Proper and appropriate "Toys"

You will find it very handy and convenient to have a toy box or basket in each room that the pup spends the majority of it's time in. (i.e. living room, family room, kitchen, bedroom, or the room where the pup sleeps.) One of these entertainment boxes may not be needed in all rooms, but certainly the most frequently used rooms do. Four or five articles in each basket are a good plan. The puppy needs a variety of textures and sizes to vent out different areas of canine instinct. For example, soft, plush type toys simulate small mammals to your puppy. Remove the toys eyes & noses for safety. If the pup was still with its mother instead of with you, she would be teaching it how to stalk, hunt and even perhaps ingest small mammals to survive. Those instincts are still active even though we humans provide them with an expensive, balanced diet.

Therefore by allowing them to have access to furry little stuffed toys it enables them to vent this natural instinct. You may see your puppy stalk or sneak up on this type of toy, then pounce on it, play with it by toss-ing it around the floor or through the air then pounce on it again. They can spend several minutes on this procedure at one time and literally be having a ball. They will mouth the object and may even shred it pretending to eat it. If this happens, remove the article and give him another. Certain breeds of dogs will exhibit this behavior much more than others, so experiment a bit with your individual puppy. Most puppies tend to go through several of these stuffed toys during the teething months so I suggest picking up several from garage sales, yard sales or second hand locations to keep the costs down. Rawhides are a good pacifier until the puppy starts eating them like candy sticks. When the puppy is under 6 months he probably will use them up slowly, but once the adult teeth come in, cut back on the amount you're allowing him, as this could lead to digestive problems. Rubber toys in various shapes are available on the market as well.

These come in all shapes and sizes and make super entertainers. Of course, no toy box is complete without a ball of some sort in it. Tennis balls, the orange ball hockey balls, soccer balls, footballs and big soft base-balls seem to be favorites to the medium to large size sized breeds. For the smaller breeds, squash balls and tennis balls seem to be their favorites. Certain breeds like border collies, Labrador and golden retrievers, etc. seem to enjoy Frisbees as toys. This is not necessarily a favorite of all pups. Without access to the items mentioned above, your puppy will find his own toys amongst the family's belongings. This could include slippers, mats, shoes, cushions, couches, chair legs, cushion flooring, woodwork, etc. We have all heard the horror stories of people coming home to find that `FIDO' ate through their living room sofa. Why?? Because he had free access to it, plus a reserve of energy that needed to be burnt off and no toys were left out for him to devour while mom and dad were at work.

How to make these "Toys" work as teaching tools.

Try to keep in mind during your interactive playtimes with the pup, that every action, word or command carried
Out can become a valuable part of the pup's schooling and education. For example, simply tossing a toy for the pup actually has the potential to teach your puppy to retrieve on command, recall or return to you on command, sit on return to you and give up the article  without a struggle or fight. All of these situations are basic, meaning that the pup will use these commands over and over again all through its life. The earlier you start to focus the pup on these commands, the easier you and puppy will slide through the puppy months