chewing

[Alex Prunka]

Hi all,

Ringo is almost 8mo old now and he has been doing some ridiculous chewing as of late. Any toy I buy him that has stuffing loses it's stuffing within hours. He even shreds some rope toys! His favorite activity these days is sitting in the back yard shredding pinecones. 

There's not much of a health issue here, but it's sad that I have to throw away most all of his toys. Any advice? Will this pass with time?

[Judith and Addie]

My almost 1.5 yr old pup started the same kind of chewing when she was about 6 months old. She will disembowel stuffed toys in a matter of minutes, going after the squeaker area first. So I don't thing it will change with time. 

What I suggest is that you invest in toys for dogs that chew. West Paws bumi has been a favorite of my girl. Kong makes good toys. Antlers are good, too. You probably should throw away the rope toys because the string can cause problems if Ringo manages to swallow any. Maybe you could put the stuffed ones away and take one out periodically. I give Addie stuffed toys occasionally because she really loves them. I let her pull the stuffing from toys that have minimal stuffing, but I watch her to make certain she is not eating the stuffing or anything else inside. 

I checked about pine cones, and I would recommend you find an alternative to his chewing those. From what I read,  they can cause obstructions.

[Glenda & Lizzy Lu]

Lizzy Lu is 9 mo Goldendoodle and she too loves to chew most everything! She will "destuff" any stuffed toy we give her so we started taking out the stuffing before we give them to her and she still plays with them. She was eating the stuffing...not good. We tried bully sticks but at $6 a stick we found it a little pricey since they were totally gone in 30 min or less. The best is the antler....long lasting, no mess and no worries (unless you step on one!). Also we found a rawhide, Dentley's Rawhide Bone, that you can buy for Light, Moderate and Heavy Chewers. The Compressed Rawhide for Heavy Chewers is perfect for Lizzy. It has lasted for a couple of weeks now and she alternates between it and the antler. It costs about $6. We have to be very careful about what we leave laying around. She loves to steal and chew the remote and most recently destroyed my husband's glasses! These dogs are soooo sweet it is amazing how easy it is to just love 'um regardless of what they can get into.

[Susan and Bentley]

we've had good luck with tuff n stuff toys, particularly the elephant.  They last months and they are his favorite toys.  We got the rabbit once which he destroyed right away.  They sent me the elephant as a replacement at no cost, and we are very happy.  It's worth a try!   http://www.fluffandtuff.com/

[Diane, Hurley and Sidney]

Hurley, who is turning 4 in Nov, never chewed up his toys until his girlfriend (a 3 year old doodle) taught him how which was about 1 1/2 years ago. No toy is left untorn. No squeaker is left in tact. Every toy has had major surgery and few are sufficiently in tact for for me to perform some cosmetic surgery on.
I watched her teach him how to tear his toys up never realizing that was what she was doing. What kind of doodle mom am I!!!!!!!

His girlfriend has two toys that she has never torn up. She treats them with special care as if they are her babies. But she can tear up all her other toys and obviously all of Hurley's. Her tearing up toys is selective.

I don't believe every doodle is destined to tear his toys up but for some that is their mode of playing. Hurley's cousin does not tear up any toys. But give him a raw hide bone and he can chew on it for hours.

So Hurley has a toy box full of torn toys with the stuffing and the squeakers gone, demolished, destroyed.......

Every time a box comes to the house he thinks it has new toys for him. I don't even want to total up all I have spent on toys.

[Cheryl and Finnegan]

No, probably not lol!  At least if Finn is any example.  He loves his stuffed toys.  They have a life span of 3 hours to 3 months. He'll carry them around and love them to death until one day he decides that squeaker and stuffing just HAVE to come out.  It's part of what makes a toy a toy…at least for him.  Finn is 5 :)

[Susan & Randy's Kate]

I always worried about the stuffing in the toys. Kate ripped hers several times by tug a war but she doesn't chew them. I resown her favorite duck using surgical stitches i.e. knot with each stitch. She also uses at a pillow at times.

Kate chewed a computer electrical cord.  The cord was a few dollars but weekend hospital stay by irritated gut - a few hundred dollars.  Kong toys with treats help.  We found some chew bones that work but have to be careful not getting a delaminated or lightweight one.  Hope you find something.  Susan

[Rosemary (Ro) and Enzo]

A pup who enjoys chewing rarely grows out of it. Be glad he only chews appropriate items! Not all dog toys are created equal. Stuffing, squeakers and rope toys can cause blockage, so be careful with him ingesting anything. I found this line of toys awhile back and so far, they are all still intact. My daughters dog is a HUGE chewer and even he hasn't disembowl these toys yet. Worth a shot!
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=a9_sc_1?rh=i%3Apets%2Ck%3Atuffy+dog+toy...

[Tracey & Spike]

I LOVE these toys!!! Due to my paranoia he gets supervised visitations with them but so far no damage!! He LOVES the ring!!

[Susan & Randy's Kate]

I am always glad when they have their permanent teeth because chewing everything usually gets better. I especially glad when my arm isn't considered a chew toy. Hope you find a good toy. Ours found antlers from a 4 point deer. The retriever in her brings long dead things like a used to be possum and a road kill bird. She is always very proud.

[Cindy and Olive (Ollie)]

Ditto. Rip became more adept at this as he got older, too. He can remove a squeaker in seconds. It's really a concern of mine and I'm always scouring the floor/ground whenever we visit anyone for innocent looking toys/things that can harm him. Once at a friend's house w/ my DH he gulped a soft toy (we had no idea) and it took a FIVE days before he urped it up! Thank goodness he did! When you have a ripper, you're always on guard and training to keep a stellar 'drop it' command! PS those Tuffy toys and no-rip $$ toys are NO challenge for my guy, unfortunately. Benebones and strong rubber toys (Whole Foods rubber bone) with places to hide treats work well for us, though.

[Diane, Hurley and Sidney]

As others have mentioned, and I should have included in my earlier comment, there is that constant watching where the various squeakers and stuffing is to be sure to get it picked up quickly. Hurley will actually follow me to the trash can whining when I toss the squeaker parts in the trash. As for the stuffing, he is not interested in it but I get it picked up quickly. Thankfully he has never chewed on anything but his toys. The 'drop it' and 'leave it'commands were some of the first ones he was taught and he obeys those commands very well.

[Susan & Randy's Kate]

We had a small boxer that was the smallest of the litter. Sadie was sweet. I gave her a chew bone and thought she hid it. Gave her another one and she promptly swallowed and threw it up. Really it was a size larger than recommended. I now buy two sizes larger on chew toys.