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In the last couple of years, the awareness of caring for dogs has greatly risen, which reflects humans are having a deeper emotional connection with their pets in today’s modern society. In particular, more and more dog owners tend to buy plush toys for their dogs, which also demonstrates an increasing value placed on dogs’ life quality as well as a modern lifestyle and living value. In this article, we will discuss the reasons and impacts behind this phenomenon, and the benefits of dogs owning plush toys. What’s more, as an experienced plush toy maker, we will also explore this trend’s impacts on the plush toy market and some effective strategies for those who are running the plush toy business.
Why do Pet Owners Buy Plush Toys for Their Dogs?
Increasing Emotional Needs: As people are putting more and more emotion into their dogs, they intend to give more love and companionship to their dogs. Plush toys can act as companions giving comfort and fun to dogs when owners are not with them.
Changed Lifestyle: The human lifestyle has significantly changed due to urbanization and increased work pressure, which results in them lacking time and energy to care for their dogs. Stuffed toys can effectively entertain dogs when their owners are busy.
Aging Population: With the trend in the aging population, more and more elderly people choose to have dogs as their companions. Plush toys are the interaction medium between dogs and elderly people, reducing their lonely feelings.
Influence of Social Media: People are crazy about sharing the lives of themselves and their dogs on social media. Plush toys usually have cute looks and interesting designs, which are perfect for taking pictures and posting them on social media, which can increase users’ engagement.
Considerations of Health and Safety: Some dog owners buy plush toys for their dogs out of consideration for their health and safety. Compared to common plastic or rubber dog toys, plush toys can reduce the risk of injury and cleaning difficulty and provide softer and more comfortable feelings.
How This Trend Affects the Plush Toy Market and Manufacturers?
Increased Market Demand
The market demand keeps expanding as there are more and more pet owners buying plush toys for their dogs, which will push manufacturers to increase product output and develop new product lines to meet the growing market demand.
Innovation and Diversity
With the expanding market, stuffed toy manufacturers will put effort into developing more innovative and diverse plush toy designs to attract more consumers. The new plush toys for dogs may have a wide range of shape, color, and texture options. What’s more, they will be designated to have some interesting functions like being edible or making sounds.
Intensified Brand Competition
The competition in the plush toy industry will be intensified as marketing keeps expanding. Therefore, plush toy manufacturers manage to enhance their brand building, marketing campaigns, and services so as to boost product competitiveness, improve customer loyalty, and attract more new customers.
Guaranteed Quality and Safety
Facing the increasing market demand, plush toy manufacturers will need to place importance on product quality and safety. They may invest more in product testing and certification to ensure all plush toys meet relevant standards and won’t harm dogs’ health.
Supply Chain and Cost Management
Plush toy manufacturers will have to manage supply chain and cost better to ensure their products’ high quality and competitiveness. They probably find a more efficient production method and build stable cooperation with suppliers to reduce the production cost.
Top 6 Benefits of Plush Toys for Dogs
Entertainment & Exercise
Plush toys can be the ideal entertaining way for puppies. When owners are not around them, dogs can bite, scratch, or chase plush toys to consume their excess energy. This will benefit their health by preventing obesity and behavior problems. Besides, plush toys can stimulate dogs’ nature, bringing them the joy of chasing and catching. Playing with plush toys can effectively satisfy the needs of their nature.
Relieve Anxiety & Stress
Puppies may feel anxious and nervous for all kinds of reasons, especially when their owners are not home or the living environment has changed. In this case, plush toys can become trusty companions that provide comfort and security for dogs, help them overcome loneliness, and relieve their anxiety and stress. Some plush toys are designated to simulate owners’ companionship by providing heartbeat sounds and owners’ scents to increase secure feelings for dogs.
Keep up Oral Health
Some plush dog toys are designated for aggressive chewers. Chewing these plush toys can boost the oral health of puppies. Chewing exercise can stimulate saliva secretion, contribute to cleaning up food debris and dental plaque from dogs’ mouths, and prevent gum disease and dental calculus. It is recommended to pick a plush toy that suits your dog’s size and chewing habits, which can bring them a comfortable chewing experience without damaging the mouth.
Curiosity & Exploration
Some plush dog toys are designed with interactive functions like hidden foods, which can stimulate dogs’ exploration and discovery desires. Dogs may spend a lot of time biting, scratching, or shaking their plush toys, trying to find the hidden food or trigger other special functions of the toys. This kind of plush toy can practice dogs’ intelligence and perceptual skills, and satisfy their curiosity and exploration desires.
Social & Emotional Needs
Puppies can express their social and emotional needs by playing with plush toys. Some dogs regard plush toys as their close companion whom they like to touch, play, and sleep with. They might express their affection for plush toys by biting, scratching, and licking them, which can also satisfy interaction and attachment needs with their owners.
Improve Behaviors
Buying suitable plush toys for dogs can reduce their destructive behaviors on furniture, shoes, and other home stuff. Plush toys can provide sufficient entertainment and stimulation for the dogs and transform dogs’ attentions on toys instead of home stuff, which helps protect furniture, floor, and other valuable items, and minimize troubles and repair costs.
How to Pick the Right Plush Toys for Dogs?
Right Size
Choosing plush toys of the right sizes is vital. The size of plush dog toys is an important issue for small dogs. Providing them with a toy that is too big is difficult for them to play with and chew. Instead, larger dogs may either be totally uninterested in or may even eat toys that are too small for them. Hence, taking into consideration your dog breed's size and bite force is what you need to do before opting for a plush dog toy.
Great Durability
A high-quality plush dog toy should be able to sustain the dog shreds and bites so it is important to select the toy made of durable materials. Always choose the toys that have passed the strength test, such as the ones crafted with reinforced sewing or doubled-layered materials, which can extend the service life of the toys.
High Safety
It is imperative that you choose stuffed toys that aren’t made up of harmful substances, to ensure the good health of your dog. Avoid buying plush dog toys with small components on the surface or vulnerable materials to prevent dogs from swallowing and chewing them.
Soft Texture
Opt for plush dog toys made of soft and durable materials, such as cotton or polyester. Do not choose any harmful or allergic materials to guarantee your dog’s health.
Good Functionality
Think about what kind of plush toy would match your dog's tastes and habits. For example, some dogs like to bits while others may like chasing. Diverse shapes, colors, and textures can stimulate dogs’ curiosity and desire to explore and make the playing more pleasurable.
Easy Cleaning
Choosing plush toys that are easy to clean can keep your dog healthy and hygienic. Choose toys that are machine washable or with easily wipeable surfaces to ensure you can regularly clean the toys in an effortless way.
What are the Best Plush Toys for Dogs?
Plush Knot Dog Toys
Made of woven ropes, knot toys are known for their high strength and great durability. This kind of plush dog toy is suitable for chewing and scratching. On the one side, it can satisfy dogs’ chewing desires. On the other side, it allows dogs to interact more with the plush toys.
Stuffed Dog Toys
Stuffed toys are one of the most common plush toys for dogs, which usually have soft stuffing of cotton or other soft materials. They are suitable for dogs to hold and bite and also can serve as a kind of soothing toy.
Chewing Plush Dog Toys
This kind of toy is designed for chewing, usually made of super durable materials like canvas or reinforced woven fabrics. It can satisfy dogs’ desires to chew and bring more fun to them.
Food-Hidden Plush Toys
These plush dog toys usually have the design of hidden pockets or compartments where you can put the snacks or other items that your dog loves the most. Consequently, your dog will have to find the things and take them out with effort and time, which can entertain your dog and promote its intelligence and imagination.
Non-Filling Plush Toys
This kind of plush toy is not made of any inner stuffing but may have sound effects like whistles or squeaks. This functional feature can stimulate dogs’ curiosity and train their listening.
What Should Plush Toy Sellers Do?
Expand Product Line: Develop more diverse product lines of plush toys, including different sizes, shapes, colors, and textures to meet the needs of different dog breeds and preferences.
Improve the Product Quality: Make sure all plush toys are high-quality and durable enough to withstand dogs’ chewing and scratching. High-quality products can always enhance customers’ trust and loyalty.
Safety Guarantee: Ensure all plush toys you sell observe all safety standards. They need to be 100% non-toxic, and harmless and do not contain any fragile components so as to protect dogs’ health and safety.
Innovate Product Designs: Develop innovative designs and functions, such as food-hidden plush toys, gaming plush toys, etc to stimulate dogs’ interests and intelligence and make the toys more funny and interactive.
Cooperate with Pet Community: Look for the opportunity to cooperate with the pet community. Attend pet exhibitions and events and launch various social media activities so as to grow the brand’s reputation, increase visibility, and attract more target customers.
Provide Customization Service: Product customization is effective in expanding the customer base in today’s plush toy market as many sellers are doing this. Therefore, it would be better if you could customize plush toys based on customers’ demands and their dogs’ features, such as size, function, or texture to increase customer satisfaction and loyalty.
Offer Constructive Advice: It is always beneficial to provide professional advice and instructions on how to choose, use, and clean plush dog toys for customers in order to help them use your product better and also increase their satisfaction.
CustomPlushMaker is here to Help You
Quality Product: CustomPlushMaker is a professional plush toy manufacturer specializing in high-quality plush toys. We make sure we use durable and harmless materials and refined craftsmanship for our plush toys to make them meet all relevant safety standards.
Professional Customization: We provide professional customization services, allowing clients to customize their plush toys based on various demands. We strive to turn every design into a real plush toy with exquisite details.
Competitive Pricing: As an experienced plush toy manufacturer, we used to offer our clients reasonably low prices without compromising the quality, to help to gain more profits.
Timely Delivery: We have stable product lines in our factory. Whether we deal with small or bulk orders, we can ensure efficient production and on-time delivery.
Excellent Customer Service: We have a responsive support team to help our clients solve all kinds of problems during the whole process. Besides, we will also offer professional advice to optimize our clients’ products. We ensure all clients can be satisfied with the products we make.
If you are looking for a reliable plush toy supplier, do not hesitate to contact us at toyseei@customplushmaker.com. We are your ideal partner!
