Toy Rotations
On more than one occasion I have entered a dog owner’s home for the first time and have been delighted to see their effort to provide their dog with lots and lots of toys and chews. Everywhere I look there’s a different toy for their dog to enjoy! However, despite all of these options, their dog is finding more entertainment in chewing on the legs of furniture, stealing socks from the hamper, and digging up houseplants. Understandably, this causes much frustration for the owner!
While there are many potential reasons for this and a complementary solution for each reason. Today, I want to discuss the benefit of implementing toy rotations into your dog’s routine.
Toy rotations involve organizing different sets of toys, chews, and enrichment feeders which your dog will have access to on a rotating schedule. I generally recommend establishing three sets and rotate them week to week. However, an owner may elect to adjust this schedule based on their dog’s needs.
The key benefit to toy rotations is the maintenance of novelty! A dog with unlimited access to all of their toys on a daily basis is likely to grow bored quickly, in which case the dog will begin seeking out new thrills, like that brand new pair of reading glasses you left on the side table…
When setting up your toy sets consider your dog’s favorite activities. Do they love to chew? Include extra chewies! Do they love to tug? Include different tug toys!
I recommend each toy set include at least one item that fits into each of these categories.
Chase toy
Tug toy
Stuffy
Chewy
Enrichment feeder
Take a look at this example which includes three different toy sets, and links to purchase for your own pup!
Set One
Set Two
Set Three
