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Eating her blanket

Does anyone know a good way to get my Sophie girl to stop eating her blanket? She chews up the corners, sometimes eating small pieces. (When I can't get them away) She will chew on other blankets, towels and such if she can get ahold of them!

Thanks
Jennifer
 
Hi, sounds like you have a real goat on your hands!

Have you tried to make sure you have plenty of other really fun things to chew on around all the time? I have found mine, especially Lizzie, will chew things, but she chews forbidden things MUCH less if I make sure she has a few really yummy chews like cow hooves and raw bones (safe ones) at her disposal. She likes to chew soft rubber toys, too but doesn't care for nylabones. You might find if she has other options, she might leave the blanket alone. You might have to get her a bed that you don't need to use a blanket with, however. How old is she? If she is still a puppy, she might outgrow it. You just want to prevent it from becoming a habit.
 
Hi Jennifer -- I'm in Kansas too! A friend suggested all natural chews such as cow ears, moo tubes (cow tracheas), bully sticks (you don't want to know what they actually are!), flossies and even a pig snout. Holly is 9 months old and these chews have been a blessing. Whenever she starts to chew something inappropriate, I can redirect her to one of these options. I have two young kids, so it's also nice for her to have an "activity" while the kids are playing with their own toys.

As with anything, I don't let Holly chew these unsupervised and I also toss them out after she's chewed down to a couple of inches. I order them from All Natural Pet Food or Pet Food Direct.
 
This is a potentially very dangerous activity asyour vet will confirm -- small pieces of material can cause a blockage, a situation which can be fatal very quickly.

The only solution is prevention. Do not give her blankets any more. Just give her a dog bed of some sort that cannot be chewed. Do not ever let her have access to other blankets or towels. If that means closing doors to other rooms, then do so.

You will really not be able to train her to stop doing this -- so as others say, don't give her access in the first place and give her safe alternatives for chewing.

Also keep in mind that dogs typically do things like this if they are bored. Is she getting a good one hour of active exercise daily -- eg a long vigorous walk of at least 30-60 minutes and play sessions where she works her body and importantly mind playing fetch, doing obedience, doing agility? A tired dog is a content dog and is considerably less likely to chew on anything. She will not get adequate exercise just playing in the house or garden -- she needs to be out, active, and engaged every day. :)
 
My cavalier use to chew towels and ends of bedding and also the noses off his plastic toys , we had to move everything high and keep an eye on him with his toys, he even eat a trainer sock once which was a great worry, it took a week to come back to us, he was sick on my mothers carpet! He grew out of it, but we stiil have to watch him with tissues.
 
Thanks for all the replies. I watch her like a hawk, but I also have 2 kids to care for. So sometimes she gets things. She will chew on any sort of fabric item that she can find. She does get plenty of exercise so I do not think that is the problem. I will try the harder type chew toys for her to see if that will help out.
 
Same sort of situation... Sorry for canging the subject a bit :)

I own 5 dogs 2 of which stays down and the "dog run". My 18 month Basenji (Saba) used to get along with our 5 year old Australian Cattle Dog (Clancy) but got into a fight about 7 months ago and now can't stand each other at all, anyway, everytime we go down to swap dogs around we have to put Saba into the crate or he goes crazy (runs around the house, gets mad at everything in his way etc) So when he gets into the crate he starts tearing up his bed and ripping the fluff ot of it we then take out his bed and he starts scratching the bottom of the crate.

I don't know if he is stressed, mad or just crazy.

Rajacadoo :lotsaluv:


P.S. Sorry for kind of changing the subject :eek:
 
Jasper also tears up the bed in his crate and has done that since we got him. He turned a year old in November, and I'm beginning to think this is going to be a permanent problem. It's very strange because for the most part, he leaves all other towels and blankets alone. He just wants to eat what's in his crate, and he does that only when he's OUT of his crate. He drags his bed, towels, etc. out and starts to eat them. Oddly enough, while he's in the crate, he leaves all of his bedding alone.

Jasper is only in his crate at night now, so every morning the first thing I do is take his bed out of his crate and put it away. I close off the doors to all laundry areas and pick everything off the floor that he could possibly rip to shreds. I can't tell you how many chew toys, sticks, cow hooves, etc. he has to chew on during the day, and he gets plenty of exercise and attention. Plus, he now has our 3-month-old Cav to play with. I have no idea why he likes to destroy his crate bedding like this. Rajacadoo, just like your dog, Jasper will start chewing on the bottom edge (and now the sides) of his crate when he realizes there's no bedding for him to chew.

Is he trying to tell me he doesn't like his crate at all? :rolleyes: He likes going in there at bedtime and other than that, the door is always open to it, so he doesn't have to go in there at all. I don't understand it! Also, in the last few days he's also started trying to drag the bed out of Josie's crate and eat it! So now I have to take her bedding out, too, unless she's in the crate. :bang:

Lori
 
Lori,

Sounds like Jasper and Saba have gotten into the habit of chewing up their beds... Maybe thats the problem, it's a habit for them... I don't know :bang: :bang: :bang:!!!!

We bring out the bed for him to lie on during the day and put another bed into the crate (His ripped up bed) when we have to put him away for whatever reason. He doesn't do anything to that bed (Ripped one) when it's out of the crate.

Very confusing...

Rajacadoo.
 
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