How dangerous is the white filling that dog toys are stuffed with.  Millie is like most terriers in that the object of these toys is not to play with them but to kill them and get all the stuffing out.  However unlike other dogs who get all the stuffing out then walk off to find something else to do, leaving a trail across the carpet, she eats it as she pulls it out - by the gallon if she could.

Obviously I don't encourage it and if I see her doing it I stop her but I just wondered how bad the white stuff is when swallowed (i.e. should I throw out all toys of this kind and not buy her anymore, or is it okay as long as I keep an eye on her when she's playing with them and remove it when she eats them - she doesn't do it all the time, will usually play with the toys properly for a couple of weeks until she tries to eat them!).  Being near my sister's dog is great fun, he pulls all the stuffing out of toys and walks off, so Millie has learnt to sit behind him quietly, following behind, eating all the stuffing as he goes!

ROFL, you've just described my Gonzo :rolleyes: I dont buy him any of these toys anymore. Even rope toys he sits and tears them apart, then trys to eat the stringly bits.

He has a little beared, and he used to always have a bit of fluff hanging down from it, from eating all the fluff.

Now he just has a thing for sock :rolleyes:

Gonzo - I'm with you on the beard thing!! Being a Scottie, Millie has a long black beard and often has white fluff or rope toy string hanging from it!

Thanks everyone I'm going to stop buying them from now on.

Unfortunately she only likes playing with soft balls with stuffing in them or stringy rope toys - no interest in her kongs (unless they contain food ;-)), no interest in rubber balls, (and tennis balls get eaten the same way as soft toys!), no interest in rubber toys....socks I gave up on as she enjoyed playing with them but then thought that all socks (with or without foot included) were fair game and were hers to play with... cardboard is fine as she usually spits that out but OH won't let her have it because of the mess she makes....

...back to the drawing board.  I need to get toy creative I think!

As soon as mine started pulling the stuffing out I stopped buying them.....I think that they are dangerous.   My dog tries to swallow whatever she has in her mouth if I try to get it from her!!   I tie two of my husbands sport sock together with a big knot and she loves that...but I always keep an eye on it and if it looks a bit tatty I take if off her and I make another one.     My husband is always buying new socks!!!    If I buy toys they are tough ones that I know she can't destroy.  

I agree with Jackie M.  I bought copper one of these toys in all innocence.  He took it away upstairs to "play" with it.  When I went upstairs I was horrified to find it totally destroyed and copper trying to eat the white fluffy stuffing inside.  He surely could have choked on it.  Now he gets only rubber toys like a ball or a kong.  No soft toys or squeaky toys which quite frankly only last minutes!

CG

Ill tell you what I got. I went to the pound shop, and saw these dog toys. They had this rope one, that has 4 or 5 knots in it. I cut the tassley bits of the end, and he hasnt destroyed this one. :D

Instead this one is used for tug'o'war. :D

Oh yeah, also, I bought this ball. Its not hard or soft, its inbetween (goldylocks syndrome here ;) ) from the pet shop.

He cant chew that, instead he plays football around the house with it. Ive found that thing in some weird places, after he's thrown it up in the air and tried to catch it, but missed and headbutted it into the bin, sink, dryer, veg rack, clothes basket, coffee table etc, the list goes on. Daft dog that he is. :D

You're right about the tennis balls though, they dont last 2 minutes with him. He rips all the yellow fur off, then chews the thing up :rolleyes:

Still, ending up with a piece of fluff on his beard. Bless him :D

Tennis balls are extremely dangerous for dogs.

The coating is abrasive to the teeth and if swallowed they can cause a blockage or, lie in the gut for months, and cause a huge problem later on.  My advice is never to use a tennis ball with your dog.

I won't now i know that, thanks, but I did before because you can buy them with dog paw prints on them which fooled me into thinking they would be okay - until she ripped the first two apart and then I chucked the rest out!

On a plus note, whilst I am still trying to think up ideas for toys that can't be eaten, she's suddenly taken an interest in her Nylabone.  She's had one for about 8 months and has never taken the slightest bit of interest before, but in the past week or so it has become her most played with toy.  Thing is, she's really getting stuck into it, one end is all chewed up - it still has the basic bone shape, but its not smooth anymore where it has been aggressively chewed.  Is there any point at which Nylabones should be taken away?  I know they are designed for aggressive chewers but all these toys come with labels saying that at certain points they should be removed - of course that label gets thrown away when the toy is opened lol.

If these are safe to be chewed up, I may buy her some more as she's obviously enjoying it and most of her other toys have been confiscated now!

Nylabones are made of an inert substance and therefore should cause no problem if bits are swallowed, the advice is to take them away when the bone becomes small enough to ingest whole!

You can make them more appealing by boiling them up in some stock.

Excellent, thanks tohme!  She doesn't actually bite them up, just gnaws little fillaments off (I have no idea if that's the right word, but it sounds good to me!).

Great tip too about the stock - the one she has is liver flavour (the cheat's version!) but I expect the flavouring would be long gone by now, so I shall give that a go.

And get her some more - an excuse for a trip to Pets at Home, hurrah!