Are Squeaky Toys Too Stimulating For Your Dog?
I keep reading that squeaky toys can cause aggression, resource guarding, and predatory instincts in dogs. I’ve yet to see any of those behaviors with my dog, but they certainly create extremely high levels of excitement. Is it just innocent fun or are squeaky toys too stimulating for dogs?
Laika Has A New Favorite Toy, and It’s a Squeaker
I recently discovered a super cheap toy that Laika will not destroy – even though it’s not tough at all. It’s become her new favorite fetch toy, and when I’m busy she’s usually off by herself tossing it around.
Her new favorite toy? It’s just a cheap old plastic squeaky toy from the local grocery store. It was one of those waiting in line ‘oh that looks interesting’ buys. And the best part is it’s not a traditional squeaky toy with a squeaker inside. It’s shaped like a long narrow tube and a hole at the end makes the noise.
She doesn’t get regular squeaky toys anymore. Those are thoroughly destroyed until she gets that squeaker – and that’s too much of a choking hazard.
She Loved It So Much I Got Her More
She loved her new green squeaky toy so much I decided to get her another one, and then another. My once quiet home is now filled with high pitched squeaks. And yes, I keep asking myself why I got her more, one was more than enough…But a dog likes what a dog likes, and they certainly make her happy.
While they’ve been amazing for the most part I am starting to worry that they might be too stimulating.
When we play fetch with them her bottom lip quivers. She still sits and waits for her release, but her bottom lip shakes the whole time. Is that much excitement a good thing? It it just innocent fun? I wish I knew.
Wherever Laika goes her new toys are sure to follow.
Squeaky Toys Do Stimulate Prey Drive
Whether we like it or not our dogs still have a lot of predatory instincts, and squeaky toys stimulate that drive. What sounds like an innocent squeak to us is emulating the noise of prey to our dogs – some cute little furry animal, no doubt.
I’ve read that some dog trainers are against squeaky toys because they nurture a dog’s prey drive. And yes, I definitely see that. But my question is – is that always a bad thing? Is my dog more likely to go off & kill little animals now? Does it depend on her impulse control?
Most of the trainers that claim squeaky toys cause aggression are the same ones that practice dominance theory. Whether disagreeing with that one idea should discredit all their others is something I’m struggling with.
Perhaps any toy that brings out a dog’s prey drive has the potential to cause unwanted behaviors, but shouldn’t that be decided on a dog by dog basis?
Are Squeaky Toys Too Stimulating?
Lots of activities stimulate prey drive, does that mean they’re all bad? Does it just depend on where that drive is focused? A game of tug or a flirt pole encourages dogs to harness their natural drive – is the difference just in the predatory aspect?
We used to play with a flirt pole before Laika got arthritis, and I never noticed any bad behaviors as a result. All that pent up energy she used to chase it seemed to be released when I’d let her catch it.
And I’m assuming squeaky toys work in a similar fashion, unlike laser pointers where a dog never actually gets to “catch” anything. Is any toy that makes a dogs lip quiver too stimulating? Or is it just a sign of anticipation and excitement?
For now I’m going to let Laika keep those stupid squeaky toys, even though my ears are telling me otherwise. It’s not every day that you find a new favorite toy or three, and they’re certainly making Laika one happy pup.
Do You Give Your Dogs Squeaky Toys?
Does your dog play with squeaky toys? Does he or she get obsessive or aggressive with them? Are you nuts like me and buy 3 of the same toy in different colors?
Leroy has a very short attention span whether it squeaks or not. Sherman is only obsessive about his yellow Air Squeak toys, overly obsessive….you have to take it from him and put it away sometimes but it’s only these specific toys and nothing else.
It’s so weird how they all pick their favorites, and sometimes it’s something so odd.
Phoenix loves all sorts of toys! She’s really good about not being destructive. Zoe we have to watch like a hawk! She’s so naughty! 😀
Great discussion.
I do give our dogs squeaky toys. Scout has a favorite one that we all his bubby. Our dogs also love the Kong balls that squeak. The only thing I have to watch out for is (1) mild aggression, which is resolved by giving everyone a toy and (2) swallowing the squeaker, so I like to find toys that don’t just magically squeak, no squeaker inside.
If I had more than one dog I think it would be another story – I couldn’t imagine trying to keep the peace with a dog like Laika around her favorites.
I’d never thought about if squeaky toys are too stimulating – interesting point!
Cody has never been a fan of squeaky toys, he’d much prefer to kick around a plastic bottle filled with a bit of dry rice or pasta! Although, my old dogs, Tarsha and Zac, used to have a Christmas bon bon squeaker toy – it was very cute! Looks like Laika is loving her new squeakers, great post!
I haven’t trued the bottle toy – that sounds super easy and I bet Laika will love it.
It’s such a fun toy! I’d love to hear if you try it out.
I have a post on easy and free dog toys, including that toy, if you’d like to check it out: http://www.pavedbypawprints.com/top-10-easy-and-free-dog-toys-relieve-dog-boredom/ 🙂
That’s a good question. Because they do sound about the same as a mouse does when Cookie catches one. I think she was born with strong prey drive, though, and didn’t need any help. My worry is that squeaky toys might encourage her to “play with her food” when she does catch a mouse or any other small vermin. I use them very little.
Tino was our only dog that liked squeaky toys…and he would just hold it and squeak and squeak and squeak…drove me nuts.
I have honestly never heard that squeaky toys bring on aggression or prey drive and just a guess but I bet I train with some trainers that you would not approve of. 🙂 The next time I see a dog with low prey drive I am going to suggest a squeaky toy…lol. We nurture prey drive in our working dogs. They are not at all aggressive with squeaky toys. Usually Storm tries to bury them. Normally they just retrieve them.
I haven’t personally seen the aggression with squeaky toys either, but when I was doing research I found 4 different certified trainers that make that connection; and in their comments lots of owners agreed. Maybe it just does depend on how much drive the dog has to begin with and/or what you do with that drive. I guess I could see an untrained dog getting into problems if that toy is the only outlet they have for all that energy. And as far as using trainers I wouldn’t approve of that maybe so – but I don’t have hunting or working dogs either. I try to choose methods for Laika that work well for her, but that certainly doesn’t mean they’re perfect for other dogs 🙂
It is an interesting topic. I am around a lot of dogs with huge prey drive (not just mine but others). I think I am going to conduct an informal survey. 🙂
I’ve heard this myth before. And I am sure it will not surprise you that I think it’s a load of bs. 😀
I think that every dog can benefit from learning how to think through serious excitement and how to calm herself down when she’s super excited–and if squeaky toys can recreate the intensity your dog feels for prey, well, what a great training tool!
Also, I think Laika’s lip quivering sounds adorable! Nala does that occasionally too–usually for her dinner, and I am not about to stop feeding her! She also delightedly clacks her jaws together when we’re being playful. I don’t see either of these things as a problem.
Oh no…I too have read this bit of nonsense on G+ perhaps a year ago and I could not disagree more regarding the idea that this is a dangerous practice and said as much in the thread. Yes, of course it engages their prey drive. And I agree — the problem is…what? Aren’t we working on giving our dogs a chance to enjoy their natural dog lives? We’re not scenting these toys, it’s not a drag hunt. And yes I think you’re right — it’s the debunked dominance theory trainers that seem to be spreading this tempest in a teapot. Thanks for sharing your experience =) BTW, Tashi has a grrreat time at the age of 16 whipping his stuffingless fox toy back and forth, tossing it in the air, and biting the squeakers at both ends!
Squeaky toys are definitely stimulating. My girl once started humping my leg while playing with a squeaky toy…
I have had the unfortunate experience of witnessing my dogs find a rabbit’s nest, so I can attest to the fact that squeaky toys very much sound like a prey animal in distress. : (
Haley really responds to squeaky toys and they do get her pretty excited too but I think it’s a great outlet for draining excess energy. She’s never acted aggressive around small animals, even though she loves the chase. The only time she caught an animal was when she got lucky one day and picked up a chipmunk in her mouth. She immediately dropped it when it started moving and it ran off unharmed (at least physically, lol!)
This is such an interesting topic though, because there are some dogs that get aggressive with certain types of play, like rough housing. I don’t worry about excessive excitement while playing, but if it ever started to look more like real aggression, I would find another way of playing.
Honey enjoys her squeaky. And it does stimulate her playful instincts. But I’ve never seen it translate into aggression toward other small animals.
However, when we play with it in public it has made other dogs around us nuts. We’ve learned to tuck her fave squeaky away with other dogs join us at the park or beach.
I think each person has to observe their dogs and figure out what’s good and what’s overdoing it.
BTW, there are some “squeaky” toys out that apparently only dogs can hear. We have one tucked away on the boat that I want to surprise her with later.
My border collie used to obsess over squeaky toys, and play with them nonstop until the squeaker broke or came out of the toy. Then he’d bring me the “broken” toy for me to fix it. If I asked him where the “squeaky” was, he’d go and fetch the tiny plastic squeaker part for me to put back in (he knew that was what made it squeak – his eyes lit up whenever I put it back into his toy).
I wouldn’t have been able to give him a squeaky toy that never broke – he wouldn’t have stopped playing with it. On the occasion I found him a squeaky toy that had a more robust squeaker, he played with it non stop for hours until he was so exhausted he was lying on his side with the toy in his mouth but leaning it on the floor, squeaking it slowly as if he could barely work up the energy for it anymore. His tongue was swollen and he was panting really hard.
I got so worried he’d literally play to death that I started taking the toy away after half an hour to prevent him going over the top (it broke eventually and I never bought him one like that again). The 10 minute squeakers were all he got after that (the ones with tiny plastic inserts that either get pushed into the toy or broken when bitten or popped out of the toy in about 5 – 10 minutes).
If you have an OCD breed like a border collie I would limit squeaky toys or not give them at all to prevent the dog obsessing over them.
okay i foster dogs i need to descentistize my foster from squeaky toys as he goes from plain fun loving boy into a killer and toy aggressor, so tring to find an app to down load of continuousious squeaking to play at low levels and slowly work the volume up to retrain him.
can somone sent me the link to an apple app for itunes to do this please
squeaky toys in our case leads to fear aggression, the way rescued dogs have been treated inthe past will make life to be communified easy or top end hard. this foster is a 7/10 on hard for toys help is required
My 9 year old staffy x labrador x mastiff 5o kg in weight is a gentle giant. I can put my house on a bet to prove he would not harm anyone. His name is Milo & I gave him a squeaky bone toy. I do not see any agreesion with this toy ,infact I see hee treats his toy like a baby. He sleeps with it & protects it & sometimes he sqeaks it to see if is still alive. I do not find this toy as prey by the way Milo looks after it.Infact he treats this toy with kindness as if it was a child. Fran
My 6 week old boxer growls, attacks and shakes toys when we squeak them. It’s like she doesn’t like the sound. Or maybe she likes it too much? I know we can release a lot of puppy energy when playing with them.
My 8 week old boxer goes into total aggressive psycho mode with 1 squeaky toy, in particular! She’s just learning not to use her razor sharp baby teeth on human parts, so seeing her attack this toy so furiously and vocally- while entertaining- is also pretty concerning. She came from a well-bred litter of 5, and I’m wondering if they didnt engage in super rough play. We have so many toys for her to teethe on and to romp and tug with…but its this squeaky toy that turns my sweet puppy into a raging (seemingly viscious) little monster. I seriously almost changed her name from Dori to Cybil. Our other 2 dogs (Boston) and Sharpei mix love their squeaky toys, too, but have never taken to this extreme. I’m wondering if she’ll soon outgrow this- if they’re good for her to let out her energy… or if I should only opt for toys without squeakers from now on to ensure I don’t have to rename her.
I bought my dog a squeaky skunk. He warmed up to it. When I tried to throw it, he bit me and made me bleed. So I have since taken it away from him.
Absolutely yes-my pup who generally destroys everything, LOVES her silly squeaker toys. I picked one up at the $ Tree just to see & she loves them -she especially loves the ones that have a big squeaker head & long tail.
Thank God for these toys! (although my ears do get weary)
It helps her play alone & stay occupied and Very happy!
My Layla is four months old; she has a squeaky pig, squirrel and chicken toy . her favorite is the chicken ; she plays with it all the time and mostly at night when I’m trying to sleep….
I had to step on a squeaky toy to get it to squeak and my dog went nuts trying to attack the toy and was growling at my foot. So, yes, squeaky toys can bring out aggression in dogs. My dog is s rescue that had lived on his own in the winter and was so malnourished when found. The humane society did not know if he would live or not. He did live and is now my forever dog. Lots of issues and lots of patience. But NO squeaky toys.