some Pet advice for you all WISE owners...please respond

[demtenjeep]

We have a boxer almost 1 year old. Lately he has destuffed every toy that we have bought. Even the ones that say Big Dog resistant.

What are some alternatives? He definitely needs some chew toys that don't require humans to throw them.

Last night, he nudged into my closet and found a shoe...first time ever...and after removing the strap, he chewed on it all night long.

[InvisibleTouch]

1. Rope toys.

That's about the only thing my pack can't destroy.

[Incitatus]

24. +1

I have a rot/boxer and she will destroy anything but a rope toy within a day.

[Zephie]

2. OOoo, I know this problem.

My wolfdog liked to destroy everything she could get her jaws on. We had problems with this for ages with her, but in the end we found good toys were:

The black Kong brand toys
Hurley brand dog toys (they offer you a free replacement if your dog manages to ruin one!)
TireBiter tire shaped dog toys
and Elk antlers, which are sold at most holistic pet stores and are shed naturally by elks so it is cruelty free.

Good luck! It's a hassle to deal with the constant destruction of pet toys, but remember that at least they're getting enjoyment out of it (even if you're not!)

[nolabear]

3. A cheese stuffed Kong

Keeps 'em occupied for hours.

[Denninmi]

4. Shoes are a no no. I don't want to get that started.

My springer also loves to pull the stuffing out of toys.

Even dollar store toys die quickly, so the best thing I've found to do is to save the polyester stuffing and the squeakers, and then stuff them into old socks or the cut off sleeves of old shirts and jackets. Then tie the ends -- viola, instant, cheap, and disposable dog toy. If he shreds it in 10 minutes, who cares, because the supply of old socks is pretty inexhaustible.

[IggleDoer]

20. Our springer chews for sport

He only chews when we're around and not paying attention to him. My wife likes to buy him "cute" toys and the dog just tries to see how fast he can tear it apart. It's a game with him, much like a Rubiks cube.

[KurtNYC]

5. the plastic bottles that Arizona Ice Tea comes in

thick plastic, only lasts a day but it's free. And I'll 2nd rope toys. I buy rope in 10 foot lengths and cut it down. My male has learned to use his teeth like scissors and he can break down rope but it takes a while. This metal whisk has proved dog proof too.



Someone at the vet's office asked me "what possessed you to get 2 ?!" (I have littermates) They play with each other when I don't have time or energy. And it really isn't that much more effort than one.

[demtenjeep]

8. thats

awesome

[KurtNYC]

18. on the ice tea bottles -- you have to take it away when they get

the bottom mostly separated from the upright portion. It is like that impossible carnival game -- Shoot out the Star -- except they COULD get the star out. You have to take it away before they get it into pieces of a size that would give them trouble if they swallowed one. And I take the label and that little extra ring from the cap off first. There are some other bottle that work well but not as well - Vitamin water is a good shape and a good size for medium or larger dogs.

[femmocrat]

6. I have a young corgi who chews up everything.

She destroys those stuffed toys in no time, even the sturdy ones. And once they puncture the squeaker, no one wants the toy anymore!

I get her the tough Nylabones. They last a long while. Kongs are also great-- get the black ones. I just use a little low-fat peanut butter and baby carrots. She loves them.

Be careful of rope toys, everyone! Throw them away when they start to fray. One of my dogs got a blockage from the strings, so I don't buy them anymore.

[PassingFair]

11. My corgis chew through everything, too.

Even (especially) NylaBones!

They chew through the centers, fashioning what
looks like crude weapons!

These are the BEST:




Bad Cuz Dog Toys.

For some reason, the corgis rarely chew the feet off, and
they are the only squeaky toy that will last more than a
minute in our house.

We've had one of them for ALMOST A YEAR!!!

[femmocrat]

21. Oh yes! I forgot about those.

We have them in several shapes. They are very good toys.

How many corgis do you have? We have 3, two seniors and an adolescent! They are the most wonderful dogs, aren't they? :hi:

[PassingFair]

26. Red and White Boy, 9....Tri Girl...2

We thought she'd be good company for him, but she
mostly makes his life a misery....

He let's her know when his patience is at an end,
though.

:hi:

[yankeepants]

7. We recommend only toys like Kongs and Nylabones

and other hard toys like the above posters suggested because in many cases a dog simply cannot differentiate between a stuffed toy and say, a couch pillow. Keep the toys in a bucket or box and when he grabs something else or starts to chew something he shouldn't calmly tell him "no" and lead him to the bucket and tell him "your toys" and give him one. Also crate training cannot be beat for when you can't watch him.
I like to put them to bed with a kong toy stuffed with Peanut butter.

Goodluck. Love the boxers.

BTW the above "we" is the dog training facility I work for.

[Dappleganger]

13. My doxie can chew through a Kong, even the black ones.

When they are in pieces they can be dangerous. :(

[AngryOldDem]

16. That's why we don't give ours stuff like that anymore.

Our Doxie has a Kong (which came with the puppy package of stuff when we got her) and it's still in good shape (she's hot and cold with it) but we've stopped buying rubber toys of any type because she literally destroys them within minutes.

PetSmart has soft, fabric-type toys (fox, badger, etc.) that are not stuffed. She tears the hell out of them, and when they've reached the point of no return we pitch and get new.

[yankeepants]

19. You have to watch them

I have a Chesapeake Bay Retreiver who can destroy a golf ball in a few chews.

[TrogL]

9. Definitely elk antlers

A store here sells them and my dog takes about a week to get through one.

However, you might also want to determine why your dog is killing toys.

[cbdo2007]

10. nylabone, firehose toy, rawhides

Yep...definitely sounds like the chewing stage. All dogs go through it. I had a funeral to go to and just bought some new $50 black shoes, left our dog alone for 15 minutes and she did completely destroyed them. Even the book we got from the library on "How to control your dog" was chewed up beyond recognition by our dog.

Pick up everything your dog can get to, shoes, underpants, trash, pillows so he can't get to them. Then get tons of nylabones and stuff for him to chew on until he finishes this phase.

[Dappleganger]

12. My doxie can de-stuff anything you give her.

She is four and it still hasn't stopped. We give her the extra-large size rope toy (they are bigger than she is), but they do leave a bit of a mess. We also tie up old athletic socks into knots for her to chew and play tug-of-war.

The key is to have plenty of HER toys on-hand which are "ok", and pull the el switcheroo (distracting her) when she grabs the wrong thing to chew. We have learned the hard way to keep all shoes and slippers as well as stuffed animals high above her reach. IMO punishment doesn't work, only distraction and redirection.

[Patiod]

32. Must be a doxie thing

We are usually deeply relieved when he finally gets to the squeaker - we are SO ready to have it removed.

[nadine_mn]

14. Kongs - they will refund your money too if they don't last

The black ones are the strongest - stuff em and let them at it

the rope toys would worry me because of the strings being swallowed

also nylabones are good

I have had a series of serious chewers - labs and now a german shepherd who can chew through steel I swear. He loves the nylabones and the kongs.

[Phentex]

15. one of ours ate the nylabones...

the lab has damaged a kong or two but not when they were stuffed. She just chews for the hell of it.

[nadine_mn]

17. our shepherd has gnawed the ends of the nylabones into a sharp point

like a shiv in prison...but we replace bones a lot

[zanana1]

27. Is your dog trying to tell you something?

Do you lock your bedroom door before you go to bed?

[nadine_mn]

30. between the toys in the middle of the floor, the cat smothering

me by sleeping on my face and the bones-turned-shivs....I should be concerned.

But they are so cute and innocent looking! They don't like closed doors - they try to knock them down.

[Luciferous]

22. My dog loves her nylabone. They also make stuffing free dog toys.

I got my dog a stuffing free fox from Walmart and she loves it.

[Kali]

23. hard plastic traffic cone

seriously - had a lab that could chew one up, but it took her a while

always funny to watch that dog attack traffic cones

[demtenjeep]

28. oh, thats a good idea

we even have one already

[RSillsbee]

25. Kong toys NT

[TorchTheWitch]

29. you'll probably have to try a lot of things to see what he likes

Dogs will chew on those things they like to chew on regardless of what you give them. My previous Akita had a passionate desire to chew shoes, so I gave him my old pair of hiking boots when I got new ones. He was happy to chew "his" hiking boots and never touched another one of my shoes (he did like to pull them all out of the closet and organize them though... always in four piles that made some odd sort of sense to him). Shoes tend to be a particular favorite thing to chew for dogs because they're so thickly permeated with the lovely stink of the dog's owner. I'm convinced that if your dog doesn't love your shoes, your underwear and your bed linens he doesn't really love you sufficiently.

My current Akita prefers plastic bottles as long as they're the good sturdy kind and especially if they have interesting bumps or that hollowed out bottom that makes you think you're getting more liquid in the bottle than you are... he likes to stuff his snout in that hollow and make blowing noises. On our walks he has to go through the big parking lot next door that has a fitness center because people always throw their power drink or water bottles on the pavement instead of in the trash. He scours the lot for a plastic bottle "prize" and carries it along on the walk and all the way back home. He seems to like the bottles best that he's found and taken home himself. He also loves to play with any size shape or thickness/toughness cardboard box and will work on it until it's nothing but millions of tiny bits for me to clean up, but no cardboard box lives through an Akita for very long. Other than the wiggly giggly ball, there just never was any toy he liked to chew on or play with and even lost interest in the farting hedgehog after a couple of days (I still have the farting hedgehog though because I admit I like to squeeze it so it makes the fart noise - juvenile, I know).

Plush toys are useless unless you don't mind a dog having about 5 or 10 minutes of fun destroying them after which they will never look at them again. Except the current dog does still like the one that used to be a lion (or maybe it was a bear). It has no head and no stuffing, but once he saw me pick it up to throw it out like all the others my hand accidentally slipped inside where its head used to be and suddenly it became the most fascinating of toys - The Headless Handpuppet. He still won't let me throw out The Headless Handpuppet, and now that he's been on the down hill slide with the cancer he's taken to carrying it to bed with him. He doesn't chew on it but just likes to rub his face or chin on it and sleep with it.

You'll probably just have to try a lot of various things and see what he decides he likes and just pay attention to what he always goes for and doesn't lose interest in after a long period of time. Most dogs will play happily with lots of things but lose interest in them after minutes or days or weeks never to return. It always seems that one certain thing will emerge that will always be their favorite toy... and then good luck getting it away from them even when it becomes so tattered and disgusting nobody can tell what it is and you can't even remember anymore... and they'll pull it out of the trash and give you the stink eye for days if you dare to try throwing it away. Never do this with the favorite toy of an Akita no matter how tattered, smelly, unrecognizable and disgusting it gets... they excel at psychologically punishing you and have perfected the stink eye like no other animal (they will make you overwhelmed with guilt for at least a month or perish in the attempt).

[bluedigger]

31. Mine went through that stage, too.

Hopefully, yours will grow out of it. In the meantime, just keep a variety of the things mentioned on hand. I also let mine chew a lot of rawhide - she likes the knots best, and still gets one small one a day.

[dropkickpa]

33. Mine loves to gut her toys

I buy her the unstuffed toys. She also has Kongs, Cuzs, galileo bones (SUPER tough nylabones), and her rubber tug. I also have a LARGE rope knot (we call it rope ball) that she truly loves. Agatha is a 3 year old pit bull, this is common to small and large dogs.

[burrfoot]

34. Don't forget bones-

the non-cooked ones with the marrow and gunk still in/on them. My Vizsla was CRAZY for them and they'd last for a very long time. Long enough that we'd usually buy him a new one as a treat because he'd worn all the good stuff off the last one.

Also, you can re-stuff them with cheese, food, peanut butter....loads of potential!!!!