Dog Toys

Making sure that Buddy had his own toys was a good idea. He has a little collection of about 6 things and we rotate which ones we leave out for him. Usually on any given day 5 toys will be lost under the couch. We also gave him a decoy shoe, an old sandal that belonged to the kids. But he prefers recently worn shoes, and can often be found asleep with his head inside an ugg boot.

We are encouraging the kids to play with toys with the dog, rather than play wrestling games, which can give dogs the wrong idea about acceptable ways of interacting with humans.

Buddy loves playing fetch, and will fetch a ball, his toy fire hydrant or his toy shoe. He is a very intelligent dog and learned to fetch and return in about 5 minutes! He also loves Mr Squeaky, and will sleep on his or play tug-of-war with him.

Chewing, Biting,Teething & Nibbling

We haven't really had any problems with Buddy chewing up things. He will rip up any paper that you leave on the ground though, but he has his own toys to play with, like Mr Squeaky here, which was a present from Cody.

When I was a kid we had a Labrador who chewed furniture, seriously chewed, turning chair legs in to match sticks. So I have been pleasantly surprised that Butterscotch has not been destructive at all. He will often drag our shoes around the house but he doesn't bite them, and we try to make sure that valuable things aren't left on the floor.