We kept Christmas gifts for the dogs at a minimum this year.
Sampson and Delilah eat raw food, have stuffed Kongs for snacks, go to daycare twice a week, get long walks in the woods, have birthday parties, and sleep in the same bed as us. Really how much more do they need?
But just before Christmas Sara got a toy in that I had to get for Delilah, it’s called a “Paw Hide.”
Paw Hide
The toy is hard plastic in the shape of a paw, there are seven compartments with little covers that fit inside. Paw Hide is a nose work toy and encourages your pet to use their nose to find the hidden treats.
The directions suggest to begin with just one treat and slowly work your dog up to more than one. The toy should be placed on the floor with lots of room for your pet to walk around it. While your dog is working their nose, you should be offering words of encouragement.
As you can see from the video, Delilah wasted no time in learning to use her nose.
Sampson’s gift was less exciting, he got a stuffed bird which he didn’t seem interested in. When he realized that Delilah was finding treats from her gift, he got up to check it out.
I figured, what the heck. Let him give it a try, so I loaded it up.
As you can see, he didn’t take to it in quite the same way Delilah did, but he got it!
How did your pups enjoy the holiday, were they spoiled rotten or like me did you keep it to a minimum? What were their favorite gifts?
jodistone 
Comments on: "Christmas Toys" (27)
I didnt buy one thing for the dogs this year. I took the money and donated it to a local rescue. Fred and Hay have so much more than other dogs I decided it was time to do something diffrent.
Fred has toy/bone agression with haylie so we are very limitied to what we have in regards to those items. We can pretty much only have tuffy toys or ropes. Fred isnt a big toy dog anyway and he just carries bones around whinning and trying to bury them.
We did participate in the gift xchange for dog blogs but we asked the people that got our name (thehounddogmom) to please use the money she would spend on us to help out on of the bassets that the would be transporting around Christmas time.
🙂
Wow Kari, I wish I’d thought to do that, they really do have a bunch of toys and my sister usually gets them something.
Luckily for us they take the toy from each other but there is no agression (knock on wood)
Delilah has a good nose on her.
Our doggies got minimum presents too. A bag of their favorite cookies…one for home and one for the cabin. They did get some good stuff from their cousin doggies so they are happy and they got to train and go for a loooong walk. 🙂
I guess their real present will show up in about 3 weeks. 😉
I wonder how they will react to their new brother? It will def be interesting. Can’t wait to hear the stories!
Great videos 🙂 The “Paw Hide” is an excellent toy for a good nose workout! 🙂
Love the videos Jodi!! I see a lot of toys like that at TJMaxx & Marshall’s – if you’re ever looking for more! I think Foxy would love those toys too, but unfortunately, her smoothed face makes it difficult to play w/them.
I only bought Foxy a greenie this year b/c I knew she would get spoiled by everyone else. & I was right.
I meant SMOOSHED face. Darn you autocorrect! Lol
LOL Meesh, I knew what you meant. I will have to check those stores out! As long as she was spoiled it doesn’t matter who did it. 😉
I will have to see if I can find a toy like that. Anything that cannot be ruined by labs has to be a good toy! Lila had fun destroying her Christmas toys in record time.
Yes, it is certainly not a toy you would leave laying around. After their second day of play I washed it all and it is not on the counter. I will need to plan some longer times for her to play with it.
I LOVE that Paw Hide thingy…. Sarge has one.. and he let me use it… ONCE. it was grrrreat.
you BOTH did a super job with YOURS!!! GRRRREAT GRRRRRREAT FUN…
Why don’t you ask Santa Paws for one next year Frankie? I bet you and Ernie would have fun!
This is great!!! Perhaps Sampson thinks he is above having to do tricks for his food and Delilah just thinks “FOOD!” Made me laugh, thanks!
Sampson usually just looks cute and he gets treats for that! LOL Delilah is so food motivated, it isn’t funny. 😉
Delilah has a good nose and determination! I think Sampson would rather you hand him his treats! heheh! Thanks for sharing the videos, I loved watching them.
She doe have a great nose Barb! I swear she could smell a flake of tuna from 100 yards! Glad you enjoyed.
Those food toys are fabulous. It looks like Delilah really knows how to use her nose.
I will need to find some other ways to help her improve her skills, or I could be opening a can of worms. 🙂
Great toy and Delilah has a good nose.
Yes I went over board this year, first Riva did a great job with her pregnancy and babies so I felt she deserved a very special Christmas, second well puppies first Christmas so need I say more and third Cheyenne has been stressed over the whole thing…lol But I also donated to shelters and foster dogs. It was a great Christmas all around 🙂
ps I left something for you here http://mistyshoreschesapeakes.wordpress.com/2011/12/27/new-friends/
I love how you spoil your girls (and boy) Misty. I bet the puppies were a lot of fun.
Thank you for the award, I will be working on that post this weekend, I really appreciate you thinking of me!
That Paw Hide looks like a great gift! (Although I wonder how long it will take Delilah to figure out how to just flip it over? 😉 LOL!)
We didn’t go crazy either…my dogs did get orthopedic pet beds, but that was a gift for me from my mom (yup – its what I asked for). I haven’t put them out yet, I was waiting until cleaning day to put the nice fresh beds out, but I’m sure they will love them.
Other than that, all I did this year was make three hard boiled eggs, one each – and that was their gifts. Were they happy with just eggs? You betcha!
You make a great point Donna, which is exactly why I will not leave her alone with the toy! It is one of those toys that will require human supervision. 🙂
I like the orthopedic bed idea and I’m sure your pups will love them! I know Sampson and Delilah love their sleep number bed. 😉
So explain the hard boiled eggs to me?
This is awesome, Jodi. I’m pretty sure I’ll end up with one of these next time I’m at the pet store. And yes, Queenie got spoiled. Of course, she has her own stocking so what do you expect?
I really enjoyed reading your post this year. Looking forward to Delilah’s hi-jinks in 2012.
Happy New Year.
Your pal, Al
Queenie spoiled? I had no doubt she would be. Do you think she would like this type of toy?
Thanks for checking in Big Al, you can be sure Delilah will be up to no good.
Happy New Year!
Great videos, they made me laugh. I love how quickly Delilah worked it out… no surprises there!
H and Flo
She worked it out a bit quicker than Sampson did, but then she has always been more food motivated than him.
Glad you enjoyed!