3 legged German shepherd (9 months old) chews up every blanket or bed I give her

cflowers87

New member
My German shepherd puppy keeps chewing up anything I give her to lay on. She's put a big hole in my older dogs bed and is always putting her nose in the hole pulling out more stuffing..she is kennel trained but she destroys any towel or blanket I put in for her. She has left one bed alone ..my boyfriend got her one to keep at his house. She goes with me when I stay the night. What can I do about this?
 
@cflowers87 Some dogs enjoy destroying soft things. Most puppies go through this stage for several months, and you simply can't leave them unsupervised with blankets, towels, beds, or soft toys. Many of them grow out of it, some do not.

Does she have other things that are appropriate and satisfying to chew? Bully sticks can be great under supervision, stuffed frozen Kongs are good, my youngest dog loves just laying and chewing on her Bionic Urban Stick or similar firm-not-hard bone/stick shaped toys. Does she get lots of time to explore and play? Is her brain getting stimulation/training every day? A thinking and tired puppy is a good puppy. :)

My dogs all go through a phase around 3 - 9 months where they don't get any bedding in their crates at all. Once they've grown out of it and haven't shredded anything in a couple months, they get a nice bed that will last them for years. One of my dogs is a reactive dog, and one of her ways of dealing with stress is to shred her bedding, so when she is crated at events or in the car where she will be stressed out, I give her cheap towels/blankets from Goodwill to shred to help her cope. She doesn't eat any of the shreds or stuffing, however, so this is safe for her and may not be safe for all dogs. All of my dogs take GREAT delight in destuffing and destroying soft toys, so they don't get those except when I am ready to let them do that (my oldest usually gets one to play with and destroy all by herself on her birthday). The toys out in my house are generally of the indestructible or tug variety.

Good luck!
 
@mkelly1075 Walmart sells $2.50 thin fleece blankets (sometimes with cute holiday or doggy patterns) that I get for my 2 year old lab mix. After spending probably a few hundred on dog beds and soft toys when she was a puppy, we took everything soft away. She now (at 2 years old) has a bed in my office that she sleeps in when I’m working, and has only torn 1 hole in it. I imagine it’s that she isn’t anxious when I’m home with her. When I leave she gets crated with 2 of the Walmart fleece blankets, which I haven’t had to replace in a while as I think she’s slowing down.

Soft dog toys are special treats (hit up petsmart after holidays and they usually have soft holiday-themed toys super cheap) that last about 3.5 seconds. Every house we visit/she stays at has to be cleansed of any beloved soft toys on the floor. Such is life.
 
Back
Top