Pepper has ignored virtually every “toy” I ever bought for her. But by watching what she likes to do I came up with some things she likes.
1) She’s very “project-oriented”, so I will keep large cardboard boxes and cut doorways in them to make hidey-runs. Sometimes I tape a couple together. I purposely cut the doorways a little too small so that she can “remodel” then to her heart’s content. I also sometimes stuff crumpled paper inside (so that she can re-arrange or dig) or put some large apple branches through (so that she can work through/around them)
2) She likes anything that smells like food, so empty boxes and containers get tossed on the floor for a day or so. Last night she spent nearly 45 minutes trying to get to the last couple of crumbs in the bottom of a bag that used to hold amaretto cookies – it was hilarious! Apparently the boxes that used to hold green tea or oatmeal are also especially appealing.
3) She likes to have things arranged just so, so sometimes I push lightweight things up against the wall so that she will want to move them to suit herself. These need to be things that can be chewed or damaged, like a stack of catalogs or a large box. Gives her something to do.