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Squeeky Toys

enchantingdragon

Well-known member
I read somewhere this weekend that toys with squeekers arent good for Cavaliers as if they chew through to the squeeker they may choke on it. Has anyone else heard this or can confirm this is true and squeeky toys shouldnt be given to Cavaliers? Im been buying toys for Ellie (she is coming in 12 days!!!) and every stuffed animal toy I bought comes with a squeeker inside. I have been searching high and low for ones that dont to no avail. Im thinking Ill have to buy her some human ones soon if this squeekers thing turns out to be true. Also what other toys should I buy? She has nylabones and a lot of squeeky stuffed animals. She also has that squirrel toy with the tree. Any other suggestions? Thanks so much!
 
This is true of any dog, not just cavaliers. If you see your dog tearing open any toy, I would quickly take it away as any small bit can be harmful (small rubber peices, squeakers, cotton stuffing, fabric). If Ellie turns out to be a majorly destructive chewer, stick with things that are marked for tough chewers, like Nylabones. We are having a lot of success with Izzy and these. She hasn't gotten through one yet. :w**h**:

Good luck with your new addition! :flwr: :flwr: :flwr:
 
Kosmo is a chewer too so I've been there before. ;)

I think Ellie should be fine with whatever squeaky toy you give her just as long as you're with her while she plays with it. If she starts tearing it up, take it away. Kosmo is just now keeping his toys in 1 piece and I still have to take them away sometimes otherwise they'd all be garbage. Dogs can get blockages from parts of stuffed animals so it's important to keep close watch on them while they are playing with that kind of stuff. ;) I'm sure you'll be fine! :flwr:
 
The Petstages line of doggie toys is good and they last with a chewer. They are the only toys we have that still look new after more than 2 years with 4 dogs.
 
Some squeaky toys don't have squeakers, the squeaker is molded into the plastic, it doesn't detach. Dr Noys Toys have replaceable squeakers. They are pretty durable. It depends on the dog. You have to supervise pretty closely until you see if your dog will rip a toy open. Zack has never been one to rip toys open or destroy them. He loves to chew and "viciously" attack his toys and make them cry (i.e. squeak) but he has most of his toys that he's had from the day i got him a year ago, including rope toys and squeaky toys, and they are all still in tact. Belle on the other hand will shred anything, she is smaller and has the sweetest gentlest little personality, but she is so destructive of toys--and paper towels and toilet paper roles and sox and what have you. Like, i put a new jacket on Zack and she immediately started tearing into the fur trim on the hood while he was wearing it. On the other hand, Belle can chew a nylabone without hurting herself, while zack bites off little pieces and could swallow them so i don't give him nylabones. I mean the non-edible ones.
 
I'm still careful of what toys I leave out for my cavs to play with, and they are 3.5 and 4 years old. Geordie is the reason. :roll: Most of their toys are in a basket out of reach and they can play with them only when I'm home. We have some toys I know they will never chew, so I leave a few of those out, swapping them with other 'safe' ones every so often.

The squeeky toys are out of their reach unless we're playing fetch. I worry about Geordie chewing and swallowing them.

Also, they never have chews (like bully sticks) unless I am supervising them. Too worried about choking (or possible fighting between Geordie and India.)

I leave lots of nylabones donw for them to chew on. Once the rounded ends are chewed off, I replace them.
 
So far, we've had good luck with Gracie's plush toys. She has a shearling sheep, a loofah dog and a stuffed moose from Target. Ocassionally she'll get a piece of fuzz from the sheep and mouth it until we realize. Anyway, she mouths things forever...she's a very graceful eater, I guess it carries over to her toys. Hopefully it'll stay that way...should we place bets on that? :badgrin: ;)
 
Daisy LOVES her squeaky toys -- they are the only ones she will have anything to do with at all. She also will only play with furry, squeaky toys. Any plain ball or rubbery toy (with or without squeaker) is of absolutely no interest to her. She joyously brings her furry squeaky toys back to us, squeaking them constantly all the way. It's just not the same if they don't squeal while they're being eaten! She not only bites them, she shakes them violently to break their necks. I know most dogs do this sometimes, but she is really, really determined to kill them. She will reposition them in her mouth so she is holding them by the head or tail so she gets maximum swing with her head shakes. (She scored very high on assertiveness in the Puppy Aptitude Test I read about online. ) :D

In fact, she has one mini-tennis ball with a woven loop attached to it that she plays with, and she will often hold the loop and shake it so hard that the tennis ball is bopping her very hard on both sides of her head. I think she has finally wised up and now only shakes it when holding it by the ball end. It worried me that she would get her ears inflamed with all the hits they were taking!

She is very hard on toys and has destroyed a couple plush toys within minutes and disemboweled them completely, removing the squeaker. The ones she is able to destroy are those very soft ones that are made out of the thinnish terrycloth material.

We have had very good luck with several plush toys, though, that are much tougher. We have two Beanie Baby plush dog toys (made especially for dogs), and one AKC brand toy, all of which we got at PetSmart. Those have taken TONS of abuse from our little hunter-killer and have stood the test of time. If they ever get holes, though, I'd take them away immediately because I know she would work on them till she got the squeaker out.
 
:yikes I have tons of squeeker toys for Cicero... I am a firm believer that no matter what toy you give your dog, you should always have one eye on the dog/toy just to make sure all is safe. I am also not a believer of leaving toys in the kennel if I am going to be gone for a few hours, I just think that too much could happen in that short timespan.

I would also be careful with "human" plush toys... sometimes they are not always doggie safe materials...
 
Thanks everyone for the advice I kinda figured I would just watch her and then take them away if she started to tear through to the squeeker itself. My husband's family has Labs and they chewed through those stuffed toys within days if not hours and they always ended up eating the squeeker but I guess with a big dog it doesnt matter as much which is why I was concerned since Cavaliers are a lot smaller. My question is what toys do I leave her with when I am out? I want her to have something to play with when Im gone and she is in her pen
 
Ellie's Mommy said:
My question is what toys do I leave her with when I am out? I want her to have something to play with when Im gone and she is in her pen

i agree with the general cautions that they not have things to chew when no one is around, but at this point, i don't mind leaving Zack or Belle with rope chews, it's twisted natural (not dyed) rope, about an inch or more in diameter, and knotted on both ends so that it looks bone-shaped, and it's frayed on each end. Zack has chewed on the same one of those for a year without causing any noticeable damage to it, and Belle, in a couple of hours, shredded it so that it's now a mass of strings, no longer a firm twisted rope with knots on each end, it has one knot left instead of two, but she didn't do anything to it that caused it to separate into little pieces that could be swallowed and block the digestive track. They don't eat the strings. Also, it's an unusual dog who can break pieces off of a kong. Kongs come in many shapes and sizes. You can put various foods into them which capture the dog's interest, including the pureed stuff that Kong sells.
 
I agree that squeaky toys should only be used under supervision. Several years ago, I was at the vet when some people clected thier Yorkie, who had to be operated on , because he swallowed part of a plastic squeaky toy.

Having read of others' experinces and observed how Teddy can easily pull threads from a rope toy, I wouldn't leave a dog with these either, considering them even more of a risk. A breeder, on another list, was devasteated to hear that a puppy she sold to good owners, only weeks before, had died after swallowing part of the rope from one of those ball on a rope toys. The fibres tangled in his gut and cut into it. Other people have reported needing ops or having dogs gag becuse of swallowed fibre, too.

As a leave alone toy, I would suggest a soft toy with no squeak and a filling that is not wadding. We had some 'sheepskin' bones from Pets at Home, which were stuffed with large offcuts of the same fabric. Izzy used to love gutting the toy, but it was easy to mend again. The squeaks were easily removed and the toy sewn up again.
 
yep we only give squeky toys under supervision and when she's in crate she has kong filled with kibble to keep her busy and a nyabone durable. She rips ups the flexible one. And the petstage toys are great we have loads. Her new fav is toss and shake it has small bells inside. Kind of reminds me of a jesters hat.
 
Barbara Nixon said:
...Having read of others' experinces and observed how Teddy can easily pull threads from a rope toy, I wouldn't leave a dog with these either, considering them even more of a risk. A breeder, on another list, was devasteated to hear that a puppy she sold to good owners, only weeks before, had died after swallowing part of the rope from one of those ball on a rope toys. The fibres tangled in his gut and cut into it. Other people have reported needing ops or having dogs gag becuse of swallowed fibre, too...


that's awful--and an important caution. dogs chew and eat things, theoretically it could be anything, something unexpected too. some dogs even eat kongs. zack hardly chews any toy to the point of destroying it, much less eating it, but he can bite off and eat pieces of durable nylabones that are the one thing many dogs can safely chew. It's wise to not leave a dog alone with anything unless you know they won't chew it, from experience.

With puppies, i think they should be supervised with toys and treats for many months, for their safety and to protect household items they might mistake for toys and chews. Some dogs will always need to be supervised.

Some, including me, leave dogs free in the home by themselves during the night or day, rather than confining them, knowing the dog doesn't chew things. There is certainly a vast array of things such a dog might chew in a typical living room, including toys, but people learn whether there is a risk or not. i do put certain things out of reach when i'm not there, just in case, including things he has never chewed. I don't have to worry about shoes, even when zack was a little puppy (sara once noted there are almost always various shoes in my photos lol). He took a shoe in his mouth one time when he was little and i went "nhaaaah!" and he never did it again. It's funny how they learn to distinguish things. But once in a while he would chew a pen, so i put those away when i'm not here. i get reading glasses at the 99 cent store and keep a bunch of them laying around so i can always find them, but i can't leave them out when i'm not here because zack will chew on those. Go figure.

He was about 8 months old when i started leaving him free in the apartment when i'm not here, after learning about his behavior and working up gradually to increasing amounts of time. I still don't leave toys i consider risky out where he can get them when i'm not here. but there are lots of things he clearly doesn't chew and eat that he can have access to.
 
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