Abstract: A pet toy dispenser and method are provided. The dispenser has a housing, a dispenser mechanism, a drive mechanism, an electronic tag reader, and a controller. The drive mechanism is operable to move one or more of the plurality of compartments of the dispenser mechanism from a load location to an exit location. The electronic tag reader is capable of reading an electronic tag embedded in an animal toy within at least one compartment. The controller having an authentication function configured to determine whether a code of an electronic tag within the at least one compartment received from the tag reader corresponds to an authorized code and to allow the load completion of the compartment if the code is an authorized code.