Why does my dog hold his toy and just lay there?

When my dog is playing sometimes he will just pick up a bigger plush toy and lay down with it in his mouth. I've seen him hold it like that as long as an hour. I think he even falls asleep like that. I really wonder what is going through his head. Is it an instinct to hold prey like that? By the way he is a Beagle.|||this is an instinct that dogs have! just like if you were to have someone try and take a possession from you, you'd do anything you can to not have them take it; this is the same thing with animals, especially dogs!|||he is just having fun, my dog does that we will play then she will just sit there with it in her mouth until i try to grab it then she jumps up and runs around and does that littel play bow were they put theit but in the air lol....


or your dog just likes the toy alot lol|||Is just savoring the moment and dreaming that the toy is a nice big bunny. Ah, how sweet it is.