Today I gave Kody a stuffed toy. It's a Petco branded toy. He finally ripped it open to dig out the squeaker. I always watch him at this point and trade him a treat for the squeaker because I don't want him to swallow bits of it. I got the squeaker and it was just the big "air chamber" part, not the little "horn" part.
Later he retrieved the horn part and luckily was willing to trade that too. When I looked at it there was this sharp thing sticking out of it. I got some tweezers and pulled it apart and the sharp thing was a bit of hard white plastic that splintered as soon as I pulled it out. There was also an extra bit of soft plastic and some brown gunk in there too.
It was exactly the kind of thing you don't want in your dog's stomach. In fact if I made a list of dangerous things Kody had encountered, that would probably be at the top.
So I'm not buying Petco stuffed toys anymore, and I would advise against them. They probably get them real cheap somewhere. I'm going to have to consider whether I will give stuffed toys at all anymore. If I do, they will be name brand and I'll probably rip them open myself to check out the squeaker.
My trainer suggested refilling old toys with fluff. You can even buy the squeakers and put them in an extra tough little bag you'll have some time to get them before the dog chews them apart. That seems like the best option.
I know now I will be very selective about any toys I send to Kody…it is scarey that he could have swallowed that thing.
Yeah, Kody seems to be feeling a bit awkward today. We went outside and had a good walk, but he was nibbling at the grass and I can hear is stomach gurgling.
It was the funniest thing, he seemed a little nervous about the toy too. Normally he would rip out all the stuffing in one go, but he didn’t. I threw out the toy half stuffed and he didn’t even seem to mind.
It’s horrible to think of giving a dog a “fun toy” that actually hurts him.