Tucker loves to play games - any game will do. Sharing in his joy brings joy to my day.  Recently, I’ve read some comments about dog toys that make me want to shake my head and ask “what are you thinking?”   The old saying starts “sticks and stones...”.

1 - A woman who identified herself as a dog trainer suggested  teaching your dog to fetch using any stick that you find.  It will make your dog a “cheap date”.   I say “cheap until you get the vet bills”.  Sure every dog picks up sticks, but that doesn’t mean that they are safe toys.  Consider splinters, pointy ends, bark pieces, and bacteria for starters. Then think infections, inhalations, impaling, indigestion. 
A - When dogs bite sticks, splinters can result, which can get stuck or cut you’re the roof of your dog’s mouth or gums.  These injuries can be hard to detect until they become infected because of  bacteria on the stick.  Splinters can also be swallowed, causing internal injuries.
B - Sticks usually have pointy ends, which can cause severe injuries. Remember your mother told you not to run with scissors.  A student in one of my classes told about a friend’s Golden Retriever, who was running with a stick.  When she stumbled, the stick went through the roof of her mouth and into her eye socket. Amazingly, she recovered without any damage to her eye. 
C - Small fragments of stick or bark can be inhaled.
D - Twigs attached to a stick can poke into your dog’s nose or eyes when he races to pick the stick up or attempts to catch it.

 2-  A pet owner then suggested  using pieces cut from an old garden hose instead of a stick.  Still cheap, but maybe not safe.  Why? Think  lead, chemicals, fungus, bacteria.  There are a lot of warnings about not drinking water from hoses unless the hose is  rated as safe.  There is a “level of concern for dogs”, according to the ASPCA Poison Control Center. In this case, your dog isn’t drinking the water, but he is chewing on the hose itself.  Even if you sterilize the sections of hose to remove any chemicals or bacteria left after the last use, you are still encouraging you dog to put a very unsafe material in his mouth. 

3 - Stones? Sure almost every dog  has picked up a stone, but again that doesn’t mean it’s good toy.  Stones are among the items most commonly removed from dogs during surgery.  And that’s the good news - that the stone didn’t get stuck in the dog’s throat and cause it to choke. We are all probably pretty careful about making sure that the balls we give our dogs are not so small that they could be swallowed.  Think how big a stone that would be.

4 - There are treat toys where people put treats inside to keep their dogs busy when they can’t be entertaining them.  Such toys should have two holes to prevent suction from drawing the tongue into the hole. I have read some really horrifying stories about dogs getting their tongues stuck in such toys, resulting in amputation or even death.  I can’t substantiate such stories, but why take a chance.  The fix seems so easy - either buy toys that already  have two holes or drill a second hole yourself.

5 - Directions for a homemade dog toy suggested adding fringe all the way around to keep the dog’s attention.  Is anyone paying attention to make sure that the fringe doesn’t become lunch?
The same concern exists for toys that have ropes. They may be “fun” and chewing on them may be “good for the dog’s gums”, but the use of such toys should be monitored.  I have a friend whose dog ate too much string from a rope toy and died during the surgical attempt to remove the resulting impaction.

Positive suggestions: Think - Restrict, Rotate, Relocate, Regard, Remove. Restrict your dog’s play to safe toys.  To keep your dog from becoming bored with her toys, make only a few toys  available and rotate the selection. ( Tucker always seems excited about a “new” toy or maybe he is recognizing an old favorite.)  For interest, just move the toy box to a different location. (When I move Tucker’s toy basket, he gets excited, but do consider that not everyone likes change.  Cockatiels are supposed to like new toys and things moved around in their cages.  Change really upsets our cockatiel Buddy.)  Take a careful look at each toy as you rotate them and remove any toys that show signs of too much wear