Don't Leave Your Puppy Home Alone With Toys

When you get your new puppy, you will soon find out that they are very playful and quite restless. You will go to the pet store and find all kinds of toys for your puppy to play with to occupy his time. And, you will probably be inclined to give your puppy plenty of toys when you leave your puppy home alone, whether in his crate or in a pen.

Although toys are a great way to keep your puppy occupied and happy, remember that you have to be very picky about what you let him play with, especially if you have to leave him alone and when you are house training. One of my clients gave a puppy a Nylabone and rope chew toys. The puppy suffered a bad bout of vomiting and diarrhea during my first pet sitting visit, giving me a scare because there appeared to be blood in the vomit and diarrhea.

This required me to take the puppy to the vet. I had no idea what could have been wrong with the puppy, so I did not take any chances. After the vet examined the puppy and ran a series of tests, they determined that the dog simply chewed off and ate too much of his chew toy. I saw the rope chew, but I did not even find any of the Nylabone in their home.

This incident illustrates just how much care must be taken to supervise your pets when they are chewing. Every dog is different. Some barely gnaw at toys, and others try to devour them. Get to know your dog and
his playing/chewing habits, and always supervise carefully.

If you must leave your puppy alone with a chew toy, make sure there is no possible way for them to swallow it, chew chunks off and eat it, or otherwise harm themselves with it.

Kong toys are pretty tough and when stuffed with peanut butter or other treats and they're a great way to keep your puppy entertained. Just keep in mind, that if you stuff a Kong with treats and goodies, this may cause your puppy to have to defecate sooner. In your puppy house training, you should not leave your puppy alone for long periods of time, anyway. But, if you are paper training your puppy and have your set up done correctly, then your puppy will just do his business on the paper.

Another toy that claims to be pretty resistant to enthusiastic chewers is the Hurley Durable Dog Toy. It's made of Zogoflex, a non-toxic recyclable material. Do a search on Google and you're sure to find something that your puppy will have fun with and won't be able to destroy. But no matter what the marketing material states for any toy, be sure to supervise your dog with any new toy to make sure what he can or can't do to a supposedly durable toy.