When I say Charlie is a chewer, I mean he has put himself in training for a very serious chewing career ahead of him and the all the signs are he is going to be a real champion. Everything gets chewed - wood, metal, fabric, stones - everything. He is 4 months and just starting teething, which doesn't seem to be bothering him at all. He was an enthusiastic chewer from the day we got him. I’ve started trying to find him the most interesting things possible that he is allowed to chew and this is working out to be a pretty good damage limitation strategy. I have a good collection of chews now but the most successful distraction from chair legs, by far, is a bit of antler. (I don’t tend to have bits of antler lying around - I ordered it on the internet.) It seems great, the antler doesn’t splinter or get sharp and he chews it for ages wagging his tail like mad. He makes almost no impression on it whatsoever - after 3 weeks the end has gone a bit white and that's all - but keeps going anyway. It is a bit noisy when he clatters it around the kitchen floor though. Is this safe do you think? It seems so hard, and he chews it so determinedly, I sometimes wonder whether he will break a tooth on it. Since he still only has his baby teeth (I dread to think what grown up teeth are going to do to his chewing ambition) I don’t know whether that would matter much? And any tips for other super interesting puppy chew toys?
Re: My chewer Charlie Lots of pups and dogs have the antlers to chew, including my 2 year old boy . Some reports say that they can chip teeth but many thousands of dogs happily knaw away with no damage at all . I remember when I read that, I threw Sams in the bin, but later relented and fished it out, washed it and gave it back to him . Kongs are great for chewy dogs too , you can stuff bits of food in them to keep the pup occupied , things like peanut butter , they do seem to adore them and anything that keeps him away from table legs has got to be good
Re: My chewer Charlie Thanks Kate - it sometimes seems like there are reports of absolutely everything being dangerous, so it's a comfort to ask others. I read the post about sticks being dangerous with a bit of a heavy heart. And Charlie looked very sad when I threw his carefully hoarded stick collection brought back from the beach in the bin. Maybe I should dig them out before the bin men come!
Re: My chewer Charlie My dogs have been chewing on antlers for years and there's never been a problem. Sticks on the other hand are a big no no. They can cause horrendous injuries in the mouth and throat.
Re: My chewer Charlie Julie, you can buy a heavy duty stick, its called a Safestix , made I think of silicone , virtually indestrctable and very very safe , if you google that name you will come up with suppliers , they are 100% safe and better by far than sticks which can cause damage to mouths and throats .Sam had one about a year or so ago , its still going strong
Re: My chewer Charlie i have been to pets at home tonight, bought my little fella 6 month old jasper, ruff and tuff toys, they seem to be strong has he chews all his toys within 5 mins, he has antlers , he is not that fussed with them, also as kongs, welcome to the forum
Re: My chewer Charlie As well as antler bars my mob have the big nylabones, not the 'edible' ones but the huge big mega bones and the galileos. The smaller 'bone' (the bow tie shaped ones) is destroyed in a hour with big chunks being rived off, not good or safe either, but the big ones are more durable, with tiny slivers being pared off, I think each dog goes through around two a year. Hebe was the first pup with them, she started with a chewed down cast off but by six months was into her own big bone. Kerryn
Re: My chewer Charlie my little fella is so fussy he does not like rawhide bones ,or nylabones even the ones with the food going down the middle, guess its me that gives him too much choice, likes pig and cow ears, loves a fresh bone, bought him smelly tripe strips today, he likes them to
Re: My chewer Charlie Thanks for the tips and advice - all very much appreciated. So the problem with sticks is the potential for him to injure himself on a sharp bit? The stuff he had was pretty large smooth drift wood. I let him pick his own log (clean, kiln dried) out of the log store instead, and he is happily chewing that now. Are logs ok as stick substitutes or is all wood out?
Re: My chewer Charlie Not just sharp pieces, even small bits can cause problems. Years ago one of mine munched a stick into lovely little splinters, one of which got lodged in her throat -not that we knew until days later when she had a massive goitre where the splinter was working its way out from inside via throat and skin to out. A few days later the now tennis ball sized abscess burst spilling it's lovely mushy, smelly gunk all over the kitchen floor . It was cleaned with salt water and 'milked' out three times a day (nice :-\ ) a few antibiotics and she was fine. I guess now it would be investigations and excision under anaesthesia. Needless to say sticks, logs and even bits of bark are swiftly removed and forbidden. I shouldn't think he's done himself any damage but I would remove all wood, and pebbles too, before he can. If you've not got dog chew toys then try swapping them for rolled up chunks of corrugated cardboard, inners from loo and kitchen rolls and similar which are less likely to inflict any damage even if totally ingested. Kerryn
Re: My chewer Charlie Oh uggh. I see. Glad to hear your dog is ok now. I have loads of dog chews - kongs, wobbas, antlers, tuff toys, rope bones, nylabones....and he helps himself to the recycling box when I forget to lift it on to the table, so has a supply of paper, cardboard etc. The log was in addition for when I'm desperately competing with the attractions of a wooden chair leg or rose bush (sometimes only wood will do it seems).
Re: My chewer Charlie Hi Julie and Charlie, Wrote you one of my rambly speciality replies this morning,and the god of wifi intervened and saved you...lost the blummin lot! Lots of replies since then so ill just say hi from me and Dexter ( 9 month old yellow lab and very,very dedicated stone chewer) that I give him ice cubes,freeze some of his toys in chicken stock and freeze/ put ice in his Kongs ......seems to satisfy the clacking against his teeth he craves! Kerryn what a nightmare......no party in that scenario was having a good time where they?dreadful for you all x I'm really interested in the Safestix......mentioned by Kate, I bought one from the pet shop in the UK....it was hard silicon,called Safestix( although it did have a kong branding on it) I'm not exaggerating when I say it lasted Dex 15 minutes.....got to be a different kind?he truly is an Olympian if its the same product and lasted Sam a year.......thank goodness he has his own gated off area for unsupervised time and heavy policing all others.......otherwise i think I'd be living in a heap of rubble ;D
Re: My chewer Charlie Hello, and hello to Dexter too - this forum seems very lovely - everyone is very welcoming. I will try to post some pictures of Charlie this afternoon, although I do seem to have problems doing so. I will have a look for the safestix thing and take up the wood/sticks. But he is going to find sticks, twigs and bark anyway I fear - I am having a section of the garden fenced off, which will be his spot where he can dig and generally wreak things, so once that's done it might be a bit easier to control what he has.
Re: My chewer Charlie Hi there Julie, do you use a crate? If you have a dreadful chewer, the crate could be a sanity-saver for when you can't supervise him.
Re: My chewer Charlie Hi Karen, I have a small room off the kitchen, fenced off with a metal grill, which is empty apart from things he is allowed to chew - thank goodness! I would have already gone mad otherwise.
Re: My chewer Charlie That's good Julie. As he gets older, you'll be able to find out what he loves to do, and redirect all that energy at present directed to chewing. Hopefully the chewing will stop a bit once the big teeth come in.
Re: My chewer Charlie I hope so! Sad to see the sticks go, but they have all now been collected and dumped. He did love them though... here he is doing a werewolf with stick impression... http://www.flickr.com/photos/97932779@N08/9105247727/
Re: My chewer Charlie It liveth!!! Run!!!! Save yourselves!!! You take a really great photo That is a fantastic shot.
