What is safe to tear up??

Trin · 08-20-2009, 03:07 PM

Our 7 month old Beagle mix girl LOVES plush toys and anything that she can tear up. Her love for items like this is SO strong, in fact, that she will occasionally not even look at or play with her nylabones/kongs/balls because she wants something plush she can tear up. She pines so bad for something to tear up that she will follow me around the house to each and every room looking sad if she doesn't have her plush ducky or the likes to play with and - ultimately - tear apart and pluck.

Also - it wouldn't even be so bad if she just tore the things up into a million tiny pieces - but she ACTUALLY *consumes* these plush items. She actually sits there (I watched her today) and munches on them until she manages to get some stuffing out or a piece of fur ripped off, and she then proceeds to EAT IT. Why does she do this???

WHAT can I give our pup to tear up and have fun with - that is also safe for her to consume if she happens to. I have tried the frozen raw vegetables thing and it didn't work (we used a whole carrot - and she didn't quite know what to make of it although she eventaully tore it up and ate some of it - the rest of it just melted and stained our living room carpet orange). I am at a loss! If she doesn't have something to tear apart - she starts on her bed, the blinds, the baseboards, the walls, electrical cords, dining room chairs etc. etc.!!

She WILL not just lay and gnaw her Nylabone for hours - she gets bored with it in five minutes......same goes for rubber balls and anything hard that she can't destroy. Help!!!

Trin..

Binkalette · 08-22-2009, 01:56 AM

Hmm.. that's a tough one. I've never heard of a dog wanting to chew on nothing but something she could destroy.. How much exercise does she get a day? Does she lose interest in kongs stuffed with treats? She could tear bread up, but I think that would be far to easy and she'd just end up eating lots and lots of bread.

Rayne01 · 08-31-2009, 04:10 PM

My pit bull "de-stuffs" anything he can get his furry little paws on.
He doesn't eat it though, he just throws it up in the air and watches it fall. We just give him tennis balls. He tears them up, then loses intrest. Try a rope toy. That should be harder for her to rip up.

FilleBelle · 08-31-2009, 04:55 PM

This sounds like a dog who needs more exercise and training, not more stuffed animals. What does your daily routine look like?

Rayne01 · 08-31-2009, 06:01 PM

Not necessarily. My dog gets tons of excercise, whether it be playing in our jungle-like backyard, or the 45 minutes to an hour walk we take everyday, or the 2 hour romp in the park. Even though he gets a lot or excercise, he still tends to "de-stuff" anything he can. As far as the training goes, our dogs are all well trained in obedience. They sit, lay down, stay, come, heel, and even leave it on command. When I tell him to leave it he does. Your dog may just be bored.

bondra76 · 10-25-2009, 05:35 PM

Instead of encouraging the behavior of eating everything plush, why don't you just remove it all from her environment so she can learn to chew bones like a normal dog?

If you take away everything plush and leave the nylabones as her only way of getting rid of the boredom, she'll learn to love nylabones. Put one in the crate with her for a couple days with no other toys.

When I got my puppy, I bought her all the string toys and plush toys (I really didn't know any better) - it's only led to destruction of everything that has strings or plush affiliated with it (and everything expensive in your house has plush associated with it - bedding, couches, etc). I had to remove all of the plush toys and now she is affixiated with her bones at all times. No more knawing on my couch or bedding.

I wouldn't recommend putting her on the path of choosing plush to entertain the dog. You'll get a lot more bang for your buck with a $30 bacon flavored nylabone anyways. The ones with the rubber middle for cleaning teeth last a long long time.

Labsnothers · 10-25-2009, 07:58 PM

I think it is inherent for dogs to enjoy shredding stuff. After all, we have had a young Lab in the house most of the time since 1991. They seen to love things that come apart.

Unfortunately anything I can think of that comes apart can lead to choking or intestinal blockages. I stick to stuff like Nylabones.

FaithFurMom09 · 10-25-2009, 08:07 PM

Faith loves plush toys too. She only chews on her toys though (knock on wood). She chews until the stuffing comes out and then still chews on the toy even after i throw away the stuffing.

Maybe try some rubber toys. Same concept of plush but no stuffing. I know Faith likes the squeaker inside. Try some bones, a big juicy bone- not rawhide. Like a Pig Ear.

wolfsnaps · 10-25-2009, 09:54 PM

Here are my uneducated two cents. First of all, this is a beagle. I am guessing it has a very high prey drive, as it was bred specifically to hunt (Not to mention, that is just plain instinct for dogs...to chase, kill, rip up and eat). While I am sure the dog enjoys this, I have also seen my lab mix tear them up in what I can only interpret as frustration or boredom. Either way, you will spend a fortune with an unending supply of plush toys and detroyables.

Once in a while I imagine is ok (I occassionally get stuff like that for my dogs when the price is right) but I think using that to solve the problem of destroying EVERYTHING is not going to correct the behavior either.

I don't really think you can teach them to suppress natural behaviors (WHen you get bored or frustrated, you HAVE to vent somehow). I think you need to address the issue. While I myself am not consistant at all times with exercise (we have slow spells), I think it is the key to a lot of successes. A tired dog is a good, happy dog. And if you run into periods of time that you dont have time to do hourly walks, even short, VIGORUS play times throughout the day help.

A dog needs exercise AND something to do. They do HAVE a brain. DOing little all day just does not cut it with many dogs. They need to do something. Chew bones are great. Personally, I LOVE soup bones (raw). They last my dogs quite a while and they love them...and they are cheap!

Games for the smarter dogs are fun and get your dog thinking too. Hiding treats for them to find, teaching them new tricks in short sessions, etc.

Those are my thoughts