These days when you walk into the toy section of any pet stores for dogs, you are most likely to be spoilt for choice - an endless supply of colourful toys that are uniquely created to keep your dog healthy and amused. Dog toys are a great bonding tool for you and your dog, so exactly how important is it to provide your dog with lots of fun toys?

Dog toys are actually one of the most important possessions you can give to your dog, especially for puppies. Dog toys help to develop your dog’s mental and emotional well-being, as well as good physical coordination. They also help your dog to relieve separation anxiety (especially in puppies that have just been separated from their mother), mental stress and boredom, promote dental health and prevent your dog from eating away or chewing on your personal belongings, such as your shoes! So shower your dog with lots of toys to keep it occupied and challenged.

Toys can be divided into 3 general categories:

* Primary toys are your dog’s favourite. Leave these out for your dog when you are not around. This helps reduce separation anxiety because your dog associates you leaving with him getting his favourite toys.

* Secondary toys are the toys to have out when you are at home. Be sure to pick up the primary toys.

* The third set of toys are to be rotated with the first set. Trainers recommend swapping toys every 3 days or so. Mixing the toys will keep your dog interested in all his toys.

Variety is the spice of life. Most experts would recommend that you buy different kinds of toys for your dog so that you can discover which ones he really likes. An ideal toy would combine both the fun and safety factors that suit the size and personalities of your dog. There is no point in buying a small Chihuahua a huge heavy ball that it cannot grip with its teeth.

Do consider the following points as you peruse your toy options at the pet store:

* Make sure there are no dangerous small pieces that your inexperienced puppy or dog can chew loose and swallow, lodged in his throat or worse yet - choke on. Good pet toys include hard rubber chews and bones that are robust and hard for your puppy to destroy or swallow. Some toys do eventually fall apart or splinter, if that’s the case, either repair or replace it.

* Larger dog breeds have bigger throats, and this means a small toy can pose problems.

* Don’t limit your choices to only safe dog toys that you can buy from pet stores. Many household items make for great alternatives, such as tennis balls or Frisbees. You should go for Frisbees made of soft plastic or cloth. Although this variety won’t go as far, and they are not as controllable as the hard plastic flying disks, they are much less likely to damage your dog’s mouth and teeth when he snatches it from the air.

* To keep your dog interested, combine a variety of toys - squeakers, flavoured rubber bones, bouncy balls, squishy toys etc all of which will provide your dog with hours of fun.

* Another popular toy for your adult dog or puppy is a strong rope. It allows them to chew on something and also it allows you to participate during playtime by pulling and tugging on the rope.

* Create your own dog toy - to make a chewable toy for your dog, put some cheese or his favourite treat inside a sterilised bone. Give your dog the bone and it will try to reach the food inside of it. This toy is ideal to stimulate the dog when he is home alone.

* Do not give your dog old clothes or shoes as play toys. If you let your dog chew these items, it will assume that this is an acceptable behaviour and will do it to other shoes and clothes! Dogs cannot distinguish between old and new things, so bear that in mind when you choose normal household items as toys for your dog.

At some point in time all of us dog owners need to administer some dog behavior training (or dog behavior modification).

There are loads of dog behavior problems, they can affect all dog breeds, at any time throughout the dogs life. I’ve listed some of the more common dog behavior problems below, and importantly some proven dog behavior training methods to correct them.

General Principles For Dog Behavior Training

- A great number of puppy and dog behavioral problems are a result of separation anxiety.

- Many behavior problems (such as barking, biting & digging) stem from a lack of communication, or miscommunication between you the owner and your dog. Simply put, your dog is not aware of what is expected of him/her (I’ll just say him from now on to make it easier).

- Applying some proper obedience training at an early stage is a most effective technique to correct any behavior problems, and also to prevent any future problems. The fact that you are reading this article possibly means it is too late for this tip!

- Set boundaries of acceptable and unacceptable behavior for your dogs, and stick to them. Be consistent, make it simple for your dog:

- Be clear that you are always the alpha dog in your owner-dog relationship.

- Make it clear to him what is unacceptable behavior - every time.

- Make it clear to him what is acceptable behavior - every time.

- Even though it may seem as though your dog is behaving poorly to spite you or annoy you this is not the case. In the vast majority of problem behavior cases there will be a cause or trigger which sparks the behavior. Identifying these triggers is the crucial first step towards solving the problem.

- Be careful you are not inadvertently rewarding the behavior you are trying to eliminate. An example of this would be if your dog is barking excessively outside, you then go to the door and call him inside. You’re encouraging and rewarding the behavior, and he is sure to do it again.

It’s a sad fact of life that the vast majority of dogs that end up in animal shelters (or worse) are because of a bad behavioral problem. It doesn’t have to be this way, most problems (like aggression and destructive behavior) are at least manageable through proper dog behavior training.

If you repeatedly apply the proper training techniques, add some commitment and patience, you will achieve a positive result.