Durable Dog Toys: 7 Tips for Dog Toy Safety

Buy Dog Toys, Exclusively. Don't let your dog play with toys that were designed for cats, hamsters, or even children. These types of dog toys could be small enough to look like food and choke a dog if swallowed.

Forget the sticks, wooden toys, and bones (even the cooked ones). Each one of these items can splinter and choke a dog no matter how big it is. Splinters will also damage a dog's teeth and gums, induce vomiting, cause ulcers, and puncture a dog's intestine. Now some people will argue that uncooked bones are appropriate for dogs since they don't splinter that much, but you have to remember that the salmonella in uncooked bones will make a dog ill.

Nylon and hard rubber are good materials for safe dog toys. Both of these textiles are good safe teething materials.

Keep your clothing separate from the toys. A dog can easily swallow small items like gloves, socks, or washcloths that can ultimately block its intestine. In addition, playing with clothing will get a dog the wrong idea about what's an appropriate toy and what isn't.

Leave the soft, platex squeakers alone. Because these toys are so soft, they can easily split with just the mildest play. Once opened, the noise mechanism inside these toys can choke a dog or block a dog's intestines if swallowed.

Rocks are out of the question. They're definitely not among the safe dog toys, to say the least. Never let your dog chew on rocks and don't use them as something to fetch. Swallowed rocks can not only block a dog's intestines, chewed rocks will grind away a dog's teeth.

Avoid the cheap plastic toys that you find in dollar stores and pick up the ones made from natural materials like 100% natural rawhide instead. Plastic can release toxins and cheap or discount rawhide is preserved with poisonous arsenic.