Toys and coping processes for a dog that chews ALL THE THINGS

December 10, 2020 5:46 PM

Help! We have a nearly 16 month old dog who is very focused on chewing things. We thought Lucy would grow out of it, but so far no luck, and we are starting to accept that this is just her personality. What would you recommend? Both chew toys, and also house arranging processes to make our lives a little more bearable?

Some more details:

First off, here is the offending criminal (I know a dog tax is mandatory here.) As you can see, she has many many dog toys already.

But she still tries chew on anything interesting she can get her mouth on. Socks, toilet brushes, cross-stitch floss, boxes of ammunition-- nothing is safe from her. She is expert at knowing what she should not chew on, then getting it anyway, and running for the dog door to do a victory lap in the backyard.

We are slowly adapting to this. All the shoes in the house are now on shelves out of reach. But what else can we do? She chews through toys with a vengeance-- this is a 75 pound bulldog. The items of heavy plastic marked at the store as "will last three months" usually last about three days. Do you have any other toys that you buy or make yourself for a very chewy dog? Or other policies to implement?

I'm at the point where I don't think too much more house arranging can be done-- I think she just needs lots of things to chew. I'm willing to make them, if necessary. She also loves to chew on wood (bad when you have a back yard with trees), cardboard (bad when you order from Amazon), fabric (bad when you wear clothes), and plastic (bad when you live in the 21st century).

Things she has liked in the past-- rawhide "bones" from Costco, especially if I lightly spread some peanut butter on them. But I don't go to Costco any more because of COVID risk. Rope pull toys: I feel like maybe I could make one of these from paracord instead of continually buying them? She also likes animals with squeek boxes, although the stuffing gets torn out in pretty short order. We have tried over the years to use Kong toys with our dogs, and none of them really warmed to them. Also, the process of loading the Kong with food and freezing it is a lot of work, so I guess there is some reluctance on my part to keep doing that. But I'm willing to try again if I have to. The green "bones" made of tennis ball fabric are also popular, but they are so loved that they get eaten to death in a matter of days.

Lucy is a really great dog in every other way. Affectionate, intelligent (nearly unheard of in a bulldog), and sweet. We just need to figure out how to deal with this part of her.

I am sure part of it is the pandemic and she can't get as much exercise as she used to. Our dog park was closed for a long time, and even now I am leery to go too often, but risk it once or twice a week. The other part is that Lucy is a companion dog for a disabled person and spends 20 hours a day in a hospital bed with her human. (In the picture she is at the base of the hospital bed, the blurred out item is a toilet, which is in the same room-- invaluable for a person with limited mobility, but not something I wanted strangers to see.) So Lucy has a ton of unextinguished energy from that, especially since she is an otherwise healthy and vigorous 16 month old puppy.

Any advice or help for us?

posted by seasparrow to Pets & Animals (19 answers total)

We buy dog food and chew toys from Chewy, which delivers to our house. Our dogs are not mega-chewers, but antlers have lasted a long time, and this non rawhide skin... roll... thing called a "pork chomp" is high value and lasts 30-60 minutes for the larger dog.
posted by deludingmyself at 5:57 PM on December 10, 2020 [3 favorites]

FWIW, there does seem to be at least one place in San Francisco that offers dog behavior consulting. Maybe watching Victoria Stillwell's "It's Me or the Dog" show on Youtube may give you some ideas on how to deal with her chewing tendencies.
posted by kschang at 5:58 PM on December 10, 2020 [1 favorite]

I would recommend getting some puzzle toys and snuffle mats - this behavior is likely in part for stimulation, and these make a dog think and engage the hunting-foraging instinct, which provides a mental load. Anything else you can do to make her work for her treats and food will help make her tired in a productive way. Because of her job, she's got a lot of energy to burn when she can, so any kind of thinking challenge is good.

We are also fans of the Pork Chomp, in part because they don't shatter/get goopy/make a mess, and they won't cause actual lacerations if stepped on (like antler or hoof). I know lots of people who swear by bully sticks, too.
posted by Lyn Never at 6:03 PM on December 10, 2020 [5 favorites]

Get her working, not just for treats but for all meals. I recommend Beyond the Bowl Facebook group if you use that platform as they have a constant stream of good ideas. 16 months is still very young, don’t give up on correcting the behavior yet.
posted by HMSSM at 6:17 PM on December 10, 2020 [1 favorite]

Warning on antlers: my dog cracked a tooth on an antler. It cost more than re-buying less tough chews. My vet said antlers are too hard for dog teeth.

Give himalayan yak cheese a try.
posted by phunniemee at 6:18 PM on December 10, 2020 [2 favorites]

My dog looooooves kneecaps. They’ve been a lifesaver.

She also loves empty water bottles, but those are here for a good time and not a long time.
posted by rue72 at 6:23 PM on December 10, 2020 [3 favorites]

I go to the butcher and get soup bones, freeze them and give them to dog. Also we live in the woods and when we are outside playing or doing yard work I tie him up next to the stick pile for his own stick chew toy all you can eat buffet (even after 2+ years he runs off if not tied). It has been over 1 year since a pair of shoes have been chewed, I don't even hide mine anymore!!
posted by MustangMamaVE at 6:53 PM on December 10, 2020 [1 favorite]

Nylabone has a powerful chewers line that stand up well. Pet stages has a compost “antler” that is also long lasting, most of that line is good, there was a fake bacon chew that my dogs tore up but every thing else has lasted at least a month.

Every once in a while I’ll get a stuffing free plush toy for them to destroy, they don’t last long but clean up is easy.
posted by lepus at 7:02 PM on December 10, 2020 [2 favorites]

In case you weren’t already aware (because I wasn’t until a friend told me) you can order a LOT of Costco stuff online. It’s a little more expensive than at the warehouse but maybe worth if if they carry rawhide toys she especially likes!
posted by Narrative Priorities at 7:06 PM on December 10, 2020 [1 favorite]

Take away most of the chew toys. Novelty is desirable, so give her 3 - 4 toys at a time to chew. When you give a toy, she should sit or do some other task.
Get bitter cherry or apple spray and use it in significant quantities on things you want to keep safe.
She may be getting attention for grabbing things she shouldn't chew, so the attention should be coldly angry, and withholding for a few minutes. I'm sure such a cutie gets lots of good attention for good behavior the rest of the time.
I had a chewer for a while, and we gave him milk jugs with vet approval. A few bits of kibble inside made them a puzzle.
Puzzle toys help a dog stay interested in the toy, not the shoes.
Rope toys should be cotton; check dollar stores and if you find heavy rope toys cheap, stock up.
Way more exercise. Tired dogs are easier to manage in every way, and happier.
posted by theora55 at 7:06 PM on December 10, 2020 [2 favorites]

My dog destroys everything, but this insanely expensive guy is still holding together for almost a year and a half now.
posted by Mchelly at 7:42 PM on December 10, 2020 [1 favorite]

Hehe sounds like Winston when he was a puppy, down to the “chase me through the dog door and into the yard with anything I can get my mouth on!” He did age out of this somewhere around 2 years (he’s almost 6 now). He has LOTS of toys, so there is no excuse for chewing on something that’s not his. He has picked up on this. Seconding the Nylabone tough chewers line and the PetStages antlers and sticks. These have been excellent and meet the tough but soft tests. Check out Marshall’s, TJ Maxx, and Home Goods. I find a ton of toys there. Also, firehose toys.
posted by sara is disenchanted at 8:07 PM on December 10, 2020

Thirding Nylabone, also yes to switching them out. You can keep all the toys in a big bin and then every so often, let her choose a 'new' (hint: an old one she hasn't seen for a while) one, and hide another away. I also like to offer a rubbery one, a bone one, a cloth one, etc at all times because I think it's more about texture than taste.
posted by The otter lady at 10:27 PM on December 10, 2020

My sister's chewer stopped chewing the furniture quite so much after she got him some dog-safe treated tree root chews like these.
posted by terretu at 12:46 AM on December 11, 2020

Something that helped a lot for my chewy dog was to teach him that he got rewards and praise for bringing me things that are not chew toys. Like socks, shoes, underwear etc. So if he got hold of something he wasn't allowed to chew, he would give it to me instead of chewing it.
posted by Zumbador at 1:31 AM on December 11, 2020 [5 favorites]

I just popped in to say don't give up hope! Around a year and a half old is still a big chewing phase for puppies. I had one mutt that didn't start chewing things until she was around 18 months, but luckily that was a phase.
It can still phase out when she becomes a young adult at around two years
posted by newpotato at 2:17 AM on December 11, 2020 [3 favorites]

That age is still a chewing age, they're still not technically an adult, so she may yet grow out of it.

Have you tried other forms of stimulation, like putting treats in the toy so destruction stops being the reward. The black brand name kongs while not indestructible can take a while to destroy, specially if you upsize to larger than you think you need and are great stuffed with peanut butter or cheese to distract chewers to licking & using the toy in other ways. Lick mats are also great for this. Or make toys she can destroy like old boxes stuffed with paper with treats hidden in & make your own puzzle boxes.

If she takes something she shouldn't do not chase or call after her or the whole thing becomes a game in & of itself. Instead. Calmly take a high value treat or a kong stuffed with high value treats and call her to you, it will take a while at first but make a big deal about shaking the treat box etc. Then exchange the treat for the stolen item.
posted by wwax at 7:14 AM on December 11, 2020 [1 favorite]

So if he got hold of something he wasn't allowed to chew, he would give it to me instead of chewing it.

I'd completely forgotten I did this - one of my dogs is an attention-stealer, and she was carting all our shoes and socks out into the yard very ostentatiously so we'd "play" with her. I started keeping a container of Milk Bone Minis with me all the time, and every time she did it I'd shake the container and she'd come to me and we'd do "trade": she would sit and drop or give me the thing, I would give her 3 minis.

YES, for a while she just started bringing me things in order to get treats, but again that's a more desirable behavior so that's fine. I weaned off the treats to affection, and once I had flattened the economy but she figured out she could just come see me whenever she wanted some love, we mostly don't find socks in the yard anymore though she will occasionally bring one, wagging like crazy so I know she's kinda making a dog-joke.
posted by Lyn Never at 9:45 AM on December 11, 2020 [4 favorites]

If you are looking for ways to burn off her energy when off leash walking is difficult, look into using a flirt pole. It's essentially a rag tied to a string on the end of a pole. You stand in one place and whip the toy around while she tries to catch it. It's a great training tool if you make her sit still and only start chasing on command.
posted by Zumbador at 12:39 AM on December 12, 2020