Good evening, I am looking for some advise on bedding and toys for our dog. She is a 7mo old Black Lab. Thankfully she hasn't tried to go after walls or furniture but is absolutely destroying all her soft toys and eating (& passing) fabric. We can no longer give her any stuffed toys, or toys with any fabric on it because they will be ripped open within 30min. Tennis balls she loves but will try to pull all the fuzz off. We got her a doggy bed (one that looks like a big pillow) but that lasted about a week. Ended up just leaving a sheet in her crate as a bed and she was just eating it. So the question is, does she really need a bed? I do feel bad that she just has the plastic crate liner to sleep on, but I don't want her eating all that fabric. I don't think she is anxious in her crate because she does go willingly and lays down almost right away when we say it's bed time. As for toys, she pretty much just has a couple Nylabones, a Kong, a Kong rubber bone and a Stuffed Femur bone Any ideas on bedding that doesn't contain cloth or stuffing? Thanks, --Dan
Have you had a look at this link from the main site, a review of lots of the Kong range? Your girl sounds like a very determined chewer, but you might be able to find some different toys that suit her. https://www.thelabradorsite.com/kong-dog-toys/ As for beds, crikey, I'm stumped. So she'd presumably eat an old towel or a woollen blanket? If you can't safely leave her with fabric, then she's definitely safer with nothing, but other members might have other suggestions. BUT she's still young and might grow out of this destructive phase, so don't lose all hope!
She obviously needs to chew and rip. I found cardboard boxes and toilet roll inners were wonderful for ripping apart. Perhaps give her raw meaty bones as part of her diet to give her the satisfaction of ripping and chewing. It’s also excellent for the neck and jaw muscles.
Thanks for the replies! Yes, I did see that page about the Kong toys, that is actually what prompted me to buy the ones she has now before we brought her home. But that did remind me about the Kong ball... I think I may grab one of those because there is no fuzz to pull off like a tennis ball! I occasionally give her the paper rolls, but it's a quick treat, usually only gets about 5 min of play out of it before I have little pieces of soggy paper everywhere! I'll probably look into the bones a bit, haven't really looked into those that much. MF, do you have a brand/type you prefer to use? Xena, yes she would! One morning I saw it torn up, next day say it in her poop! I've talked to the vet about it to play it safe, they aren't too worried, she passes everything. But its pretty much the same story, fabric type stuff she tears and eats, stuffed things she will usually go for the fluff.
Does she chew up Vet Bed too? Most pups don’t even if they are fabric eaters. Saying that Keir (eight months) does chew up Vet bed You can get Tuffee bed guaranteed chewproof but they are very expensive - http://www.tuffies.co.uk/tuffies-dog-beds.asp?ProductId=4
Maisy can peel a tennis ball in minutes, soft toys spend most of their life as just unstuffed pieces of fabric and we have a collection of squeakers that rival a toy factory. But when she goes to bed she does not chew anything, sometimes she takes her bed out of the crate and tries to pull out the stuffing though so she is not immune to a bit of bedding de-stuffing. However, if she is tired and ready to settle down she loses interest in toys and chewing, so maybe wear out your pup before settling down, keep an eye on her before she falls asleep, use no and leave or whichever cue for 'stop eating your bed', and try and be there when she wakes in the morning, just for a while to see how it goes? Saying that, it sounds exhausting for you, I think I would be inclined to try a piece of carpet?
Coco is a determined toy chewer. We don't have any stuffies. He got an Orbee Tuff Ball for christmas - this is brilliant, they are expensive, but it is the best ball ever! We use climbing rope, knotted for tuggies, this is really tough. Also plaited fleece tuggies are OK (kinder on human hands), but they do break. He has a couple of Kong toys too - the The KONG Squeezz Ball is fun - has a great squeak in it - and very bouncy. He can have tennis balls, but as with all of his toys, they must be supervised - he would chew them to pieces otherwise. He is NEVER left alone with a toy. Toy play is always an interactive game with a human. I am blessed that toys are all he chews.
Merlin went through this stage at around six to seven months... Now at almost eleven months he barely chews any toys or bedding any more. He even leaves the front doormat alone now, which was his favourite household item for shredding. So you may find she grows out of it.
Raw meaty bones are just that; they’re not branded. If you do decide to feed your dog raw meaty bones, please make sure they’re fit for human consumption (to ensure good hygiene practices). You’ll also need to supervise your pup. I’d suggest you research feeding a dog raw meat and bones to avoid pitfalls. Our dog loves raw meaty bones, and they were fantastic for keeping him occupied when he was a pup.
My Rex is now 3 and was a chewer, yeah he grew out of it. He destroyed everything. Could care less about cardboard and never did bedding though. We gave him antlers and femurs. And a horse ball, it's a large ball with a handle on it, from the horse store though have seen it in the dog stores now too. He loves to carry it around and play fetch with it. Given the opportunity he would chew it up but not immediately like other toys. He grew out of destructive chewing at about 2 when we got Zeke. Zeke loves cardboard but has the same stuffed fish for about a year. Lots of femurs and Zeke is happy. He was a bedding chewer until we got the femurs. Hopefully it's a stage for you too. But really it is ok to not have bedding. Better safe than sorry. You can watch and watch and still miss something. Rex had a surgery at 18 months, a neighbor girl dropped a doll toy in our yard. Any help with my avatar? So proud I figured out how to do a pic but I can't get it flipped. Lol. That's my Fudge at 16.
Is she getting enough exercise? Our previous puppy would chew voraciously when she didn't get enough exercise. We got her a nylabone Frisbee and taught her to chase it(not an an issue) and bring it back to us(took a bit more). That cut down on her active chewing quite a bit. We could get her tired quickly with about 8 minutes of frisbee chasing. Of course, if you live in an apartment in a city this will be harder. We always lived out in the country with a big yard. Then she became so into her nylabone Frisbee that she didn't want to chew anything else. And the nylabone is almost indestructible. I say almost. All of our dogs have taken them apart after about a year. I don't know where you live so it may not be available to you. Lots of things suggested here are available easily in the UK, but not so much where I live in the USA.
I would recommend using an interactive toy to feed meals (kong wobbler or similar) - this was a life saver for me to keep her occupied for a short time during her most busy stage. Pretty much all our toys get destroyed at some point, but the Tuffy brand of softer toys last for ages compared to any of the other brands I've bought and don't have stuffing. The only toys that aren't ruined are her least favourites, because she never plays with them! I also gave boxes and empty water bottles (no lid) while supervised. My dog grew out of swallowing fabric/toy pieces at around a year old, but she'll still swallow the odd piece of stuffing.
Cooper and Tilly destroy soft toys. There are some made by Kong and Tuffy that last a lot longer, though they may ultimately be destroyed. When we give them a plush toy, we expect it to be de-stuffed in hours or at least days. They don't eat them, so we just accept that they like to destroy them. They usually don't strip tennis balls but occasionally will do that if they are bored. I had to laugh about the Horse Ball. Cooper took the handle of her's within the first day or two. Horses are no match for Labs. We use a lot of real bones and Nylabones. I don't use real sheds (antlers) anymore because they are so hard that I worry about wearing down their teeth. We do use a lot of rawhide knots and rolls. They do eat them, but it does not seem to cause any problems. Our dogs always have very clean teeth, even though we don't brush them. The vet says they look fine.
The only soft toy that survives Keir is the Kong snake https://www.amazon.co.uk/KONG-Plush...TF8&qid=1518033792&sr=8-1&keywords=Kong+snake .
