Some dogs have stuffed animals and tennis balls as toys, but early on, we learned that Rambler couldn't be trusted with those. When he was a year old, he ate not one - but two - stuffed Santa's that were a little bigger than the size of a golf ball. Unfortunately, because of their size, he wasn't able to pass them or have induced vomiting. A couple of days later, there was blood in his stool, and we knew surgery was the only way to remove the Santa's. The vet hospital was great and took expert care of our boy. They gave us a picture of the x-ray of his stomach that showed the Santa's intact. AND they gave me the two Santa's (that were removed from his stomach) in a plastic bag. They said the reason he wasn't able to vomit them was because the stuffing inside the Santa absorbed liquid inside his stomach and made it solid.
Needless to say, we learned a lesson the expensive way. But a dog still needs toys to play with, and Rambler's favorite is a chew bone. He not only chews them which is great for his teeth, he also plays with them and brings them to us like a ball. We can't throw them as they are too hard, but we slide them across the floor for him to chase after them.
We currently have six bones that scatter our floors...because Keefer likes them too.
