Quick silly discussion - favorite toys?

[Mikol & Omni]

Hi everyone!  I am getting my Doodle pup on 2/13 and am so excited!  To distract myself from my excitement, I look at this site!  It doesn't help make me any less impatient to get the pup!

Anyway, those of you with GoldenDoodles and Labradoodles, do they like to chew as much as the retrievers themselves do?

I want to buy a few toys before we get the pup so I have them ready.  How I am going to teach a pup which toys are hers/his and which are my 16 month old's toys (since I am sure they'll all be scattered on the floor all the time) is a harder question!

Anyway, let me know if your doodles have some favorite toys or where I can find that discussion since I imagine it already exists.

Thanks!
Mikol & Still-looking-for-a-name-for-pup-guess-we'll-wait-til-we-meet

[Erin]

Steve - I'm pretty sure if your Maggie and my Hershey got together, they could do some serious damage... Hershey turns the Black Extreme Chewer Kongs into rubber mulch chips....

[Mikol & Omni]

Thanks everyone, for the replies! I will buy some of these toys and hope for the best. My Lab was like Steve's Maggie - a super chewer. I used to joke that I should have rented him out to a mulch factory - I figured he could turn a tree into mulch in about an hour! We'll see how the pup is. My toddler chews on things too, so they can probably start the blaming each other game for when things get destroyed! =)

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

The best thing I got my puppy in the beginning was called a Snuggle Puppy. I put it in her crate at night and it has a heartbeat that simulates the mother's heartbeat. I swear it made her first nights in the crate a piece of cake. Every morning she carried it out of the crate with her and kept it by her side. She also loves bully sticks and kongs. I have found that my labradoodle chews much more than my labrador ever did.

[Christine and Daisy]

Hi Laurie:

I have a Snuggle Puppy for Daisy also. It was recommended to me by my breeder as she used them. However, Daisy couldn't bring that one along as she flew from Manitoba & airlines are strict about that stuff. I bought her one before she arrived with extra batteries and extra heat packs but now I know not to use the heat packs as she chewed the inside pocket of the other snuggle puppy she had. So for safety reasons, I won't use that but I do turn on the heartbeat for her.
As far as I know, she loves it because once I put her in her crate (I can't get her to go in alone) I don't hear another peep out of her all night. I put a lightweight sheet over top and cover all sides, except I do lift it up a bit at the back for breathing room. I would feel claustrophobic like that so I don't want my pup too!

My cats come up and sniff the sheet and get close to the crate, but she doesn't make a sound. She's not afraid of them at all. At night, I bring the crate to our room, to my side of the bed. My two cats are hogging my bed space closest to the crate and the cat most interested in Daisy has never slept in that spot with me. It gives me less room to sleep in but I'm happy to have them there because I love my animals. They are family members to me.

Just wanted to get my two cents in with the ever popular Snuggle Puppy. Oh, and they are listed everywhere for about $30, but I found mine for $22 on Amazon.com I think it was. I even got a golden coloured retriever. The selection was pretty bad for the more expensive ones.

[Mustard Seed Ranch]

Snuggle puppys are AWESOME! I will not ship a puppy without one and I use one with every puppy I potty train. It does make a big difference!! I have heard that the heartbeat bears made for toddlers works too-but have not tried them myself or checked on the price difference.

[Donna K & Quincy]

Congratulations on your new puppy, you'll be totally in love in about 2 seconds. Quincy is a year old now and my friends at work must think I'm bonkers. I talk about my dog more than most people talk about their children. I'm sure some of them are a getting a bit tired of it. One of my co workers has a new lab puppy and when we're together it's all dog talk. Quincy is a super chewer and I have yet to find something that he can't chew up. Luckily he hasn't been destructive with anything but pulling the threads on my floor mats. We began giving him real bones from the pet store but had to stop because they were damaging his teeth. So good luck with the chewing. Since we don't know if the pup is a boy or a girl I have two suggestions for names, Ella for a girl and Rhett for a boy.

[Ladd Hill Labradoodles]

Our girls love the braided fleece ropes. They are very durable so they last for so long and the girls can chew on them individually or play tug. You can buy them online - just look up "dog toys braided fleece rope." We are even going to start making them ourselves!