Does Your Grey Play?

[RobinM]

All 4 of mine play and always have. Once one gets going... they all do.

[Guest shanesmom]

Elton never plays with toys and we have tried all kinds of different toys. He's only been with us since June though so maybe some day he'll play. I still keep a basket of toys in the family room just in case.

[tydyelady]

Opie plays all the time. We have stuffies littered everywhere, in various stages of rippage. (I am constantly sewing the holes up - last week had to sew almost a whole head back on a bear!) He runs up and down the length of our house with his toys, pausing in front of us, to try to get one of us to try to grab it - and then race off when we make a move towards him. This happens maybe 5-6 times a day. He also plays with his treats. Jerkey pieces, or these round duck/salmon chewie things. We give him one, and he runs off with it, flinging it in the air and then pouncing on it. This goes on for maybe 4-5 times, and then he will finally crouch down and eat it. When DH takes him for his last potty outside at night, he will run in circles and playbow all around him. Oh, and he loves to run around the yard and body check DH too. Opie is just a playing fool!!

[Guest greyhound1]

Brenda loves playing with her toys. She loves to zoom around the yard. Of course a good nap after.

[Guest ejw]

I didn't vote either as both greys are so different.

 

Jamaica plays with a new stuffie for 2 minutes .. if it moos or croaks or talks. Her enjoyment is almost always short-lived though, courtesy of Tansi! She hates squeeky toys. She will play with a toy for a few minutes if she is really bored or restless. Occasionally she will join Scooter and Tansi chasing a tennis ball. She used to be a "closet player" too. It was the longest time before I got to watch her play.

 

Tansi LOVES toys -- and she loves to degut them (especially if they moo or croak or talk) and chew up the noise makers. It's good she still likes them when they are lifeless; in fact I think she likes the ones she's done surgery on the best! She tosses stuffies around the house and sneaks them outside to play. She loves to play catch with me for a few minutes, then decides it's a way better game by herself. If I say "breakfast" , "supper', or "outside" , or I arrive home, she always grabs a toy and plays for a minute or two. She's hung around with toys longer than the other dogs -- the first day I had her when she was so scared of everything, she grabbed a white stuffed bear and dragged it into her crate to cuddle with.

 

I picked up a toy at a vet's years ago that she never destuffed, and a set of three noise makers (cow, skunk and hedgehog) they have had for a month now are still talking! bought them a menagerie of a pig, cow and rooster. All three love them and will take turns with all the animals. It's hilarious hearing rooster crow, moo, shriek (skunk), oink, and a burring sound (hedgehog) in the middle of town. I don't know how many times I've thought the furnace was going wonkers in the middle of the night and finally reallized it's somebody playing with the hedgehog!

[Guest gomiesmom]

Our boy plays, but only with certain things. Even though there are tons of toys you have bought, maybe you haven't bought "just the right thing yet". Our boy loved his first big stuffy , a moose. I mean it was huge and had a squeaker. He has tons of smaller stuffies that get ABSOLUTELY NO play. He loves to beat himself in the head w/ the moose legs and look for the squeaker in the body. Well, Mr.Moose had no head and had sew up surgery about 64 times since last Feb ( not cheap, but cheaply made) so for Christmas, Gomer got a big gorilla with a grunter squeaky in his tummy and loves it. I was able to get rid of Mr. Moose. ( still not touching the smaller stuffies or the 24in BO BO from Petsmart he also got ) He also loves this giant rubber jack we bought, it's an Orka toy, and he can really grasp in in his mouth.

Keep trying!!!

 

 

[Guest greysx3]

Flying stuffies at 2:00 AM!!!

 

 

Teri Rogo

Phoenix Arizona

Eric ( My Angel at the bridge)

Georgie (we can fix that by opening the front door and set her free)

Dixie (oh my gosh who's idea was it to adopt her?)

Nessie (Humm, I might want to play with her at 2 am )

Pistachio (Wake up, Wake up I want to play no matter what time it is!)

Kit (huh...what??)

 

 

[kronckew]

millie will only pickup and play with stuffies for a few seconds when she gets excited prior to walkies, otherwise she just collects them to the bedroom.

 

blue brings them to bed too but he likes to play toss the stuffy with me for a few minutes every evening, he'll fetch it & bring it back to me and lay it gently on my hand to be thrown again. i'll throw it & he'll wait till i tell him to go get it, then it starts over till i tire of it.

 

sometimes he will not be ready to quit & will play bow and bark till i make like i'm chasing him, he'll run upstairs and run up and down the corridors and jump on/off the bed for a while till he tires out (meanwhile after the initial 5 feet i''ve sat down on the couch next to millie who has been observing the whole thing with her 'silly daddy & blue' look on her face. )

 

all the stuffies except last night's 'fetch' one are now littering the floor around the bed like a medieval stuffy battlefield.

 

[greytpups]

Bailey is afraid of sqeekie toys so I took all the sqawkers out. She only plays when she gets excited about going to the park. Ben used to be really playful but everytime he picked up a stuffie, Bailey would zoom by and steal it right out of his mouth so he doesn't play too much. Occasionally, they will have a tug of war with a stuffie. They used to run around upstairs, Bailey chasing Ben, but they don't do that very much any more either.

 

 

[Guest ArtysPeople]

Arty had NO interest in toys at all until we discovered about a month after he arrived here that he LOVES playing fetch with a tennis ball. This evolved into playing fetch with stuffies in the house, which led to him discovering the joys of playing with a stuffy by himself. He definitely has preferences about what kinds of stuffies he likes, but I have learned to discern which textures and types he is most likely to enjoy. He's even learned to go play with a stuffy to let off steam when he gets excited, instead of jumping up on me or otherwise getting into mischief.

 

[moofie]

Hector & Frop both love playing and seem to have great fun attacking various toys since day 1. We were told that greys aren't as playful as other dogs, but they have never needed any encouragement. They are just over 2yrs old, but i'm sure they'd still play if they were older.

 

They usually play for a few minutes then return to sleeping, repeating every few hours, so not much over the whole day. Frop is a total toy monster and will collect all the toys up to play with and then be found asleep surrounded by them.

 

Frop was a bit unsure of what to do with the treat ball but i gave him his breakfast kibble in it a few times to get him to eat slower and while i did have to help him move it around to start with, he's now a pro.

[Guest KeesMom]

Same here. Kees has been with us for just over two years and only recently starting playing with stuffies and such.

[Guest DebSzal]

Gracie is a collector. She will spend time grabbing all the stuffies in the house and taking them to the living room. Occasionally she will play tug with one of her toys. She came to us with a love of playing ball but due to the small size of our house this is limited to the outside. She has a tendency to split the webbing between her two toes so we don't play ball as much as she would like. She is 6 years old and it took her awhile to get comfortable enough in our home to play. Now she LOVES soft squeaky toys and balls. Give your Shelby time, try to find what interests her. I'm sure she thinks that her belly getting scratched is play time!

[fourofem]

Hitch and Lewis play all the time; when I'm upstairs and get they cranked up downstairs, it sounds like a herd of elephants going through! Lizzie would love to join in but the boys don't pay too much attention to her so she usually dances around them and barks. Stella can't be bothered with such an obvious waste of good nap time!

[Guest Moebaaviva]

Bella will occasionally pick up a stuffie, toss it and pounce it. Usually when nobody is looking, and it never lasts long. It's as though she periodically thinks, "Okay, I'll give it another shot," and then decides, "No, it's just as boring as I remembered." The only toy she plays with regularly is a tennis ball in the back yard, and that's really just a game of fetch gone greyhound style. I toss it, she chases, catches and then runs zoomies with it until finally dropping it near me so we can do it again.

 

Her favorite way to play is simply to get me, DH, or another greyhound to run around with her. She's very mouthy, but only on things that are alive and not so much with the stuffies.

[Guest sidewaysfallin]

Sophie plays usually in the morning after waking up, when someone comes home, and before bed. Ususally only 5 minutes at a time. Took her about 2 months to realize what to do with toys.

[Guest shortcat]

It took Tessa a good two years before she played with toys.

 

I have had several greys, some play some don't. The ones now, two out of the three play, they love any kind of stuffed toy. Than there is number three, we've only had him for 2 months. So far his talent is stealing the toys and hidding them under his bed. You will hear squeaking coming from the room if he isin there alone with his booty.

[Guest Hollys2hounds]

My first grey, Ginger loved toys!!! Her favorite things in the world were stuffies. It did however take a while to learn how to play with balls. Probably a year or so.

 

My Lexy is a good "player"... she romps and plays a few times a day, and did from day one. When she and Gunner are outside together they play together, run, chase, stalk, box, and race each other! But that took 6 months to develope...(for them to fully understand each other )

 

It took Gunner some time to learn that if I threw a stuffie, it was not a "bad thing". He used to run and hide if I threw a toy. It almost seemed like he did not have a developed sense of humor either. ---- He is now with us one year and one month, and he plays beautifully, has a great sense of humor, and loves to play with all toys and balls!!!

 

All in all, Gunner's super talent though is stealing shoes! He will choose shoes over a stuffie anytime! He does love his screaming monkey though!

Probably just need time! Good Luck

Edited January 9, 2008 by Hollys2hounds

[Guest tarasue]

Tessie never lets anyone see her play. I know she does sometimes because I have caught her but she will stop as soon as she knows you are looking. Flame just started playing with stuffies after 4 years. It was after the playing machine, Sweet memories, came to live here.

 

My Tara Sue is closet player. She will play when I am not home...I know this because I have found my underwear in the living room! She also has a pink stuffie that belonged to Derrick and Heidi before they passed. So, she does play but, when no one is looking.

 

[Guest Jamie]

Before Harley came to us we had lived with him for 4-5 of his 6-7 year stay at my man's moms home, I had never once seen him pick something up to play with. His play time was more of a "I rule the yard and I'm faster than you".

 

When we moved out Lilandra (mutt) found us, she has plenty of toys of various kinds and knows how to play very well. Harley would come over for "visits" when his mom would go out of town or when I was really missing him, he would look at Lil like she was nuts. About 1 month after permantly moving in with us Harley (to our surprise) picked up a stuffie tossed it in the air 2-3 times and walked away. He still doesn't quite play, but when he sees Lil get excited with a toy he has to take one and run it into the reptile room and drop it then do it all over again. Anytime I need to find a toy I make sure to check Harley's hiding spot.

[YvetteVal]

Same here. Kees has been with us for just over two years and only recently starting playing with stuffies and such.

Gracie also just started after 2 years too! She will go into my son's playroom when no one is home a take out a stuffie to play with. I've only seen her play a few times and it looks like she is embarrassed when she notices me watching.

[4greyhounds]

2 of them do and 2 do not!

[Guest cgl0909]

Well, Eleanor did not play when we first got her. I do understand that she was still adjusting to our home, though. It wasn’t long until she started playing. We were so excited to see her play with toys. , but she would only play with them alone. When Elton would try and play with her she would growl and bark at him. Also, the two never really played with each other. Well, Elton being a border collie would never give up on trying to get Eleanor to play with him. I guess she finally figured she should start playing with him or he would torture her forever. They now play and mouth wrestle together; they even play with toys together.

[rschultz]

we had to show ours how to play..tossed a ball to each other. Then i also took her to watch other dogs chasing balls. It took 4 months but it worked..lol. Ours also plays with her stuffies when we aren't looking..lol

 

Same here. Kees has been with us for just over two years and only recently starting playing with stuffies and such.

Gracie also just started after 2 years too! She will go into my son's playroom when no one is home a take out a stuffie to play with. I've only seen her play a few times and it looks like she is embarrassed when she notices me watching.

I wonder why they feel when we are watching they can't play?

[GreytHoundPoet]

My pack must have missed the memo that greys are couch potatoes....mine play more than my dalmatian! Lucius and Timmy rarely played until Argos the Galgo came though...and Lorelei is young and came after him...now they are all fairly high energy for their breed and play a lot!

Edited August 27, 2009 by GreytHoundPoet