December 13, 2011

Indestructible Dog Toys—Do They Exist?

I was chatting with a friend today about dog toys. Remember my post last December about the wonderful customer reward we received from our dog food store? My friend now shops there and we were discussing this year's goody bag which included a plush toy. Her dog, a lovely, sedate boy of six, has been carrying his toy around the house for the past two weeks. Bella and I picked up our bag yesterday. My lovely, energetic girl of two and a half, eviscerated, decapitated and delimbed hers within ten minutes. So I was lamenting with my friend that the amount of money I've thrown at toys is depressing as Bella destroys them so rapidly. Truly, if something lasts a week, I am thrilled.

Bella and the short lived Mr. Leopard.
I have been very interested in getting her a Nina Ottoson toy but they are just too expensive to have Bella destroy in a sitting. Treat filled toys my other dogs "worked" to get their food reward; Bella just chews through. There is no game involved other than the direct route to the reward.

I have given her Tuffys before (not so plush, plush toys) and those do last nearly a week as long as I get her an "8" or higher on the chew scale. I've read about some other plush toys called Fluff and Tuff that claim they are nearly indestructible, but they aren't available here. So I was quite thrilled when one of the clerks at the pet food store told me about Bionics. Again, it's a treat toy. Their selling schtick is if your dog destroys it, they'll send you another one for free. If your dog destroys the replacement, your dog becomes a product tester. This could mean toys for life! And, no sooner did the marketing ploy suck me into buying one, but I read about Goughnuts which has a similar promise.

This is music to my ears and a jingle in my pocket. Could there actually be a toy Bella can't destroy? The verdict is out. I'll report back on what we discover. Now tell me, have you discovered a chew-proof toy yet?

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