It is important to provide your new dog with safe toys to occupy his mind. Squeaky rubber or plastic toys, stuffed animals, and cloth toys are fine only when you are around to supervise. Buster cubes, clothe toys with removable pieces, balls emitting sounds, biscuit-holding toys, etc. are excellent ways to stimulate your dogs brainpower. Toy links-- http://www.diamondsintheruff.com/intel_diversions.html
Safe chew toys are very important because dogs need to chew. I recommend Kong toys for all dogs. These hollow rubber toys can be stuffed with peanut butter, cheese, soft canned foods, etc and they can even be frozen. They provide dogs with hours of chewing delight. Dogs left alone for extended time chew to reduce stress. Average chewers (dogs that don’t chew to bite off large pieces) are generally safe with real beef marrowbones, Nylabone products, and natural rubber toys. Aggressive chewers (dogs that chew with a purpose and can crack natural shank bones, get slivers off or can get chunks from Nylabones) need large Kong toys or Galileos (Nylabone product). Links-- http://nylabone.com/
http://kongcompany.com/
* Look for future articles on toys and games for your pets.

Keep in mind that dogs are social animals and do not enjoy being alone. Keeping a dog chained all the time without companionship would be like keeping a child confined and deprived of human companionship.

All dogs need exercise to thrive. Play dates with other friendly dogs in a fenced yard is probably the best exercise a dog could have. You can provide good exercise with minimal effort by teaching your dog to fetch a ball. Get your dog excited about the ball then throw it. Most dogs will chase a ball. If he picks it up, get excited and run the other way. You dog will likely follow. If he brings the ball to you, offer him a tiny treat (fingertip sized). He should drop the ball. Pick it up and throw it again, quickly. Soon he will get the idea, and you can fade away the use of treats. If he won’t release the ball when you ask, try using 2 balls: Throw one, let him get it, and then excite him to bring it to you. When he does, tease him with the other ball. He should drop the one in his mouth. Generally, they get the idea pretty quickly. Of course a nice brisk walk with your dog is excellent exercise, too, and it is a great way to bond and give him quality time.

Puppies should not be overworked or expected to exercise too much. Their bones are still soft and it is easy to damage them. A fun game to play with puppies is “find me”. Someone holds the pup while you hide then releases him and encourages him to find you. When he does, make a big deal of it and give him a treat. You can do the same kind of thing with the treat: hide it then encourage your pup to find it. A link for play/games-- http://www.dog-play.com/

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