Company of Animals - frisbee

Mina & her 'fantasy flyer'

This frisbee is great. Mina can run with it, shake it around, chew it and all without breaking it. The frisbee is pretty easy for me to carry on walks and really does provide a good moving target to retrieve.

It's also big enough to see if she does drop it in the field. It would have been higher up the list had it not been for one minor flaw:  the domed top of it often comes off. It's easy to clip back on, but is a bit inconvenient. 
 
What I love about it even more is that when our play session has ended, Mina's job is to carry it all the way home!  The frisbee, known as a Fantasy Flyer, costs around £4.99



4.  Kong Classic

Mina & her Kong in 2005

Where would we be without the Kong Classic? This was one of the first dog toys I discovered for Mina - under the guise of a boredom buster to help with separation anxiety.

The Kong Classic has been stuffed with kibble, broken up dog biscuits, bits of liver cake and 'plugged' with Kong paste or Primula cheese spread and has helped keep Mina calm and my house destruction free!

Kongs come in sizes from small to XXL and cost from around £4.80 to £16. For serious chewers there's even an Extreme version in black rubber and there is a range for both puppies and seniors too.


3.  Ruff Dawg Stick

Have I mentioned that Mina loves to run, fetch and chase things? Anyone who follows me on Twitter, will know that Mina can be quite accident prone when she's enjoying a run or game, so the Ruff Dawg Stick is a godsend!

Mina loves sticks and I'm always preventing her from picking them up as I don't want any splinters or accidents happening, particularly as Mina is so accident-prone.

The Ruff Dawg Stick is great - a big rubbery, indestructible stick that Mina just loves. We can play games of fetch, both inside and outside the house, and if it gets mucky, it's very easy to clean. It's also very easy to spot in a field full of autumn leaves - unlike a real stick. 

The Ruff Dawg Stick costs around £10.99 and in my, and Mina's opinion, is a great buy.

2.  Orka Jack
Did you ever play jacks as a kid? The kind with a small rubber ball and little metal jacks that you had to pick up? Well, I loved playing jacks and so does Mina, particularly with her Orka Jack.

It's not quite the jack you may remember from childhood - it's bright turquoise for a start and has a rope through the middle - but it's just as much fun to play. It's covered in knobbly bits, which Mina loves to chew, and the rope allows it to be used as a tug toy too.

It's great to throw as well and can bounce a fair distance, whether it's thrown by me or the dog! Mina has managed to un-knot the rope before, but it was easy just to thread it back through and knot it again. When the rope got a bit smelly I popped the Orka Jack in the washing machine and it came out like new.  Mina has the large size which costs around £10.

1.  And the winner is..... The Pentapull
I have to say the Pentapull takes a very deserved first place, particularly as it's the only non-rubber toy on the list.

It's made of durable webbing and can come with, or without, a squeaker (I chose a duck without a squeaker). It has 5 'arms' and can be used for games of tug, for throwing about, shaking...


I bought it at Crufts in March 2010 and seven months later it's still going strong and is in one piece.  Mina just loves it (as does Jasper) and seems to really enjoy throwing it about and playing games of tug.

The only real signs of wear and tear are around the duck's neck (awww, poor duckie). All in all though, it has certainly beaten the record for any other soft toys.

It is also the most expensive toy on the list and retails for around £16.99 but to me, is worth every penny. It's great to see Mina playing with a soft(ish) toy that lasts and can't have the stuffing picked out of it.






'All good (toy) stories must come to an end'
So, there you have it: a list of toys - all tested by Mina - and all still going strong after months and even years.

We've just found out about a brand of toys called Skineez, which I'm trying to find for sale in the UK. They look exactly like the sort of toy Mina would love - flattened versions of rabbits, squirrels etc (not real ones - I hasten to add).

Mina and I would love to know what toys your dogs like, so don't be shy and please leave a comment.

Thank you

Mina's mission... aka ' The Alternative Toy Story. Part 1'

I've blogged about Mina's "squeaker seeker and destroyer" tendencies before (see December 2009 Archive).

I'm sure it's a situation many dog owners find themselves in... a brand new plush toy, dog excitedly starts to play with it and then about 50 seconds later, said plush toy has been well and truly disemboweled, squeaker removed and the stuffing knocked out of it - quite literally.

I've lost count of the number of toys Mina has disemboweled, pulled apart and shredded. Cheap toys, expensive toys, Mina pretty much destroys them all - if not within a matter of seconds, then usually a few hours.  I sometimes wonder if she sees it as a personal challenge (if any dog toy manufacturers are reading this - I'm sure I could hire Mina out as a toy tester!)

So, what's survived and what's made it onto the Mina Wall of Shame?

The Wall of Shame...
Valentine's teddy (only a £1 from poundland)

Sadly, this teddy didn't live long past Valentine's day.  I bought three teddies in total - one for each hound - and yes, you've guessed it, Mina destroyed them all!


Only one of the original teddies now remains. This Ted is minus his innards and one leg, but still gets thrown around by Mina and Jasper on a fairly regular basis.


Twas the night before Christmas....
...well, OK then, it wasn't really; it was Christmas day and each hound received Rudolph the Rope Reindeer.

The 'before' shot of Stevie's reindeer

'Caught in the act'

The 'evidence'

"Who me?"

Even poor Rudolph couldn't stand up to Mina's inquisitive and supercharged squeaker seeking capabilities. I suppose you could say it was her alternative to the stuffing served with the turkey!

Boyes finest - Freddy the Frog

Another multiple buy, I have lost count of how many versions of Freddy the Frog I have bought - he croaked it too! The slide show is like an animation of Mina in full squeaker seeker and destroyer mode.


The pièce de la résistance...

After five long years, toys were no longer enough and Mina turned her attentions to her bed.  In fairness, I think there was a little, tiny hole in the cushion and Mina being Mina couldn't resist  pulling at the stuffing. From there, one thing led to another....

To find out what toys have survived the Mina Wall of Shame, watch out for The Alternative Toy Story, Part 2...coming soon to a blog near you.

If you've some stories of your dogs toy terrors, do share them too.

The squeaker seeker and destroyer - aka Mina & her Christmas presents

Firstly, I can't believe that it's over a month since I last posted to the blog... I think I need to make a New Year's resolution to blog on a more regular basis.

Anyway, Christmas has been and gone for another year and whilst we were opening our presents, the hounds also got presents to open.

To begin with they each had an edible rawhide Christmas decoration, which went down a real treat. Needless to say though, I didn't hang the decorations on the tree as I quite like the Christmas tree in the upright position.

Out of all the hounds, Mina is the one who loves her toys and over the years has earned the title of Squeaker Seeker & Destroyer

Her prowess at destroying any toys is best shown by this slide show:


This year, I bought toys without squeakers & thought they would last longer..... however, Mina has still managed to start disembowelling them.  She's especially protective of her snowman.