Any suggestions for good dog toys?

Smuckers · Post by **Smuckers** » Feb 8th, 2008, 6:37 pm

Fancy wrote:Just saw your pictures Smuckers, cute dog (another couch dog ) We had some stuffed toys but I'm always worred about the nose and eyes getting swallowed - he gets enough roughage.

Thanks, he wasn't supposed to be a couch dog, but he's way too cute to say no to. :127:

Post by **Triple 6** » Feb 8th, 2008, 9:33 pm

Lately when I come home from work, I have found chewed picture frames, some DVD's (case's are wrecked) a destroyed Moby CD and toilet paper.

I have given them everything (could that be the problem?) Yet girl wants to chew anything... Only when we are not home?

onestop67 · Post by **onestop67** » Feb 8th, 2008, 9:41 pm

Triple 6 wrote:Lately when I come home from work, I have found chewed picture frames, some DVD's (case's are wrecked) a destroyed Moby CD and toilet paper.

I have given them everything (could that be the problem?) Yet girl wants to chew anything... Only when we are not home?

Do you give her discipline when you get home and find the mess?

Post by **Triple 6** » Feb 8th, 2008, 9:45 pm

onestop67 wrote:
Triple 6 wrote:Lately when I come home from work, I have found chewed picture frames, some DVD's (case's are wrecked) a destroyed Moby CD and toilet paper.

I have given them everything (could that be the problem?) Yet girl wants to chew anything... Only when we are not home?

Do you give her discipline when you get home and find the mess?

Well, she looks at me, with Big Brown Eyes.... I try. But what is the best way to do it? I don't want hit, I show her, And send her outside. I'm not a good parent.

onestop67 · Post by **onestop67** » Feb 8th, 2008, 9:49 pm

Triple 6 wrote:
onestop67 wrote:
Triple 6 wrote:Lately when I come home from work, I have found chewed picture frames, some DVD's (case's are wrecked) a destroyed Moby CD and toilet paper.

I have given them everything (could that be the problem?) Yet girl wants to chew anything... Only when we are not home?

Do you give her discipline when you get home and find the mess?

Well, she looks at me, with Big Brown Eyes.... I try. But what is the best way to do it? I don't want hit, I show her, And send her outside. I'm not a good parent.

lol, wimp.

No hitting.

First thing I'd do is try and figure out why she is acting up. Dogs are like little kids, they will do things for attention. And to their tiny little brains, bad attention can be better than no attention.

And before you slap me, I`m not at all saying she doesn`t get attention, but maybe she`s an extra needy personality.

gardengirl · Post by **gardengirl** » Feb 9th, 2008, 10:08 am

I would think animals destroy stuff when you are not home from separation anxiety. Some dogs will whine or bark for hours when left alone, others wreck stuff. Some children do the same thing, it's a tantrum.

It might be too late, but a conditioning exercise could work. Start leaving the house for short periods of time. When the animal sees that you do return, they might not be as distressed when you go. Gradually, you increase the time period as the animal becomes accustomed to it.

For the time being, you may have to limit the dogs mobility within the house. Close doors and block off areas where you don't want him to get into stuff.

Smuckers · Post by **Smuckers** » Feb 9th, 2008, 10:15 am

Could you crate her. Oscar is crate trained, which is great if it's too cold outside to take him out with us. Otherwise he comes everywhere, including work.

gardengirl · Post by **gardengirl** » Feb 9th, 2008, 10:32 am

That is what one of my friends does as well. She is an animal health technician and really believes in crate training. She has 2 pugs and they can really be rambunctious. When they get out of line, in they go.
They get crated during supper and when they have guests over.

JLives · Post by **JLives** » Feb 9th, 2008, 11:29 am

The crate is your best friend. My dogs are 4.5 and 3.5 and we use it every day (they share one now). Eve would chew anything and everything we left in her path if we left her unsupervised when not at home. It's just not worth it to let her roam free. Think of it more like their bedroom then a place of punishment, they really do like them once they get used to them.

I have power chewers as well and there is only a handful of thing we can give them. The big black Kongs are one. they completely ate the last one but it took them a year so it was worth it. We made them beach toys from PVC pipe. They float and the pipe is indestructible. The Galileo bone lasted awhile too but they found it a bit too hard and never really played with it. I fyou find anything else that works let me know lol. every other toy I've tried is just a snack.

Baba O'Riley · Post by **Baba O'Riley** » Feb 9th, 2008, 12:09 pm

gardengirl wrote:I would think animals destroy stuff when you are not home from separation anxiety.

jennylives wrote:The crate is your best friend. Think of it more like their bedroom then a place of punishment, they really do like them once they get used to them.

I couldn't agree more with those two posts! :124:

On another note - I've been told by a few Vets to never give my dog rawhide chews - big dogs especially can bite off huge chunks of these & swallow them whole; apparently it's an ugly mess & pretty penny to extract undigested chunks of rawhide from their intestine...