She’s an amazing certified therapy dog, but she’ll steal the residents’ stuffed toys if I let her. Now, for those of you who are handy with a needle, you can remove the stuffing and fill the toy with sturdy fabric, that way, it will last forever!
I think dogs feel closer to being a dog when they actually have a stuffed toy in their mouth. They feel like they’ve been caught. They can take it, they can claim it, they can get it back (especially retrievers) and it’s theirs. And, it feels good to them. After a while, the smell of this stuffed toy becomes horrible for us, but great for dogs.
Depending on the breed you have, some dogs will kill stuffed toys, some dogs will love it, sleep on it, and snuggle with it. Retrievers will constantly have it in their mouths when you return home.
By far the cheapest way to keep your dog on stuffed toys is to buy cheap, appropriately sized stuffed animals at garage/garage sales. I wash them with hot water, and a little Solumel (Melaleuca Household Cleaner that helps eliminate bacteria and is friendly to animals and nature), this is very important! Then, I remove all the detachables; lose things like eyes, whiskers, etc. These toys are a very cheap alternative to expensive pet store toys.
However, be very careful to check and make sure that this toy is not stuffed with small styrofoam beads. Avoid those. You can easily tell by squishing the toy in your hand. Dogs often open their stuffed toys and the Styrofoam beads could become a hazard for your dog.
I know of some large dogs that shake their stuffed toy so much that they are actually killing it. If you have more than one dog, watch out that the other dog doesn’t get hurt by the shaking toy. It is easy for other dogs’ eyes to get pricked or hurt.
So, to repeat the question, why do dogs like stuffed toys? Well, it seems that we all love stuffed toys. Adults have them, children love them, cats play with stuffed mice, and dogs claim them to kill, claim, or simply love.