Bedding that a puppy can't eat?

November 14, 2007 8:07 PM

Is there a good alternative dog bedding that our puppy can't consume? We have a 9 month old corgi, crate-trained, and so far he's found a way to chew/eat whatever bedding we've given him.

So far, we've tried crate pad/pillow and blankets. Lately, we're noticing bits of blanket in his stools, and we'd like to avoid the health risks of his basically eating fabric and string. He's not a serious chewer, and we always crate him up with a safe chew toy (usually a "stuffed" Kong). His crate is solid plastic on the bottom, but since he does spend a fair amount of time in there (some time during the day, and all night), I feel bad putting him in there with nothing soft and cozy.

posted by dryad to pets & animals (13 comments total)

doggy trampoline instead?here is a pikkie

or some kind of bottomless cage with a tramp underneath.
good luck possum. we have exactly this problem at the moment.
posted by taff at 8:13 PM on November 14, 2007

The dog next door has not destroyed the outdoor lawn furniture lounge chair pad it has been sleeping on, and that dog is a chew-monster with everything else. It has some sort of all-weather fabric and seems to be fairly indestructable. You could probably pick up a cheap one at a thrift store and see if your dog destroys it.
posted by 45moore45 at 8:23 PM on November 14, 2007

One of our dogs did this. We came home once and she'd ingested about 3 feet of yarn she'd unraveled from a blanket we put in her kennel. We had to slowly pull the yarn out while she gagged. It was really scary.

We buy cheap acrylic fleece throw blankets and cut the stitched sides off of them. She is unsuccessful at eating them and has thankfully abandoned this hobby.
posted by pluckysparrow at 8:33 PM on November 14, 2007

He's teething. Ice cubes can help.

My lab puppies ate absolutely everything we put in their crates, including the hard plastic bottom of the crate. They chewed pretty much everything in and out of the crate -- blankets, pillows, doggie beds, toys, couches, electrical wires, plastic bottles, remote controls, the batteries inside the remote controls, you name it.

While giving them ice cubes would reduce their chewing needs for awhile, the only thing that stopped this phase was growing out of puppyhood. Now they're satisfied with plastic bottles and caps.

So, I don't know the answer to the question other than to suggest trying different chew toys, give the dog plenty of ice cubes, and wait it out.
posted by edverb at 8:36 PM on November 14, 2007

We had a little dog bed for our corgi's crate. Something like this look pretty tough. You should be able to find a dog bed that will be pretty difficult for him to chew on. Be careful with the chewing, our corgi got really sick once and nearly had to have surgery because she ate part of a blanket (luckily she threw it up after several hours and avoided surgery but it wasn't good).
posted by whoaali at 8:45 PM on November 14, 2007

Your dog doesn't need a blanket or pad; he's got his own built in blanket, his fur. Many dogs (mine included) can't be trusted with anything soft in their kennels. They either eat it or pee on it.
posted by [insert clever name here] at 9:10 PM on November 14, 2007

Blanket eaters grow out of it. Let him go au naturale in the crate, but give him plenty of stuff to chew on. My favorite trick is to stuff the dog's dry food into a Kong toy, pour water over it and stick it in the freezer for a few hours. It will give your pupper a good workout and the cold will soothe his teeth.

Crate training is a wonderful thing, and I'm a huge advocate, but be mindful of how long he's away every 24 hours. It's ok to keep him in there during the workday, and fine to keep him in there at night, but you shouldn't crate him for more than ten or twelve hours cumulatively (not consecutively!) during most 24 hour periods.
posted by freshwater_pr0n at 9:52 PM on November 14, 2007 [1 favorite]

A google search for chew proof dog bed looks promising.
posted by gennessee at 10:30 PM on November 14, 2007

Chew proof dog beds aren't. I promise.

Skip the pads and pillows, give him good chew toys (kongs are great, or those compressed nylon bones) and he'll be fine.

Once he's past the crate stage, introduce a bed; when he starts eating it, take it away for a few days. Repeat until he gets the idea that what he eats, he can't sleep on.
posted by ook at 11:05 PM on November 14, 2007

There is a special kind of bed, called a "Kuranda" bed, that some shelters use precisely to avoid this problem (and because they're easy to keep clean). They're not cheap or small, and you may have to get a bigger crate to accommodate it, but apparently dogs love them.
posted by walla at 6:50 AM on November 15, 2007

Seconding giving him plenty of safe things to chew. The frozen Kong idea is excellent.

My dog seems to need to chew on his bedding; I think it's a nesting thing. So I scavenge old couch cushions, and he destroys a couple a year. I also keep paper down in one corner in case of accidents, and sometimes he shreds it out of boredom. Better than shredding the vinyl flooring, which he's also done.
posted by theora55 at 6:59 AM on November 15, 2007

I managed a boarding kennel for 3 years and we had this problem often, anything with stuffing will be destuffed. this included beds, toys, pillows and comforters. One thing we found that lasted the longest was those wooly woven Mexican Falsa blankets/throws .... they are usually inexpensive. The dogs would sometimes chew holes in them (we refered to that as customizing heh) but usually wouldn't totally destroy them. After a few months we could switch them to normal beds (this was with our rescue dogs and puppies not usually with the boarders). This too shall pass....eventually.
posted by meeshell at 7:04 AM on November 15, 2007

Thanks, everyone.

I don't think he's teething -- the vet seems to agree that he's got all his grown-up teeth at this point. He just likes to pick apart fabric. We've already stopped giving him fabric toys without supervision for this reason, but I was having difficulty putting him to bed without a blanket. My husband seemed to agree with the "his fur is his blanket" position, so apparently I'm just a softie.

Freezing the Kong is a great idea -- I hadn't thought of that!
posted by dryad at 10:47 AM on November 15, 2007