labrador toys for my puppy now, and as she reaches adult age:

[daddy d]

I would like to know the best toy/toys my labrador puppy can play with and chew on that's safe. Are you sure my lab would play with the toy/toys? Because I don't want to waste money or time trying to find the right toy/toys for my labrador puppy. I have purchased several toys and she would not play with them. She prefer to chew on my furniture, magazines, shoes, phone card etc. it causes a serious problem for me and my puppy at play time. Please help me, I need your advice on this issue. Thank you so kindly in advance.

[Solarjunkie]

One of the best tuggy toys is made from three old pairs of tights, knotted, plaited and then knotted again.
Stretchy, chewy and very cheap!

There's lots of information available for encouraging desirable play with your dog. The Perfect Puppy by Gwen Bailey is an excellent book that I feel should be included with every dog!

[happy_face]

I would NEVER give clothes or socks to a dog let alone a puppy. It's not safe to leave them unsupervised with something they could swallow and get stuck. You wouldn't do that to baby.

I would buy a puppy Kong for your lab as it's safe and very durable. You can stuff it with treats or peanut butter and I guarantee your puppy will be entertained for hours.

there are loads of Kong recipes on the net. I use Kongs for my two staffies as it's the only toy that lasts more than an hour. I love them and I do them the day before and freeze them as that takes even longer for them to eat. Depending on the age of your pup, I wouldn't give a too young puppy frozen Kongs though.
They're about �5-6 in the shop

[drgnrdr]

Kong makes a puppy kong and stuff to put in them just for youngsters, so an 8 week old can even have one. What I did with mine at 8 weeks was use her kibble, softened it a bit and used some canned food as a treat to seal up the opening and then froze it, in the morning she earned her breakfast by getting it out of the Kong, I got a cup a coffee and read my newspaper. I also use a "puppy Nylabone", which is safe for young teeth. She also got a rope from the pet store which I soaked in water and froze and she would play and chew on it, it felt good against her teeth when she was in the teething stage, I had to cut off the tassel ends cuz she would want to shred them and I couldn't have her ingesting them, a "bully Stick" I found she was safe to have also.
A word of advise: ANYTHING NEW YOU GIVE YOUR PUPPY TO CHEW ON YOU NEED TO SUPERVISE FIRST, SEE HOW THEY INTERACT WITH IT, SEE HOW THEY CHEW IT. This will give you an Ideal what is safe for YOUR pup. Also when getting a dog, you need to dog proof your home while you teach them the rules of your house. A dog running loose in the home is not a right it's a privilege, they must EARN the privilege by obeying the rules, but the only way to obey the rules is if they learn them, how do they learn them? you teach them. Dogs will repeat a behavior they find an pleasant or rewarding experience with, they can get rewarded by you or the environment...ie books, mags, shoes, trash...if they never get ahold of these things they don't get rewarded by them..as they mature you can slowly get your house back in order, and start to leave things down and slowly test them.

[drgnrdr]

Had to break this up...sorry...that's why I usually direct ppl to the website instead.. http://orangedog.forumup.com/index.php?mforum= orangedog and you can look up behavior and such on there...okay to conclude my answer:
Most dogs if they NEVER got ahold of books or cellphones will not bother them. The other side is when they do chew on something they are suppose to, PRAISE THEM, so they know they are doing the right thing. Your dog may like your smell on the other things, rub the chews with your scent before giving it to them, or if you got a squeaky toy and want them to play with it, put it in your laundry basket (of course this is out of reach from dog also)with your clothes, to give it your smell not the store smell....good luck