Hi Nevis is coming 7 months great nature but boy he's a chewer, luckily for me it his own stuff that he ruins lol I've lost count of the beds he's chewed to pieces. He's now down to a chewed blanket ;D Toys come off worse too, even the so called tuff toys my Nevis destroys within minutes so now his favourite toy is a tea towel with a knot in it. He loves his kong and i've been reading about freezing them. I'd never thought of doing this but he loves ice cubes so i think he'd love this idea. I'm just looking for ideas to put in them to freeze? Saying that one of my favourite funny moments was going to wake him in the morning and seeing his little chocolate face surrounded by masses of white stuffing that filled his crate from the bed he destroyed, so hard not to laugh! i could have cried as well as we'd just bought it the day before lol..
Re: Chewer here! Hello! Champion Chewer here too - although not beds, thank goodness. Everything else though. I own about 10 kongs and bulk freeze every 3 days or so. If I'm going out, Charlie will get his entire food allowance in kongs. Kong goodie bones are great too. I stuff the ends with fish4dogs sea biscuits and sea wraps, and 2 or 3 will last Charlie about 10 minutes (enough for an emergency dash for a pint of milk or something). There was a thread on this a while back: [quote author=JulieT link=topic=3103.msg32841#msg32841 date=1383142125] Just about anything you are happy to feed your dog . The trick is just to get it to the right consistency to squish in. The easier it is to get out, the quicker the dog finishes the kong (eg dry kibble will just tip out). Mashed fruit and veg is popular. I freeze most kongs, if only for 30 mins or an hour, to "firm up" the contents, making it last longer. Frozen kongs can be filled with anything - water from sardine tins etc. You can put kibble in the liquid (and let it go soft) or just put the dry kibble in the liquid and freeze (I find you use less kibble this way if you need to keep an eye on the food volume). Bulldog clips keep the ends closed until the liquid freezes. For the ultimate kong, I think you need a bit of structure. Gravy bones are ideal because you can ram them into something soft (a bit of chicken) and then wedge them under the rim. Then fill the gaps with something. My current tatic is: Chicken in the bottom, a single layer of dry kibble rammed into the chicken with the end of a wooden spoon. Bit more chicken. 3 or 4 gravy bone biscuits shoved into this layer and tucked under the rim, mashed up kibble mixed with chicken (more kibble than chicken) fills the middle between the gravy bones, and tiny bit more chicken and a hard sea biscuit is then pressed down into the top until the kong is as packed as a tube train in rush hour. Freeze for 30 minutes min. 3 of these are half his daily food allowance. If short of stuff, I soak kibble, mash in sardines, pack kongs with resulting sludge and freeze. [/quote]
Re: Chewer here! Thanks for the quick reply Julie, this has given me some ideas for him. I only have the one at the moment so as you say it would be a good idea to have spares. I'll give some of these recipes a try. He's lying at my feet at the moment chewing his tea towel, hopefully one day he'll be able to have a nice bed and toys ;D
Re: Chewer here! Ah, he looked such a lovely boy in your photos! I think they grow out of it....I'd say Charlie is a bit better than he was. I used to have to leave him in an empty metal pen on a hard floor. But I can leave a rug in his pen now. Although not smaller mats, which apparently are being asked to be ripped up and chewed. He was a nightmare in the car! Very destructive. I've got a cage now, which solved that one.
Re: Chewer here! We been through three really nice beds then padded mats, then someone suggested a single quilt folded but he destroyed all of them. He's in a crate at night in the utility room which is a tiled floor so we then tried a roll of carpet under the crate and across half the floor. We then cut a couple of pieces for inside the crate. Well the mess the next day was unbelievable bits of carpet everywhere and a very happy chappie in the middle of it. So a chewed blanket it is lol.. Saying that Bob wanted to try leaving to door of his crate open last night to give him a little more freedom and he was great no damage but that was night one! There is only a washing machine, tumble drier and a cupboard in it and we cleared the worktop so no temptations for him. We'll see how it goes. Nevis loves the car, has his seat belt in the back of the car and a thick waterproof cover for the seats and usually he just lies down and sleeps. Its great as i can take him in the car myself and don't need to worry about him being a distraction
Re: Chewer here! For frozen kongs I also use salmon or trout mousse mixed with natural yoghurt......Harley who is also nearly 7 months old and has a delicate tummy, loves these on particular......or mashed banana.....just a few additional suggestions.....I also have a teething kong which I put peanut butter in and also freeze this. I'm quite lucky in that Harley isnt really a chewer
Re: Chewer here! Well it's back to a closed crate for Nevis! We left the crate door open, first night great found him sleeping in the crate, second night great found him sleeping on the carpet that we'd put down but this morning opened the utility room door to torn wallpaper I thought it was a little soon as he is a chewer but didn't think he'd try the wallpaper! Oh well live and learn lol
Re: Chewer here! We will not be defeated... Today we went and got some plywood paneling with an edging strip for the top so 1, It covers the ripped wallpaper and i don't have to repaper the room : and 2, He'll just slide off it ;D So tomorrow once we've done some DIY we will have hopefully Nevis'd the utility room and we can try again with the crate door open. Wish me luck!
Re: Chewer here! [quote author=Bruer link=topic=4667.msg58022#msg58022 date=1393709929] We will not be defeated... Today we went and got some plywood paneling with an edging strip for the top so 1, It covers the ripped wallpaper and i don't have to repaper the room : and 2, He'll just slide off it ;D So tomorrow once we've done some DIY we will have hopefully Nevis'd the utility room and we can try again with the crate door open. Wish me luck! [/quote] Ply? Oh, that's goooood to chew! ;D ;D ;D Joking! Good luck from a fellow champion chewer owner!
Re: Chewer here! Lol hopefully he'll not be able to get to it with the edging strip ;D unless he chews the edging strip
Re: Chewer here! [quote author=Bruer link=topic=4667.msg58029#msg58029 date=1393710611] Lol hopefully he'll not be able to get to it with the edging strip ;D unless he chews the edging strip [/quote] Edges are the enemy when trying to defeat a chewer!
Re: Chewer here! I wonder if you can buy something like the stuff you used to paint on nails to stop nail biting that would put him off chewing it ;D
Re: Chewer here! Yes, there is that bitter aloe stuff - in a spray I think. I was a cruel mum though. A friend suggested mixing chilli powder in washing up liquid and painting it on wooden surfaces. ;D Worked for me. Could wash it of with soapy water in due course once it had served its purpose. Not a technique to everyone's tastes though ;D ;D ;D ;D
Re: Chewer here! We'll see how he goes lol I think the problem may have been that because he was free he could have heard son/husband leaving for work and he jumped up to look out of the window maybe or maybe not accidentally damaging the wallpaper and thought Mmm this is tasty! ;D
Re: Chewer here! [quote author=drjs@5 link=topic=4667.msg58034#msg58034 date=1393711070] Julie, you aren't being very encouraging! [/quote] O! Sorry! I don't mean to be discouraging! ;D ;D It's just I own a dog that would eat the house unless I stop him. I mean, really, in an empty room, in a metal robust pen, he would eat the floor unless I take steps to stop him! I find the challenge of defeating the chewing interesting - it's like a computer game. I fix everything, then get back from work/waitrose/visiting and see what he has done and think "No! You've chewed the metal doorstop/floor/lightfitting! I'd never have thought of that! Genius, 10 points to you!". [quote author=Bruer link=topic=4667.msg58040#msg58040 date=1393713131] maybe or maybe not accidentally damaging the wallpaper and thought Mmm this is tasty! ;D [/quote] Nah, he thought "what can I find to CHEW!". ;D ;D ;D
Re: Chewer here! Maybe a 6.5. I'd want to see the entire sheet of plywood shredded before I awarded a 10.
