Because this board has such experts in it, I feel the need to constantly ask questions to be sure I'm doing the right thing. Anyway...

My Border Collie pup has lots of energy, and I've been trying to get her to play with toys, but she quickly loses interest in them and goes for something--anything else. For instance, I had her running after a small rubber ball and she was fine with it for sometime, but then she ignored it and began biting my hand, my shoe, and anything she can reach. Then she was playing tug with those rope-knot dog toy things and grew sick of that a minute later as well. Now, I realize she has to understand what toys are and what aren't, but how can I get her to concentrate on a given set of items? (The ball and the rope tug have been ignored since then). About the only 'toys' she seems to enjoy is pulling on my fabric keychain and chewing my cellphone. Of course I haven't let her play with those long enough (or not at all) to have her lose interest in them.

What can I do to help my puppy build her prey drive--or should I just be patient? She is only 9 weeks after all...but I'm getting tired of finding more things for her to do. The ONLY toy she has stuck with is one of those auto-roller ball things that spits food out when you roll them around too much. Even then she's in it for the food.

Are you talking about toys you BOTH play with? Or one you want her to go into another room and play with by herself.

Because all of my pups prefered to play with me with interactive toys (or my pant leg, shirt sleeve, hands, feet...). Rope toys, water kongs, long rags with knots, balls that I would throw and they would bring back. As long as I could wiggle those toys enticingly the prey drive would come out. It seemed like toys that just said there were 'dead' and ignored.

If, instead,you are looking for some moments of peace, I use chew toys. I know some people have bad experiences with them but I do use rawhides, but with supervision. Kongs with treats in them (have to make it easy in the beginning) and peanut butter. Nylabones (my dogs don't like these but others do).

And since the best behaved pup was usually one that was tired and in a ball asleep, even at a young age I would take the pup OUT OF THE HOUSE, and drive somewhere new in the car. A few hours in a new place, to explore, sniff, investigate and walk/run around in (bring your toys), does wonderful things for my PEACE when I return home.

Yeah, I was talking about toys we both play with. She has moments where she turns into this attack monster and actually goes as far as to bark and pounce and jump around the toy, but afterwards she stops doing all of this and goes after something else, and ignores the toy for the next day or so. I figured I should just circulate a bunch of items for her enjoyment but I don't know if this is wise or will just teach her to be 'toy picky'. Some days her preferred toys aren't toys at all...

Would it be okay to take her out now? She's only 9 weeks and only on her 2nd shots. I do take her out but only on non-fun places because the fun places always have other dogs and poop in them.

It's difficult to keep up with her but I'm having loads of fun. Usually my previous puppies get sick of me before I get sick of them. It's just directing her play that I have a problem with...

I have a GSD puppy who is 11 weeks now. I find his attantion span is around +/- 2 minutes. It is usually more on the end of -2 minutes though <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> When I'm playing with him I keep about 3 toys on me and rotate them when boredom sets in. I don't think it is making him picky because he generally will want to play with the same toy a few minutes later when I do this. JMHO though. I am all for whatever keeps him interested in playng with me as opposed to running past the furniture and biting it though. Puppies just have a short attention span as I am sure you know <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

As far as taking him out, I have been taking him to people places (Home depot, work, neighborhood park, etc) since I got him at 8 weeks. I take him to my SchH club too.

Giving a dog free access to a number of toys is like giving a kid five cookies every day for nothing. The value of those toys (cookies) goes down. As Jenn said, giving a kong with peanut butter, a nylabone, etc in order to give yourself a break is ok, but the ONE toy should be yours, not the dogs. The dog has to do something (obedience, etc) for the right to play with YOUR toy.

Just to clarify, I was under the assumption this was about when one was actively playing/training with the dog. I don't give free access to toys either. He gets a kong with cream cheese or something similar when he is in his crate. I do still rotate toys when I play with my puppy though.

Michele, understood!
I was refering to Kay's post. The new forum answers the last post up unless the individual post is clicked on to for reply. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

I never give her free access to the toys. Even the one she likes, the one that rotates and spits out food. But she doesn't seem to care if I bring a toy out and make a big deal out of it...she doesn't want that one, she wants my shoe/my nose/my cellphone/my keys/my hat/my jacket. Sometimes she's okay and would play with the tug toy for a while, so I wouldn't say she lacks prey drive...it's keeping her interest in whatever toy I bring out that's driving me nuts. Like Michelle said, I think she just has a VERY short attention span...so it WOULD be okay if she has a lot of toys, then? I'd have to go and trudge out and get something else then. She has a towel, a ball, a ball that bounces, a tug rope toy, and other things I can't remember. She's only 9 weeks and I could hardly find anything else she can fit her mouth into.

As for when she's in the crate, she gets a bone or a hoof or a really hard treat that she can't crack yet. I have yet to buy her a kong--I don't know if they have something small enough for her. The ones I saw at the pet store were huge.

Since your puppy's so young, I'd suggest soft squeeky latex toys. Also, plush toys that make sounds are good too. The puppy kong will be outgrown so fast it's hardy worth the money, IMO. One toy I can't say enough about though is the 'Teaser Ball' (actually all the Jolly Pets line, but that's another story) it's a ball within a ball, and drives the dogs wild. You have to be vigilant and not let it turn into a chew toy because the plastic's so hard when it's gouged it leaves sharp edges, not to mention what it does to the actual teeth, lol. If you can't find one locally you can order it from the Leerburg catalogue prod. #732 the 6" ball (they come in 3 sizes) is still the one my dog prefers.
Yeah, he has enought toys to stock a store...but he leaves my stuff alone. I figured I'd rather invest a small fortune on toys rather than have to replace my more valuable items.