Several days ago, an advertisement for an interactive toy popped up on my timeline.
It was a silicone mould for an edible ball made of gelatin, water, and whatever fillings one might come up with to put inside. Sort of like a thin terrine or a thick aspic. The advertisement claimed that this all-natural, edible, very safe interactive toy will keep your dog busy for hours, while providing mental stimulation, satisfying the dog’s desire to chew, and, ultimately, tiring the dog out in the process.
Ads like that make me sad and angry, because they are false. If your dog has very low energy levels to the point where some chewing on a hard object makes them tired and sleepy, you do not need to invest money and time into making these balls of jelly. Just get them a raw bone.
Conversely, if your dog is high-energy, such an interactive toy will stay interactive for the whole 7,5 seconds—until it gets destroyed and swallowed, once again, defeating the purpose of buying this product.
Generally speaking, over-relying on interactive toys to satisfy a dog’s desire to play has become trendy. High-tech toys that throw a ball for your dog or dispense treats once a certain button is pressed have flooded the pet market in recent years, ultimately falsely making dog owners believe that these investments can replace physical interaction between a dog and its human. The hard truth is that they cannot.
They will make your dog savvy in certain things, such as understanding that pawing at something or pushing that something with the nose might result in getting rewarded. It is entertaining to watch, but this is where the line has to be drawn: entertaining and satisfying to watch for you doesn’t mean that your dog will be equally entertained and satisfied.
Yes, the sensor-activated ball thrower will tire out a dog. A food puzzle might maintain a dog’s interest for a little bit. A ball made of jelly would be an enjoyable treat (although not long-lasting). However, that dog will not even come close to being emotionally satisfied, which means that they will keep climbing the walls and destroying your furniture if you do not address this issue directly, without relying on inanimate objects.
Interactive toys are a fun way to spend a weeknight, watching how a dog figures out a certain problem. They are a terrible and inadequate replacement for live interaction with you, though.
Stop trying to keep your dog constantly busy by shoving an interactive toy into their mouth or switching puzzles to keep a dog’s enthusiasm for them going. After all, if you have enough time and energy to prepare jelly balls from scratch, it means that you have enough time and energy to simply throw your dog a stick. Far less effort, far better results.
At the end of the day, it is an interaction with YOU that the dog craves. To rephrase a saying by Donna Haraway: if you have a dog, it means that your dog has a human, and humans can do much better than replace themselves with technical objects.
(In the picture is one example of how a dog and a human can enjoy each other. No interactive toys, no food. Pure, authentic love and affection. Just a girl and her dog living in the moment)