puppy shopping 3

Toys & Chews

If there's one thing I know about Finnish Lapphunds it's this: they sure do love to chew. Having said that, chewing is a necessity for all dogs, especially young ones and, to be honest, some Lappies are more interested in chewing than others.

Little did I know how lightly we were getting off with Neka in this respect. As a puppy she destroyed very few things. And those that she did get were irresistible and we take full responsibility for leaving them within reach - plastic lens cover from camera, remote control, the occasional shoe here and there.

Then Keskiyo moved in and, boy, did we get a shock to the system. He destroyed everything in sight and then some. Nothing was safe, including the exposed corners of any wood. Woe betide us if we left anything within a paw's reach of the bars of the crate in the car. Four years later I'm still wearing my very expensive waterproof jacket but since it was less than 2 weeks old it has had a few unnecessary holes and a half-missing zip (so, not so waterproof any longer, actually). You guessed it - left in the back of the car and dragged through the bars of the crate.

Then Maija came along. And, sheesh, we thought Keskiyo was bad! She was the worst of all. Socks galore, pens & pencils, several leads, the edge of the vet bed, her blanket, anything at all left on the coffee table within reach. Many, many things destroyed.

However, one interesting thing about all this was that if the chew toys were yummy enough and interesting enough, then the dogs would always prefer them over the pencils and remote control, etc. Socks, maybe not so much. They will always be appealing, I guess.

So, the moral of the story is this: when you get your puppy you'll need lots of different chew toys and bones. Our adult dogs' absolute favorite thing that they will forego all other treats for is a fresh bone from the butcher.

For puppies and their growing teeth and jaws, Nylabone puppy bones are terrific. At the rate they grow, though, FL puppies very soon graduate out of those little soft ones. By 10 or 12 weeks Neka was going through the softest of these in 1 minute flat. She still loves these little puppy bones, though, and when Maija had them we had to make sure Neka didn't steal them from her. For the bigger and older dogs, this type is also good with the fake marrow inside.

There's literally hundreds, possibly thousands, of different types of dog chews on the market. Most of the very best ones also have food value, so if your puppy is a destroyer and swallows everything instead of just chewing & savouring, then you need to keep that in mind and balance it with their meals. Ours all love pigs' ears (I draw the line at buying trotters and, worst of all, pig noses!) paddywhack, tripe sticks (of course they love that - the most disgusting smelly thing ever produced). Call me squeamish if you like, but in addition to pig noses, I also cannot bring myself to give our dogs pizzle. I'm sure Jay agrees.

In addition to these things, and others like them, there's all the less-natural things like Dentastix, Jumbones, etc. Ours also love all these. Regardless of what it says on the packaging, though, these are not treats to be given everyday! Our dogs only ever get half a Dentastix at a time and only once in a while. Jumbones are great because you can also buy them in slices, which is a much more sensible size of treat for a dog.

For lengthy chewing, I stick with bones (fresh, nylon, smoked, stuffed) and occasionally the other items.

Rawhide is another very popular dog chew product. We only ever give the shredded, re-formed variety because of the dangers associated with other types. Rawhide pieces get soft when chewed and it's surprisingly easy for dogs to choke on it, so we avoid it.
As for toys, no one needs advice on this, really, as pet shops are stuffed to the rafters with toys of every imaginable type and you'll soon discover which are your puppy's favorites. Be prepared for them to be destroyed as well - that's all part of the fun for puppies. There are a few must-haves, though:

• Tennis balls
• Stuffed animal for snuggling at bedtime (at least as big as the puppy - so pretty big)
• Activity ball (just put their meal kibble inside)
• Kong
• Tug ropes

For some fabulous advice on how to survive your puppy's chewing phases, go have a look at Gwen Bailey's excellent article.