Does your dog energetically pounce on a new squeaky toy, shaking his head and pawing away at it? Does he or she chew excitedly every time it squeaks? Does that same dog quickly discard the squeaky toy once the squeak is gone? According to sources there is a good answer for this, though some may not agree.
The Dog is Showing Natural Instincts
According to Dr. Jon Rappaport, who is the founder of Intelligent Content and Pet Place.com, it is natural instinct from their ancestors. Dr. Jon, who is a veterinarian, says that a dog has a natural instinct to chase down its prey.
He also says that when the toy no longer squeaks, the dog believes its prey is dead and no longer wants it. It’s hard to think that your pet is having so much fun with his or her squeaky toy, because he thinks he is killing something.
Dr. Jon is not the only person that believes this is why your lovable dog goes crazy over a squeaky toy. Abby Bird is a dog trainer and guest blogger for PETCO Scoop.com. According to her, the original squeaky toys were invented to train terriers to search for small animals underground.
Bird says that the squeak in the dog’s toy sounds like the small animals terriers used to seek out. I guess a small frightened animal does squeak, but I am not so sure I agree with either theory.
I have a 12 lb Shih Tzu that absolutely loves his squeaky toys. He pounces on them, shakes them and carries them all around the house. He even plays the shake and growl game if I try to take it from him. Is he protecting his “prey” or is he just having fun?
He has stuffed animals and rope toys that do not make any kind of squeaky sound. He gets just as excited playing with them. He loves to play tug of war with the ropes and he also growls and shakes his head. Of course a small Shih Tzu is not very scary!
My own personal theory is that once the dog punctures the toy and it no longer squeaks, it simply isn’t very fun to play with. When a child’s toy breaks or runs out of batteries, the child loses interest in it.
Why can’t a dog feel the same way about a squeaky toy that no longer squeaks? According to Cesar Milan, AKA The Dog Whisperer, a dog’s ears are so sensitive to sound that they do not even like to be outside when rain is hitting the ground. Maybe the squeak actually hurts the dog’s ears and they are just trying to make it stop.
I don’t know about you, but I like my theories much better than the theory that my dog thinks he is killing a poor squeaky toy. I feel bad if I have been buying him squeaky toys all this time and they hurt his ears. I think I will just stick with the idea that he is just playing and we are having a good time. How about you?
Sources:
PETCO Scoop.com
PET Place.com
