How do you choose safe st bernard dog toys? Simple tips for finding the right playthings.
Okay, so getting toys for my St. Bernard, Winston, was quite the adventure, let me tell you. When we first brought him home, this giant furball, I figured, you know, dog toys are dog toys. Boy, was I wrong.
The Early Days: Destruction Derby
First, I went out and bought a bunch of standard stuff. You know, the cute plush squeaky toys, some vinyl things. Looked like a good haul. I gave Winston the first squeaky duck. He looked at it, gave it one good CHOMP, and poof! Stuffing everywhere. It lasted maybe, and I'm being generous, two minutes flat. Okay, lesson one: plush toys are just expensive snacks for this guy.
Next up were the vinyl toys. A bit tougher, I thought. He carried one around proudly for about an hour. Then I heard this awful cracking sound. Found the toy in pieces, some looking pretty sharp. That freaked me out a bit, didn't want him swallowing sharp plastic. So, vinyl was mostly out too.
Moving On To Tougher Stuff
Alright, clearly needed to step up the game. I started looking specifically for "tough" or "indestructible" toys. This is where things got a bit better, but still hit or miss.
- Hard Plastic Bones: Some of these lasted longer. But again, powerful jaws meant sometimes he could gnaw off pieces. I had to be really careful about which brands and shapes we tried. Some were okay, others felt risky.
- Rope Toys: Winston loves a good game of tug-of-war. So, I got some really thick rope toys. These were pretty good! The main thing here is you gotta supervise. If they start unraveling it and eating the strings, that's bad news. So, tug time is always supervised time, then I put the rope away.
- The Real Winners - Tough Rubber: Then I found those really dense, heavy rubber toys. You know the ones, often black or red, and they feel solid? Bingo. These were the ticket. Things like the Kong Extreme, but other brands make similar super-tough rubber stuff. He can chew on these for ages, and they hold up. I could stuff them with treats too, kept him busy.
What Works Now
So, after a lot of trial, error, and frankly, wasted money on toys that got shredded in minutes, we have a system.
Our go-to toys for Winston are now:
- Super heavy-duty rubber chew toys. The bigger the better.
- Really thick, large rope toys, but only when I'm playing tug with him directly.
- Occasionally, a giant tennis ball made for large breeds, but even those don't last forever.
It really was a process of figuring out what his giant mouth and powerful chew strength could handle safely. You just gotta watch them, see what they do with a new toy, and accept that for a big dog like a St. Bernard, finding toys that last is gonna take some effort. Don't get discouraged if the first few (or ten) toys you buy get annihilated instantly. Keep trying, you'll find what works for your big buddy.
