Athena is not the kind of dog that lacks play drive. She is alllllll about play time. We have yet to find a toy (or off-limits object) that doesn't satisfy her desire to play whether it be a ChuckIt! Ball, a stuffie, a Kong, or a piece of clothing from the dirty laundry.
Soooo, are you going to throw the ball or what?!
Because Athena's desire to play is so strong, we actually had to begin by gradually keeping toys out around the house for her to play with. When we first brought her home from the shelter, Athena would play so hard and so wildly ALL OF THE TIME (which often escalated into bitey zoomies) that we only allowed her to have toys during designated play sessions a couple of times per day. She has now progressed and is able to handle having a couple of toys laying around the house to play with when she feels the urge (with no more bitey zoomies- yahoo!).
Needless to say, this girl doesn't need any lessons on building play drive. She's got it pretty covered. That is, until we introduced her to a new toy this week.
Meet the AEROBIE Pro Ring. A soft rubber frisbee that we picked up at REI for $10.
We specifically bought this frisbee for Athena to play with because as much as we love the ChuckIt! Ball Launcher, Athena is just a tad bit obsessed with it. So, we wanted to find another park toy that would not only allow for some vigorous exercise, but would help to eliminate some of Athena's OCD behaviors towards her ball and launcher. Also, we had seen a dog and handler at the park a couple of weeks ago doing super cool tricks with a frisbee, so B asked about it and we decided that we needed to be that cool too, so we bought the same one.
Athena loves ALL toys and moving objects, why wouldn't she love this super fancy frisbee?
I like to wear the frisbee as a necklace. I do not like to play with it!
Well, we gave the frisbee a few tries and so far is have been a pretty big flop. I swear, Athena's strong play drive went out the window and she forgot everything she knows about "fetch" when we flung the disc. Rather than retrieving the frisbee, she does one of two things: 1) Run after the frisbee, look at it, run back to mom and dad without frisbee 2) Stare at mom and dad when they throw the frisbee, don't run after it.
One of the rare occasions when Athena actually had a go at the frisbee
To make frisbee fetch seem like the best game on earth, B and I threw the disc back and forth to each other. If Athena happened to get the frisbee and put it in her mouth we used our most exciting voices to cheer her on. We also laid the frisbee on the ground and put treats all over it for Athena to eat, but that didn't even keep her interest for that long. Finally, we tried sparking a bit of drive by placing the frisbee around Athena's neck, but that only resulted in a dog wearing a frisbee necklace.
So, any ideas on how to help Athena learn how to play/retrieve the frisbee? Maybe our choice in frisbee was poor and we need to look for a more "dog friendly" model?
Moooooom! I know you are excited that you got me all of these toys for like half-off, but can you stop posing them in front of me and taking pictures?! I just want to PLAY!
Do you have any idea why I got all of these toys? I am sure it's just because I requested more toys, but my mom says it's for a different reason (she does agree that I'm spoiled though).
A couple of weeks ago I decided to pick up a Nylabone for Athena. I am always on the hunt for dog toys that can stand up to our power chewer. One of Athena's favorite things to chew on is actually cheap tennis balls, but she destroys them within a few minutes. She will also sit quietly for hours if we give her a cow knee cap to chew on.
When looking for toys to satisfy our pitbull's desire to chew, I found that many people online suggest Nylabones. I even saw that Ms. M and Mr. B from Two Pitties in the City have a Nylabone. However, for how many people that praise Nylabones, there are just as many people who are against them.
Nylabones are not actually real bones, but are nylon bones that are flavored and shaped like actual animal bones. When dogs chew on them, small pieces of nylon come off from the bone. It is said that the nylon is safe for dogs to ingest because it comes off in such small pieces. However, many people caution the use of Nylabones for dogs who are able to chew off larger chunks that could cause blockages.
When we first introduced Athena to her Nylabone, we supervised her the entire time and continually checked the bone to see if she was able to chew off large pieces from it. We continue to inspect the bone after each time that Athena is allowed to chew on it. So far, Athena has not made any large dents in the bone, but rather has made one side kind of jagged.
Whenever we crate Athena, we always give her something to chew on. Often times we leave her with her Nylabone, however we have found that she is much more content in her crate if left with a cow knee cap (we are currently working on her minor separation anxiety while crated).
The next time that we buy her another Nylabone we plan to get the large DuraChew Galileo Bone because I have read that is the strongest in the Nylabone brand and our trainer also suggested it to us.
The only bad thing that I can say about the Nylabone is that it starts to look really gnarly. It seems to collect all of Athena's fur that she has shed and anything else that is lingering on the carpet. But, she doesn't really seem to mind =)
Don't mind the ick!
Oh I forgot to mention that Athena is only allowed to chew on her bone for small periods of time because if she has it for too long she decides that it's time to play and will whip it around the house almost causing injuries to us and the furniture!
Do you let your pooches chew on Nylabones? Which ones have you found to work best for power chewers?
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