I am having a blast with my little turd of a Cardigan, Ace. He is waddling around the flat, dodging the stink eye-stares of the cats, and is pretty much in love with both my husband and me. But if there's one thing he doesn't do, it's play with toys.
Kong stuffed to the brim with peanut butter (which is a pain to find here in France) and treats, a brightly colored tug rope, squeaky fuzzy animals of various shapes, you name it and this dog doesn't want to have anything to do with them. I have tried in vain for quite a while now to make these toys seem like the most AMAZING AND FUN! things ever, but Ace remains completely unimpressed and blasé. He will mouth them, maybe, and then just go back to wanting a snuggle or trying to chew stuff he shouldn't.
So the question is, how do I make chew-appropriate toys seem more appealing than my iPod charger? He's in the process of losing a couple of his teeth, as evidenced by the bits of blood on the toys' fabric when he does mouth them. Ice cubes are a hit-or-miss with him, and I really want to provide him with something proper for this period of his life.
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Give him time. Moving is very stressful to a puppy. "Where's my mom? Where's my litter? Where's that nice lady who used to call "puppies puppies puppies!!" and we'd all come running in a heap, tripping over each other and jumping over each other and piling into our nice safe pen? Who are you? What are those noises you are making? Are they important? Why are you waving things in front of my nose? Is this my bowl? Will someone try to take my food?" Etc.
Jack is the smartest dog I've ever had, hands down. He was a very clever pup who learned most new things in one to two five-minute training sessions. But when we first brought him home I thought he was a bit... er, "challenged" in his mental capacity, as he seemed to wander around vacantly and was ready to roam off up the street or go off with any ol' stranger and didn't really seem to want to do much but dig a hole, or chew on a stick, or eat mulch.
Aye, I guess I was just expecting both of us to get into the swing of things after a couple of days but that's why I'm here, to learn! As for training games, I have been doing those in vain largely because of his disinterest in food rewards, and his attention span of a gnat. I suppose once he's settled in more, he'll be more generous with paying attention to me?
advice I got from mycorgi people after Mia chewed my computer cord: when starting to chew inappropriate item, take it and replace with toy or whatever item is ok to chew. It will help them get the idea of what is ok and what is not.
This really worked for me, although we did lose several shoes before WE were trained to pick them up!
I've heard wetting then freezing a washcloth is a really good teething tool.
As for the toy problem in general, he's still getting used to his new surroundings and probably doesn't feel like playing now. Waffle didn't really play with toys until we had him for about 2 weeks. Then, about half of the toys I have for Waffle he doesn't have any interest in. Ropes, the Kong (if it is stuffed too difficultly), fleecey squeak stuffed toy things.... untouched. Useless. His favorite toys are cat toys and the Chuck It! Flying Squirrel. You may have a picky puppy on your hands, but it's too early to tell now!
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