Toys - Kids and Dogs

[katmg]

Okay, this is one of those pregnant lady/new mom threads that will probably make most of you old pros laugh.

So many of the stuffed animals/kid toys seem to have some sort of squeaker or rattle in them - VERY similar to dog toys. Even the Taggie blanket we received was very intriguing to our dog.

How did you prevent your dog from stealing the kid toys and claiming them as dog toys?

[Jaycee]

For some strange reason, my dogs seem to know which toys are theirs. Of course, theres the occasional swiping of DD's toys, but they definitly know :p

[Kanga]

We have the opposite problem when we visit my parents. The dog doesn't care much about her toys, but she LOVES the dog's nasty chewed up toys.

I would just keep redirecting the dog using a key word/s (not for you, baby's, etc) and then give them something they can have. Also, it may help to keep all of dc's toy in one spot in the room you spend the most time in, and the dogs in anothers. This way your poochie will always know that the toys in x corner are always his and the ones in the other corner are not.

[Kate&Joey]

I totally had this fear, also. When I was organizing shower gifts before DS was born, I had a pile of soft toys on the bed. The cat was skulking around (as cats often do) and very slowly and cautiously sniffed each item, and then snatched the soft froggie rattle and ran away (I guess that was the best of the bunch!). It was really funny.

However, once DS arrived, they haven't messed with his toys that much. Like Kanga said, DS is more interested in the dog toys. Just the other day, he was laying on his activity mat and spied a stuffed dog toy out of the corner of his eye. He reached as far as he could, grabbed it, and it went right into his mouth. He was so proud of himself. :) He also likes a plastic squeeky dog toy that the dogs never liked so now it is DS's. :D

[sparkle&shine]

Somehow my dogs just knew that the toys weren't for them. I don't know how but they never wanted any of his toys with one exception. My Yorkie for some reason LOVES on of DS's bath toys. It's a little whale that you can fill with water and squirt with. My Yorkie will look over the bathtub at this toy and will occasionally try to steal it.

The dogs never went after the stuffed animals or anything else though.

Oh and I agree I had more of a problem with DS chewing on thier toys than the other way around :)

[sophonisba9]

After a couple of weeks of "no, not for puppies" whenever they tried to mouth one of the toys on the gymini, they now leave them alone, except for the occassional sniff. As for the toys that aren't tied down, I just give DS one at a time and when he looses interest, put it out of the dogs' reach. Occasionally they find one that I forgot about or that DH didn't put away, then I just take it back and tell them "no, not for puppies". I think it's a lost cause to try and prevent all contact, so I just do my best and not worry about the rest. Especially since one of our dogs loves baby spit up. He can find stuff that DS spit up on even though it's been washed. He just licks and licks and licks. I tell him "no" and as soon as my back is turned, he's right back at it.

[moderngal]

our dogs just knew too. once in a while if they are really worked up and playful, they'll give one a death shake and try to run with it. but our dogs are very old, so that's pretty rare.

[NYN]

my dog is older so he knew too but as someone else said, DD LOVES his toys. i learned i can't be a germaphobe a long time ago but at the beginning it would really bother me to see that.

[karlatta]

One of my dogs isn't interested in toys at all - hers or DS's. However, she does have a thing for pacifiers, so she'll snatch those if I'm not careful and leave them laying around.

The other dog has been taught that all of his toys are kept in a gray box behind the couch. When he wants a toy, he noses areound in it and picks up whatever he is looking for. He doesn't ever try to go after anything that didn't come from that box.

[Scooter]

Right now it's an issue for us, especially any soft plush toys (like in the baby gym or in her room). We make sure to always tell her no with the gym, and place her toys next to it so she has an alternative. In the room we just make sure no toys go on the floor; she doesn't take them from the shelves at least.

I think it'll get more obvious to her which toys are the baby's when DD is playing with them more and gets more baby smell on them. ;) Right now they just smell new, so the dog thinks they're for her!

[bunny nose]

My furbaby used to go after the baby's toys, but not so much anymore. We just kept telling- no Maverick, that is not your's, it's Nicky's. Go get your toy. Eventually he got it.

Funny thing, last week Maverick was laying next to Nicky while he was playing with his gym. Maverick had one of his toys right next to the baby. Somehow the baby got it in his hand. I got a look from the dog like, that's mine why does he have it. It was the funniest thing. So- I had to take it from the baby and say, No Nicky, that's not yours, it's Mavericks. I just laughed. I don't know who the baby is sometimes.

Karen

[MidwesternGal]

I'm a bit worried about this too (due early Oct). I brought back a stuffed puppy from my shower and some noisy blocks and a few other things. Cassie knows the word "no" so hopefully she'll catch on after a while.

One thing we do is that when the dog gets a toy, we "present" it directly to her, so she knows its hers. The other toys stay in boxes, bags, etc, and are not "given" to the dog. So hopefully that helps distinguish her toys. Additionally, we also try to make sure she as 1 of each kind of toy. . . a plush, a light-up, a chewy, and a noise-maker. That way, she has her own "verison" of baby's toys.

Course, I'm a little worried the dog will think the BABY itself is a toy (makes noises, is soft, etc)! LOL. But I'm sure it'll be fine once the dog is used to him!

[mamax2]

How did you prevent your dog from stealing the kid toys and claiming them as dog toys?
As soon as I found out I was pg, we started removing any dog toys from our home that could be confused w/baby toys. All plush and squeaker toys were gone and we moved onto Kongs, bones, balls and other chewy type toys. The dogs did not mind this one bit and by the time the baby came, they never bothered her toys at all. Well, maybe they would check them out w/curiousity, but no taking of toys, chewing, etc. Within the last year or so, I've been able to reintroduce a squeaky ball and that's gone fine.

I would hesitate to give my dog her own 'version' of baby toys because I think you're asking a lot for the dog to distinguish the two, at least initially. Also, I wanted it to be really clear to my dogs that the baby came above them in our pack order. Giving them similar toys, esp. if your dog might show any signs of possessiveness, would weaken this, I suspect.