If you haven’t already done so, throw out all your vinyl dog toys because they probably contain lead.

As part of our safe toy guarantee at happydogsplay.com, we have all the toys we carry safety-tested by Exposing Lead, an Atlanta company, using a sophisticated XRF analyzer.   By screening all our dog toys using the XRF, we’re able to detect if any of them contain Lead, Mercury, Arsenic, Cadmium, Nickel, Antimony, Bromine and many other potentially toxic metals.  WE’RE THE ONLY DISTRIBUTOR OF DOG TOYS THAT TAKES THIS PRE-CAUTION. When you buy toys from happydogsplay.com, you know they’re safe.

So we had all our toys tested earlier this week and shockingly, one of the new bungee dog toys that we were going to carry tested positive for lead because it had a vinyl nose.  We bought this toy from a company that guarantees their toys are safe (we don’t buy from any manufacturer that doesn’t test their toys) but they had somehow missed this.  But we didn’t.  We notified the manufacturer and sent the toys back.   And that’s exactly why you should buy your toys from happydogsplay.com–they’re really safety tested and we don’t let anything slip by.

Most vinyl toys aren’t safe even if they say “non-toxic vinyl.”  You’ll notice that most of the toys you buy these days have the word “non-toxic” on their label.  It doesn’t really mean anything but the manufacturers have discovered just what a powerful marketing word “non-toxic” is.  We all want everything we buy to be non-toxic, right?

But vinyl isn’t safe.

We test all our dog toys to make sure they're safe.

This is from the April 08 issue of Whole Dog Journal: “In our opinion, the use of vinyl in dog toys is more dangerous than other applications.  This is due to the number of mechanism that come into play when a dog chews a toy that can contribute to the release of toxic substances from the vinyl into the dog (chewing, saliva, warmth, digestion, skin contact).”

Safe dog toys matter because they offer one area where we can control what substances our dogs come into contact with. We can’t protect our dogs from everything in their environment but we can make sure that the toys they put in their mouths are safe and don’t harm them in anyway.    Sometimes even the stores that sell premium dog food carry toys that contain lead and forget about even looking for a toy at Petco or PetSmart because there’s no telling what vinyl toys they’re selling.

Our dogs just don’t live long enough so we have to do everything we know how to keep our dogs safe from toxic products that may be in their environment.  Besides buying your dog toys at happydogsplay.com, here’s a list that may help you take some chemicals out of home:

1. Use  mild, non-toxic products to clean your home.
2. Provide spring or filtered water in your dog’s water bowl.
3. Use stainless steel feeding bowls or ceramic bowls that you know are lead-free.
4. Feed natural, human-grade food and treats that are free of preservatives and by-products.
5. Use safe, environmentally-friendly pest control products in your home and yard.
6. Throw out all the vinyl and plastic toys that are in your home.