Does Your Grey Play?

[3vagreys]

Idol is a stuffy playing fool. He throws them everywhere - but only the big ones. He won't touch a little one.

 

Echo plays when she is excited - time for her walk for for a meal.

 

Frosty doesn't play much but she is usually the one who steals stuff off the counters.

[Guest Timo]

Timo plays approximately two minutes per day. He sleeps the rest of the time. He even hates going for long walks and lags behind halfway through out walks. He just turned 3 in April. I wonder what he'll be like when he's an old man....

[JJNg]

When I adopted my first grey Willow, I only had my mixed breed Corey and geriatric iggy. The IG had no desire to interact with other dogs. So Willow learned to play from Corey. They play very rough together, and Corey's still the only dog who puts up with how she plays. When she tries to play with other greys, they get a bit intimidated. Here are a couple examples of how Willow (will be 7 in Nov) and Corey (probably 10 years old) still play together. Sometimes they play more quietly, which is very cute.

 

(click for video)

 

 

Edited July 9, 2011 by jjng

[JJNg]

A couple more videos....

 

Willow also plays with toys by herself and occasionally does spins when she's very worked up.

 

 

My other grey Wiki doesn't play very often, but he's very goofy and cute when he does. He only gets playful for a few minutes after I first get home from work.

 

[Guest Iceman41]

My grey does not play. She is 3 but I am working on it with her

She will play with me in the yard but no toys

We bought her squeaky toys but does not want bothered

We live a laid back life

We take her for long walk but that will soon be ending as the weather her in pa will be getting cold

I live 30 miles north of Pitts in a very small town (500 peaple)

But she is a very happy dog she has a little brother who plays she looks up to him

[philospher77]

My shy little Katie has just recently decided that playing is ok. She'd take a stuffie and un-stuff it. Tonight is the first time I have seen her actually running and chasing after the stuffie. I threw it, and she just tore off after it. Worked herself up to a point where she HAD to go in the yard and do zoomies! I am thrilled with the progress that she is making.

[GreytNut]

Riley is my first real toy lover. The others would occasionally play with toys, and Tiny had a partially-deflated basketball that he loved. But Riley is quite serious about his toys. He has a chenille sheep and a floppy mouse that are his favorites. He carries Lambie and Mr. Mouse around all over the place, and squeaks them with great gusto to greet me when I come home. I am forever rescuing toys from the dog run because he carries them outside.

 

It's great fun to have a toy hound! Alas, they seem to be in the minority.

[GreytHoundPoet]

Not much has changed. Mine all still play a ton. My 9.5 year old still plays everyday, several times a day. Some play like my Beezers do (rough and tumble), some play individually with a toy, some tug happens, etc.

[Guest DMBFiredancer]

My new grey will play for about 5 minutes in the morning out back in the yard with a ball and that's about it so far. There have been two times where she has brought her soft inside ball to me in the house and I've thrown it for her to get, but that didn't last for long.

[silverfish]

Some do, some just don't!

 

I've had dogs who were crazy for playing with toys, and dogs who never touched one. Most, once they are past three or so, would play now and then (like, two or three minutes at most, in a burst of frenetic activity involving spins, tosses, pouncing etc) then stop suddenly and lie down, all done.

 

I voted 'never' because it's the nearest answer to the truth, really. Sid will occasionally be persuaded to play with a stuffie for 30 seconds - like once every six months! But I think he only does it wind Jeffie up, because Jeffie is deathly afraid of stuffies and doesn't understand the toy thing at all. I've actually put all the stuffies away.

 

Jeffie does play, but not with toys. He plays with me. When he is excited because .. oh, maybe I've been upstairs for an hour! ... he'll engage me in a play session involving playbows and twirls and running round each other with the occasional excited growl/woof. He LOVES to play like that. I think if I'd had him younger he'd actually have made a great freestyle dog because he loves to follow my moves, very closely, when he plays.

[JustSnoozing]

...Most, once they are past three or so, would play now and then (like, two or three minutes at most, in a burst of frenetic activity involving spins, tosses, pouncing etc) then stop suddenly and lie down, all done.

 

Jeffie does play, but not with toys. He plays with me. When he is excited because .. oh, maybe I've been upstairs for an hour! ... he'll engage me in a play session involving playbows and twirls and running round each other with the occasional excited growl/woof. He LOVES to play like that. I think if I'd had him younger he'd actually have made a great freestyle dog because he loves to follow my moves, very closely, when he plays.

 

Very similar here. Dippy loves to have bursts of play with me like this (indoors). She'll also occasionally grab a toy and fling it.

 

When Rebel came to live with us (he was 4 1/2 at the time) he would play with our elderly Leonberger and even occasionally chase balls. When she died, his desire to play pretty much left him and he just about never plays now.

[Guest oldgreymom]

Our guy loves to play with anything! He throw bones in the air... shoes... socks... and his toys as well!

[Guest Trammell]

Loni plays with stuffies and loves to play with other doggies!!!!!

[Guest Rhea]

Dane has def. been getting more playful, but I'm... not sure how to play with him! He has no interest in the stuffie one of my mom's coworkers gave us in a little 'welcome basket' for Dane. (Tho I kinda like it hehehe. It's a cute hedgehog that makes soft little 'grunty' noises, rather than squeaks.) He does do zoomies occasionally.... but yeah. He seems to want to pull at my clothes (especially when I'm getting dressed in the morning, which is like... no!! Mommy's bra straps are not a toy! XDD)

 

I honestly am not sure what to do with him. He does seem to like squeaky toys, but I am wary of getting those, since I am wary of increasing/encouraging his interest in 'prey.' I also don't want to encourage 'tug of war' type games either, (especially not with my clothes ) but that almost seems like what he wants to do! So I dunno!

[Guest k9soul]

Rudy loves to play but he's very intermittent and "stop-and-go" about it. Sometimes he will only play for a few seconds and then lose interest and other times he will really go to town for awhile. He enjoys squeaky toys best.

[Guest spicy]

Spice took about a week to start playing with her stuffies. Now she tosses them all around the house She also loves her rope bone, her squeaky toys, and balls. She actually loves to play fetch, although it usually only lasts 3 or 4 throws before she gets the zoomies!

[Guest JessieRahl]

Claire loves to play, it's not ALL the time, but it's not infrequent. At least once a day she'll grab some of her toys, squeak them and toss them around the living room while doing some spins and play bows. She loves to play with other dogs at the dog park too; that play usually consists of chase but play nonetheless!

[Guest Scarter55]

I have spent a ton of money on Chew, squeaky, Grunty, rubber, canvas, rope and balls of all sizes and she just looks at them and walks away. I don't get it.

are there other grey out there with the same problem?

 

I think that is your problem. I firmly believe that pets (especially cats) are insulted when we try to buy their love with toys. They know if you've spent money on them and therefore refuse to play with those toys. We have more cat and dog toys than I can count laying around the house at any given time. Lady always goes for either the stuffed badger that the breeder gave us when we got her or a water bottle (lid left on and label removed). I strongly recommend the water bottle, particularly if yours isn't a big chewer. Lady has never even punctured one, she just likes they noise they make in her mouth (which is LOUD, btw).

 

I also can get Lady interested in almost any toy by sitting on the floor and playing with it myself. I just move it around a lot, and play a sort of mini keep away with her for about a min and then she "wins" and trots off victoriously with her bounty.

 

Forgot: outdoor toys include random sticks and the plastic tubs from a recent planting we did. She will go crazy with those. Possibly the best outdoor toy ever was an empty mulch bag that Lady decided to attack. I might need to get some more mulch!

http://youtu.be/Eq1pGw-wwI0

Edited August 1, 2013 by Scarter55

[Guest Rhea]

So I got a stuffy, squeaky goat that is adorable, and has a tiny rope knot tail. Dane has taken a few tentative nibbles at it, and he does enjoy the squeaky noise it makes, but once I toss it or hand it over to him, he's like "......wat???" Maybe it'll grow on him. He's shown more interest in it so far, than the grunty hedgehog XD

[Guest Rhea]

So we've figured out that Dane likes rope things! He's p. much destroyed the tail on his little goat friend (rope fibers/fragments everywhere!), and mom picked up a 'dental floss rope knot' type deal earlier today, that he immediately went to town on.

[Guest Jacks_Human]

Jack will play about 5 minutes or so a day, generally in the afternoon or evening. Usually he either tosses his toys around, or wants me to throw his toys for him to fetch (or occasionally play tug). He won't if he's had a long walk or a trip to the park that day. This isn't surprising, seeing as cuddling whilst watching TV or human activity is his favourite pastime.

 

However, his hoard of toys is Serious Greyhound Business, and if they're disturbed he'll quickly grab them and pile them back onto his bed or into the toy basket until he wants to play.

[Guest 18tjettagrl]

Victoria is a toy fiend as in collector but only since this past Christmas has gotten a little more playful. She'll had a moment and hoedown and bark, throw toys up and run around from floor to couch. Probably in the past couple weeks she's tried to play with the cat and he had that "whoah buddy!" look when she did. Only has taken a year but she's finally really coming out of her shell.

[Guest LunaTheGreyt]

Luna has never expressed any interest in toys, or really any kind of playing. She will chase after frozen peas if I roll them down the hall for her, but that's about it. I've tried all sorts of stuffies, water bottles, balled up paper towel, tennis balls...she doesn't care at all. She is definitely a slug...prefers to spend 23 hours a day sleeping, the other hour eating and going on short walks (she hates long walks, especially in this summer heat). When I take her to the dog park (when no one else is there) she sometimes runs 1 or 2 laps, but more often than not just sniffs, poops, and looks at me like I'm crazy as I run around trying to entice her to play. Laaaazy

[Guest chickenpotpie]

Oh my goodness does she ever play.She plays first thing out of bed, after roaching and smiling, then she P/P, come in, throws her toys around for 10-15 minutes, to which I MUST play with her, then eats breakfast. Then she rests up for her walk

 

It does seem as if she's getting more playful by the day.