Like caring for our children pet owners need to take responsibility for the safety of their dogs.  Accidents can and often do happen. Being prepared can prevent your pet from some potential injuries. 

Making your yard safe is another way to prevent your dog from escaping and being hurt.

 

Caring and Safety of your Dog

 

Playing with toys is an important part of fighting the boredom in a dogs’ long day left alone in the back yard.  Dogs love to play, and will look for ways to get into mischief.  They don’t know the dangers in their back yard are easily injured.

 

Toys are a great way to avoid this boredom.  Selection of toys will depend on the dog’s strength and size and whether supervised or not.  All dogs have different activity levels; this changes the types of toys, what is suitable for a Doberman would not be good for an active Jack Russel. 

 

Safe toys for your Dog

Never buy any toys with detachable glued on eyes or stitched on buttons for their mouths.  Small dogs could choke on them so remove them.  Often soft toys look great although the stuffing may be toxic and dangerous, especially if the toy is torn up. Never leave your dog unsupervised with this type of toy.

 

Squeaker toys can be another dangerous toy.  They are great when first bought, but like anything once they have been played with and chewed on they can split open and ingest the squeaker and when not supervised they could choke.

 

Use a ball and never throw sticks

 

The safest toy to use for a dog to fetch is the common ball.  Sticks can be very dangerous.  A dog does not understand how to run slow.  They run like a bull at a gate.  Therefore when they reach the stick they are going at a fast pace, they open their mouth and if sharp the stick can catch in the lawn (or similar) and goes straight down their throat or into the side of its mouth. Again my dog has taught us about this with personal experience.  He is so lovable but wow, he has got into so much trouble we should have named him trouble

 

Having said us a ball, I should tell you that even cheap tennis balls can be a problem.  They often split easily and made of rubber, they can easily swallow it.  That is not good either.

 Food treats

 

Rawhide can be a great treat although some of them when chewed go soft. I know from personal experience my dog Titan nearly choked as when it is wet is and gets stuck in the dog’s mouth.  Titan got it stuck behind his teeth with part down his throat.

He could not even cough it up because it was stuck I had to physically pull it out.

If I had not been home he would not be with us today. 

My advice is- Do not buy them

 

Kong’s -Safest Toy

These come in all shapes and sizes.  Made from a strong hard rubber they are not so easy to destroy.  This is great, especially for the larger dogs. Some are designed hollow inside.  So you can fill these with dog biscuits or dog treats.  It is such a great way to keep him amused for a lot longer and help distract his boredom.

There is also a dental Kong that helps to keep his teeth healthy.

Another way to keep him active is tie a ball on a short piece of elastic.  Tie the other end to the rotary hoist.  He will take off with the ball, when it reaches the end of its elasticity it bounces back ready for him to chase after again.

Whatever you do, always try to keep your dog healthy, and safe in his own back yard.