A question on chew toys

[lostinflux]

My Lola (obligatory image 1 and 2) has a thing for chew toys. Especially the ones with squeakers in them. Double especially for the soft, plushy sort with squeakers in them. She loves to chomp away until the squeaker breaks, and then keep noshing on the toy for the noise of the plastic crunching about. If I let her, she'll eventually eviscerate them, spreading stuffing everywhere in her quest to nosh on the plastic squeaker.

My questions are:

1) Should I be concerned about her de-stuffing the toy? It seems to me that it's a good way to vent her (very abundant) energy, and I don't mind cleaning up the stuffing. She doesn't seem to like it - she goes out of her way to spit it out and keep destuffing. Aside from the (nominal) cost for replacement, is there anything I should be concerned about?

2) Specifically - should I be concerned about the plastic squeaker? She does seem to like to chew plastic - she got a hold of the top of her Kong Rocker and chewed it fiercely. Little bits of plastic seem unlikely to do harm on the way through her system... but still. I've been snagging it as soon as I see she has the toy opened enough. She seems to lose interest at that point.

Thoughts? Is there collective wisdom on this?

 

[a4givenlife]

@lostinflux To me, it seems like you're asking the right questions and doing the right things.

Always supervise her when she's playing with these toys, especially since she likes to get pieces off and chew on them. It's good that she isn't trying to eat the stuffing, so just make sure it stays that way. Make sure she knows a "drop it" command so that you don't have to wrestle something from her if you really need confiscate it. Once she gets the squeaker out or if she is chewing on rubber, take it away. I don't like to mess with possible ingestion of that stuff. Trade her for a treat or something. Redirect her to something you'd prefer she play with.

I think you're fine as long as it's all in good fun, she's not aggressive/possessive with them and not ingesting them.

My dog loves to pull the stuffing entrails from her squeaky fluffy toys as well. I've learned not to buy expensive ones as they only last about 5 minutes. Better to have her waste energy on a fun toy as opposed to furniture.

 

[technite]

@lostinflux oh my god. so weird. my dog looks exactly like your dog (check my old posts, theres tons of pics of her). and get this, her name is Lola. so weird. my heart jumped.

she also has an obsession of gutting her plushies. maybe its a boxer thing!

https://imgur.com/EvJ3jqG

https://imgur.com/sj80FMW

 

[lostinflux]

@technite Wow! That's uncanny. Though your Lola does have her tail still... Mine's a rescue and came with the tail cut short. :/

I suspect the gutting-of-plushies is a boxer thing... and maybe also a dog-thing in general.

 

[jolene250]

@lostinflux My golden is the same way. Looooves to tear apart the softies. i wish i could afford to buy more for her (at her pace, even the dollar store kind tend to rack up a bill), but as trackintree said, just be sure you continue supervision and keep up with the "drop it" command!

 

[sabrinagrace]

@lostinflux I used to own a dog hotel and found that many breeds enjoy this activity. Can i suggest investing in a squeaky ball of a larger size than the squeaker that comes with the toy, You can roughly restuff and use over and over. Saves money and makes the activity totally safe.

 

[lostinflux]

@sabrinagrace I've considered it. She dismantled a stuffed soccerball toy in a way that I could probably have rebuilt. But she also completely shredded one of the squirrels from the Hide A Squirrel toy. Win some, lose some.

 

[inhissight]

@lostinflux As long as she doesn't ingest pieces, dismantling is usually the whole purpose of plush toys for dogs.

You can create re-killable toys too. Either re-stuff the dead toys with the dead stuffing, or make your own. A couple of these squeaky tennis balls inside a knotted old sock gives the dog a squeaky heart to rip out, without the stuffing and without the edible size squeaker. Slightly safer, but I'd still supervise.

 

[nieceebarbie01]

@lostinflux Obligatory response to images: OMG!! GORGEOUS DOG!!

Okay, now that that's out of my system...

I went through this with my Mastiff/Shepard mix. She has the energy level of an ADHD stricken Dalmatian puppy and the size of a Great Dane.

1) Ditch the stuffed toys and squeakers! Unless of course you're trying to train her to torture and kill small animals.

1.1) First, the fibers in those toys are toxic. And, the toys are expensive and they only last a few hours (at best) with a vigorous dog like yours. They're easily replaced with healthy and inexpensive alternatives that are even more fun for the dog.
It's extremely common for powerful breeds to obsess on the squeaker - that's the prey's throat. The prey isn't dead until it stops 'squeaking.' All the while they're ingesting toxic chemicals.
For the price of two of those stuffed toys, you can buy a Kong, a tub of peanut butter, a regular batch of Broccoli and peas (explanation coming).

Toss the Broccoli and peas (add carrots and whatever other veggies you want, except corn) in to a blender or food processor. Make as much as you can and store it in the fridge.
Every evening, take a few tablespoons of peanut butter and mix it with the veggie medley, then fill two Kongs full with the healthy mix of protein and veggies and toss them in the freezer over night.

In the morning, reduce her regular breakfast food amount to compensate for the nutrition in the kong.
When she's done eating and the morning ritual is over (the walk, play time and what-not), give her the frozen Kong.

The frozen part is the key here. It strengthens the Kong and will take them an extra hour or so to get through it, all the while cleaning and strengthening their teeth, satisfying their natural instinct fixate on their 'prey,' and filling them with healthy nutrition.

Do the same with the 2nd one after dinner. At the end of the evening, wash them thoroughly, rinse, and repeat.

She will go nuts over the frozen, stuffed Kong. Even after she's cleaned every crumb out of it, her nose will keep her coming back throughout the day.

The rotation of the two Kongs filled with healthy veggies and protein will also almost eliminate the likelyhood of 'food aggression' around other dogs. You will be training her to know that there's a lot more to life than the bowl of food at her feet.

I suppose I've rambled on enough about this. Hopefully, you find it helpful.

ps. you can fill those Kongs with any dietary needs. Peanut butter is just an example.

ATxPS
www.austinpetcompanions.com

 

[lostinflux]

@nieceebarbie01 I already do a frozen kong in the morning - usually with a bit of kibble and some chicken, and a bit of peanut butter to seal it up. It helps immensely with her being in the crate until the dog walker shows up. After her walks she crashes out happily enough until I get home in the evening.

Even with that, she's super keen to chase and chomp on things. We play fetch a bit and the way she comes half-prancing, half-trotting back with the toy in her mouth is priceless. She's clearly in heaven and I'm loath to take that away from her. And if she doesn't have toys to chomp on, I'm pretty sure she'll turn to noshing on my stuff. (Even with the toys, she will occasionally lose interest and start sniffing around for other things to gnaw on.) I can't be feeding her via a frozen kong -all- the time she's awake and not on a walk. (As much as I'm sure she'd love that... Lola loves her food. And my food. And your food... ) Thus my quest to add some more variety to her set of toys.

On the toys - she does seem to focus on the squeaker - she'll chew on that until it breaks and stops squeaking, then chew some more to hear it crunch. Then eviscerate the toy to get it out. And I'm sure she'd chew on the plastic even more if I didn't take it away at that point. That's also when she seems to lose interest in the toy, now that it's squeaker-less.

I like the idea of bones from the butcher that someone else mentioned. The lady from the rescue group mentioned that she does that for her dogs. I'll talk with her about it and see if she has the time to show me how she prepares them and what to ask for at the butcher. Online instructions are one thing but having someone walk you through it is always better.

I tried a Nylabone last night. Not sure I like how easily she manages to tear it up.