Back in April (“The Short and Long Life of Toys“) I shared with you that Sheba had been training Luke to destroy stuffie toys. It got to the point where we have stopped getting stuffies, because he can put a hole in one in literally minutes. He eats anything and everything, so we just can’t take the chance that he’ll eat a squeaker.
Now he’s even kicked it up another notch. First, a short story I wanted to share with you about Chewy.com. We do reviews for Chewy sometimes, but we also shop there. This story is about a shopping experience and in no way endorsed by Chewy.com.
I ordered this toy, the Kong tug toy seen to the left here, from Chewy.com last month. When we received our package, there was actually a 4 pack of these toys, instead of just the one I had ordered. I had just given Luke the toy to play with and sat down and had an online chat with a representative at Chewy to let them know what had happened. I was impressed when she told me to keep the 4 toys. She suggested that if I couldn’t use them, then maybe I could give them to my local shelter? I love a business with good customer service, the rep was friendly and helpful; best of all I didn’t have to be bothered to mail the extra toys back to the company, and that made me happy.
I was impressed with Chewy’s customer service, but I was far less impressed with Luke’s ability to destroy that toy, which is made of durable rubber, in a matter of minutes. I was in the middle of the chat when I checked on Luke, who had taken the toy outside, and found he had chewed through it! He is turning out to be even more destructive than Sheba, which I didn’t think was possible! Now, the toy says it is not for unsupervised play, so I can report that is very true if you have a dog like Luke. But it’s a great toy for tug, and I was certainly happy we had an extra, since I had to throw the first one away (one end was bitten into chunks)!
He has also bitten off the end of two West Paw Bumi toys, seen to the left here. That toy comes in two sizes and those were the smaller ones. So far the larger one is holding up, and they also like the Tux toy, which you can see he and Sheba playing with below.
Though the larger Bumi is holding up, you can see below that he has managed to get some teeth marks in it, and below that you can see what both he and Sheba do to the balls that they play with. The toys have a one time guarantee, so we could choose to have them replaced. They are also made of non-toxic materials which makes me feel a little less nervous when it’s possible they might have eaten a little bit. West Paw Design is in no way sponsoring this post either….they are just one of our favorite companies.
So, we are constantly on the hunt for some different toys that will stand up to these two! Recently some of our favorite bloggers contributed to an article on just this subject: Durable Dog Toys – Dog Toys Recommended by Owners of Large Breed Dogs. With Luke’s birthday coming up, I am looking for some new toys for him, and this article was a big help. I have already chosen one of the toys in the article for his birthday, and we’ll report on how it holds up to him after that. The good news for our readers is that we will be giving away those Kong toys as part of the big birthday giveaway we’re planning (it’s both Luke and Sheba’s birthdays!) at the end of this month. They are great for tug in the house, but getting him and Sheba to actually play tug in the house with it isn’t always easy…..see below how as soon as I give it to him they head to the door and want to take it outside!
Thank you to our blog hop hosts: Alfie’s Blog, Snoopy’s Dog Blog, and My Brown Newfies! Please visit them and the other participants through the links below.
You guys sure like to chew!! Are there any safe bones that you might like, just a thought?
I hope you’re having a fun day,
Your pal Snoopy 🙂
Cricket is a bit food aggressive, so we can’t have any long lasting bones or treats like that. Good idea though!
Thanks, Snoopy!
The Tux is the ONLY toy that Cooper hasn’t destroyed. Unfortunately, he’s not that into it… probably because he can’t destroy it!!
Yup, that’s the truth. I was actually very surprised Sheba was playing with the Tux, because she won’t usually play with anything she can’t destroy either!
Us kitties can destroy some of our toys too!
That’s the truth!! Our cat Katie was especially good at that!
I’ve just about given up on finding something my dogs won’t destroy. Sometimes I just buy the toys, knowing they’ll be destroyed, but the fun is in the destruction.The least destructible toys I’ve found are also the ones the dogs don’t enjoy playing with. I’ll be watching this space to see what you come up with.
Wags (and purrs) from Life with Dogs and Cats.
I had found the same thing with Sheba….if she can’t destroy it, she doesn’t want to play with it. I’m at least happy that so far Luke does like to play with at least some of the indestructible toys. I will be sure to share our results when we try the new things!
The only things our dogs don’t immediately destroy are the black rubber kongs (not the red they can chew them) and antlers. Freighter had antlers when he was younger because those were the only things he could not chew through. It is hard with an aggressive chewer.
We do have a black kong that Luke does like to play with sometimes, and it is holding up well. We avoid antlers because Cricket is food aggressive so we can’t have any food type thing that is long lasting….they’ll fight over it.
Finding dog toys that hold up to the jaws of big, incessant chewers can be a challenge. I had that problem with our Golden Retriever Bentley. The super-tough black hard rubber chew bone was one of the few things he could not get through. He also loved to gnaw the rope arms/legs off those types of toys, then try to de-stuff them. The Bumi toy looks like it would be a great chew toy. I’ve never seen that one, but haven’t had Bentley around for 5 years now.
We actually do have another bone shaped toy of a rubber material that has stood up to him. It came in our BarkBox and I forget what brand it is now. I’ll have to look at it. We also have the rope toys from Damien’s Best dog toys (mentioned in the article I linked to) and the ball part of those are still intact…even though they remove the ends.
My dogs are destroyers of toys, so I appreciate any and all recommendations!
I will be sure to share anything good I find!
I hope they don’t eat the ends of those that they bite off!
That’s my biggest fear with Luke, but so far we’ve found the ends….sometimes in his mouth, but at least he dropped them (that’s always a challenge with him, which we’re working on).
What does he have a little gambler in him? So nice to hear Chewy was get to work with.
I’ll let you know if he ever jumps up on the kitchen counter….then we’ll know for sure if he has some Gambler in him!
Wow – that’s some powerful chewing! Rita is a wimpy chewer! And I like it that way. 🙂
It’s much easier on the toy budget when they’re like Rita. 🙂
Our West Paw Design toys look remarkably unscathed from Chewy’s chewing. Perhaps he doesn’t chomp so hard because they don’t taste like food?
Maybe Luke and Sheba are trying to do you a favor by taking tug outside. No accidentally knocking things over!
The funny thing is, whenever they get rambunctious and we want them to go outside, they don’t want to! LOL
Mr. N is not a toy destroyer for which I am thankful. Keeps our toy budget low! Now treats on the other hand, he’s picky about.
No pickiness for treats here, so at least we save some money there, everything we buy gets eaten. I don’t think dogs are cheap no matter what though…LOL.
Bailie is big into shredding, but she doesn’t ruin rubber toys…yet…hopefully it will stay that way.
Fingers crossed for Bailie!
Speaking from experience here, first of all toys for large dogs has nothing to do with being indestructible. Dolly can destroy things in seconds like that tug toy, I don’t get stuffies for her either, sometimes I buy them from the clearance bins just to let her destroy. But she never eats the stuffing or the squeaker which is good. She is only allowed squeaky balls, Kong makes good ones, her big football is her favorite and has lasted a long time, and the Hartz Duraplay squeaky balls/toys are good too. Dolly’s orange Kong ball has almost lost its squeak and it month’s old and squeaked a lot. Remember those DNA results? Something about a Rat Terrier? There’s your chewer!
You have a great memory….I’m impressed you remembered the Rat Terrier in him! I’m glad to know where his chewing must have come from then. You have a very good point that it is not only large dogs that can be destructive. I wish Luke didn’t eat everything, then I could let him destroy things which I know he enjoys (maybe he’ll at least outgrow the eating part). I was going to look at the Kong balls, but balls aren’t really Luke’s favorite thing…maybe the football though.
Leo was like that – he could destroy anything in record breaking time. I never did find anything that would stand up to his chewing. Best of luck to you – and let me say I enjoyed your honesty with this post. Very informative and professionally approached about a product. I applaud your integrity.
Well, we just don’t ever give up, but we may go broke trying to find the right toys! LOL
Thank you for what you said, that is very appreciated.
We have that orange one from West Paw, but it’s blue! BOL! It is a great toy!!
You crazy pups!!!!
ღ husky hugz ღ frum our pack at Love is being owned by a husky!
They are crazy, aren’t they? We have the West Paw Jive balls in every color available….BOL!
Kilo is a toy destroyer too! Stuffies just don’t stand a chance.
I’m always on the lookout for stuffed toys that don’t have squeakers, but I don’t think they exist!
That was awesome of chewy.com! We have a similar problem with toys. Mauja can get through an ‘indestructible toy’ in a matter of minutes.So frustrating!
It is frustrating, because you really want them to be able to have toys to play with, but it’s impossible to watch them every minute too.
We’ve had similar experiences with Chewy, which is one of many reasons we like that company. When Rudy was a puppy he was a toy destroyer. KONGs were the only kind he didn’t demolish. (Thankfully he grew out of that destruction phase.)
Thanks, that at least gives me some hope that Luke will outgrow this! Sheba didn’t outgrow her destruction of stuffed toys, but she’s never destroyed any rubber or zogoflex toys…plus I didn’t have to worry about her eating any part of it either.
I like Chewy.com’s customer service, too! I had gotten a battery-operated toy to challenge Ducky with; but getting the thing apart to put the batteries in and then putting it back together again was more of a challenge to my patience than it was worth. So, I called Chewy and asked them for a return authorization. They gave me the same suggestion about giving it to the shelter. I still have the toy — in pieces because of the challenge — but one of these days maybe I’ll remember it.
That’s great! It sounds like you have about as much patience as I do….LOL.
that was super nice from Chewy.com. Probably Luke is related with Easy, lol. The worst is, if I really find a toy what he can’t kill within a minute, he ignores it…
Oh, that is so true!!! Apparently the destruction is a large part of the appeal. Ours also mostly won’t play with something that they can’t destroy.
WoooHooo we are finally back and have missed you guys. What fun those toys look, wonder if I would chew it BOL. xxoxxxxx
Mollie and Alfie
Yay!!!! Welcome back you two, so great to hear from you! We have missed you so much!! xxxxxxoooooo
Luke says you would surely chew this toy, Mollie, because it is irresistible.
Pierre is a toy destroyer. Bentley loves his toys and does not kill them. I have heard awesome thing about Chewy. ☺
Cricket won’t start to destroy toys either. But if the others get it started, she will join in on the destruction. Our beagle Kobi was very gentle with everything, just like Bentley!