CHENNAI : My Indie gets excited when we get her new toys. She especially likes plucking out the eyes from soft toys. Why does she do this?
Dogs love their toys — there is no question about it. They may have different preferences in the type of toys and the games they play with it. Nonetheless, they love their toys. But somehow, in spite of all this love, they do manage to destroy them, leaving us to wonder why they do so. How dogs interact with a toy is driven by both their natural instinct and their personality. Some dogs prefer squeaky toys as it satisfies their hunting instincts.
In the wild, dogs have to search and kill their food. When doing so, small animals tend to cry and the squeaky sound in the toy intends to imitate such a cry. Somewhere instinctively, this sound gives a great sense of satisfaction for the dogs and they seem to enjoy it. The more inquisitive ones go further and rip apart the toys. The feeling of pulling out the stuffing out of these toys is again similar to ripping out the inner organs of the prey post hunting.
This does not mean that your dog is aggressive or evil or that he is visualising ripping apart a live animal. These are merely instincts that unknowingly surface and get satisfied through play. In fact, you may even find some dogs that walk around with stuffed toys clasped in their jaws, sleep with it and sometimes even lick it. Gun dogs imitate the bird retrieval act by holding on to the stuffed toy and returning it intact. This behaviour is innate to their breed, and hence, you will typically find Goldens and Labradors welcoming, their owners with stuffed toys in their mouths.
In general, dogs also simply pretend play with these toys to avoid boredom. So it is only natural that your dog shows extreme excitement and happiness when she gets new toys. Ripping apart the eye could be a combination of play and hunting instincts. What you need to be careful about is that she doesn't swallow any of these, be it the stuffing or the eye or even the small squeaker that is found inside. Always give her pet safe toys to play with.