Jaspar's favourite toy

[Karlin]

A lot of people in Ireland have asked me where they can get this toy, when they see it -- SOOOO much better than a ball as you can throw it further, more easily, and it is easy for cavaliers to pick up (I use the small size).

Jaspar ONLY gets this toy when we play fetch outside so if he sees me put it in my pocket he gets very excited.

I have just found they have it on Zooplus.ie -- which means presumably the other European online Zooplus stores too.

http://www.zooplus.ie/shop/dogs/dog_...funstuff/42208

Also check out that peg game and the brick and the disk -- I have GOT to get those for Mr Smartypants.

[Cathy T]

Petco, in the states, carries a lot of the orca toys. I don't know if they carry that one in particular though. Looks like fun.

[Barbara Nixon]

My boys have never been keen on toys that aren't fluffy. I did buy a small ball, with bell, on a rope, but they are very reluctant to fetch it. Get a Critter, fluffy ball , teddy or 'proper work' dumbell or frisbie and no problem.

[Moviedust]

The Orka jack is one of Cedar's favorite toys, too. We have two of them! You can buy the jack with or without a rope (I've seen them recently at Target). We first bought one with a rope, and the rope didnt last long at all. We just use the jack as an indoor toy. We have tile and wood, so it bounces around erratically. Cedar carries it on to the sofa, drops it, and then chases it as it bounces around.

While we don't use them much, there are open ended extensions on the jack into which you can stuff yummy treats. Cedar, my voracious chewer, still hasn't made a dent in any of her jacks.

[Ste]

Cedar, my voracious chewer, still hasn't made a dent in any of her jacks.

My Gavin terrier totally demolished his in about 2 minutes flat to get the treats out of it, luckily I had bought two of them for him

[Cathryn]

I see they have a UK website too, have bookmarked it, looks a great toy, will have to get a couple for the "cuddle", also liked the look of the aqua toys, great for all this rain we are currently having! My lot will be dragging me to the park once it clears up!

[Karlin]

Check out the range of foods too; they have some great sunding Swedish and German organic brands etc. Prics are incredibly low on some stuff like aquarium filters -- I paid nearly double what they are charging.

[Shay]

I bought the small one for Lily at Petsmart last week. I thought she would love it, but she wasn't that fond of it. Lately, if it's not a ball, she doesn't like it. That girl is crazy for balls .

[brid kenny]

I know what that toy is without trying to look at it!!!

[Karlin]

I know what that toy is without trying to look at it!!!

Yes and Phoebe knows it too.

Actually Jaspar wasn't too interested in this one either when I first got it. I find the dogs take a while to get interested in some toys. When this became THE fetch toy that I used, it became the favourite toy.

Trainers say not to leave lots of toys out for dogs or they quickly get bored with them. It's better to rotate them around, only having a fewe out for play for a few weeks a a time, and to also have a special stash of a few toys that ONLY are the 'you and me' toys. The dogs never get to play with this particular toy unless we are going to the park, so it has very special status. You can use toys like this that are loaded with extra special meaning as an alternative reward when training, instead of food -- doing the command correctly gets the reward of being tossed the extra special toy.

Rotating toys helps save money too - I bet we all tend to keep buying toys because the dogs lose interest in what is there... but really they lose interest only because the toys are always there, and most dogs really only are ever interested in a couple of toys at any time, especially after the puppy stage.