Why Do Dogs Like Stuffed Toys?

She is an amazing Certified Therapy Dog but, she will steal resident's stuffed toys if I would allow her to. Now, for those of you who are handy with the needle, you could remove the stuffing, and fill the toy with tough fabric instead, that way, it will last forever!

I think that dogs feel closer to being a dog when they actually have a stuffed toy in their mouth. They feel that they have caught it. They can carry it around, they can claim it, they can retrieve it (especially retrievers), and it's theirs. And, it feels good to them. After a while, the smell of this stuffed toy becomes awful to us, but great to the dogs.

Depending on the breed you have, some dogs will kill the stuffed toys, some dogs will love it, sleep on it and snuggle with it. Retrievers will consistently have it in their mouth when you return home.

By far, the cheapest way to keep your dog in stuffed toys is buying cheap, right sized stuffed animals at garage/yard sales. I wash them in hot water, and a bit of Solumel (Melaleuca household cleaner that helps get rid of bacteria and it is animal and nature friendly), this is very important! Then, I remove all the detachable; lose things like eyes, whiskers, etc. These toys are a very cheap alternative to expensive pet store toys.

Be very careful though that you check and make sure that this toy is not stuffed with small, styrofoam beads. Avoid those. You can easily tell by squishing the toy in your hand. Dogs often rip open their stuffed toys, and the styrofoam beads could become a hazard to your dog.

I know of some big dogs that shake their stuffed toy to so much that they are actually killing it. If you have more than one dog watch that the other dog doesn't get hurt by the toy that is being shaken. It is easy to have your other dogs eye get punctured or hurt.

So to repeat the question, why do dogs like stuffed toys? Well, it seems that we all love stuffed toys. Adults have them, kids love them, cats play with stuffed mice, and dogs claim them to kill it, to claim it, or just to love it.

Ruth's passions are people and pet health. She owns 2 dogs, one of which is a Registered Pet Therapy Dog (Her Golden Retriever), and the second, an adopted Black Lab, Shorty. Her Pet Blog: http://www.happypetstop.com/blog

Her Adopt A Dog Blog; http://www.choose-dog-adoption.com/Blog/
Come and meet Shorty, her beautiful adopted dog.

A Cow Stuffed Toy is Perfect For a Young Child

The animals that live on a farm are some of the most familiar to children. "Old MacDonald had a Farm" (the iconic song about a farmer named MacDonald and the various animals he keeps on his farm), is one of the very first tunes young children learn so they can identify the sounds farm animals make. Most popular among them, are pigs - "oink, oink," ducks - "quack, quack," horses - "neigh, neigh," and cows - "moo, moo." Of all the sounds heard on a farm, the easiest to pronounce amongst the animals are the cows. Not surprisingly, once a child learns the sound a cow makes, the purchase of a cow stuffed toy or two, is not far behind.

In the world of children's programming, there is one very famous cow that was first introduced on Sesame Street by puppeteer Richard Hunt in 1973 - her name, is Gladys. Throughout the '70's and '80's, Gladys was part of Sesame Street's large ensemble cast. While she made appearances in what are referred to as "street stories," she also could often be seen in inserts like on Guy Smiley's game show or Prairie Dawn's pageants. Her claim to fame is that she is a wannabe actress and singer (she has a high-pitches operatic voice) who believes she can easily compete with some of the great diva singers of the day. Despite never having appeared on the operatic stage, she nonetheless thinks of herself as a very grand opera singer. Needless to say, Gladys loves to belt out a tune and is also known to wear a wig or two.

Children familiar with Gladys the cow, know that her most famous moment is when she gives a performance of "I'm Proud to Be a Cow." The song gives a number of reasons as to why she is so proud of her species. The quote most often heard from Gladys is "I'm proud, proud, proud, to be a cow!"
When Richard Hunt died in 1992, Gladys the Cow Muppet was retired. She was revived again in 2003 when she was voiced by Jennifer Barnhart. Upon reintroduction, Gladys once again began to appear more frequently as part of the ensemble cast of characters on Sesame Street. Despite the fact that Gladys is a pushy, loud, opera-singing cow, she is a much needed Muppet, as she adds a strong female presence to the mix.

While cow stuffed toys don't all look like Gladys, there are still any number of adorable cow stuffed toys to choose from. Some online stuffed animal stores have a two and a half foot tall cow stuffed toy that doesn't look anything like a Muppet - instead, it's more like the real thing. There is the option of choosing a brown and white or black and white spotted cow stuffed toy from the MyBigPlush collection. Despite not being Gladys, these cow stuffed toys are equally as engaging and will keep a child happy for years to come.

Angeline Hope is a collector of soft cow plush stuffed toy animals. You can view a huge selection of quality giant plush stuffed toys at http://www.mybigplush.com.