Help! He Is So Destructive!

[Guest Symphony7]

I thought my Bedlington was bad when he was a puppy, he would ingest all of his toys if they were any sort of non-plastic material. Luckily we got that under control and he is good with semi-indestructible toys without any fluff or anything. But recently we've had to pull up all toys because our new Grey, Achilles is SO destructive! He is a toy murderer!!!

 

He has started grabbing other objects around the house but hasn't gotten to chew those yet because we've caught him in time and he's confined when we are not there. But I would really love for him to have his own toys. He is such an intense chewer, and goes straight to chewing any toy to death. He has a bone and a kong he is not interested in. I found a hard rubber ball last night that lasted 5 minutes before he started ingesting it.

 

Is there a way to TRAIN him not to eat toys...to play with them? He LOVES them, but they all get taken away because he starts eating them, so now I think he is getting frustrated and starting to steal other things he shouldn't have (last night he grabbes the XBox controller off the coffee table, something he hasn't done before). Oh, I have found he hasn't been able to kill tennis balls yet...so he has a couple of those, but he's getting bored fast. It seems if he can't dismember it, he doesn't care for it. Crazy dog.

Edited December 19, 2012 by Symphony7

[EnzaFerrari]

i think the fall back question is this: How much exercise is he getting? He could just be rather bored with extra energy that could be funneled into a long walks over the course of the day. Or he is settling in and pushing boundaries - Enza did this about five months into having her and it only lasted two or three days. She will still destroy a stuffie in no time flat but she doesn't eat any of it.

[a_daerr]

Truman is the biggest theif in the world. He'll steal anything that's not nailed down. I've found that the only thing that helps is (1) giving plenty of appropriate things to chew on, (2) bumping up the exercise, and (3) training when you can find teachable moments. Inevitably, there will be a time when you'll catch Achilles grabbing something he's not supposed to have. When he does, say "trade," and replace it with something else. There's got to be something that he finds chew-worthy, you just might need to look harder to find out what it is. Truman could care less about Kongs. He prefers bones, rawhide rolls, bully sticks, chicken feet, etc. Exercise is really a big thing too, because destructive behavior often = bored behavior. I need to run Truman out off-leash at least twice a week, otherwise his chewing/destructiveness becomes noticeably worse.

[Guest june]

EnzaFarrari is right about the exercise. It does make a big difference. I have one girl who is a "stuffy killer." She has toys when I'm around and I keep an eye on her. If I see her trying to tear them up I give her an "uh uh" and tell her easy. She has learned that if she continues to tear them up after that I take them away. I do have some toys designed for heavy chewers and will replace the stuffy I take away with one of those. She (now) will usually just chew and squeet the toy when reminded rather than have it taken away. She mostly will become distructive when the weather is bad and we haven't been walking as much.

[Houndtime]

The toy destruction does stop after a while. Or, at least it did in this house. There are some stuffies I have had for years. The road kill or flat ones have last well and so did the hedgehogs. You will find in the stores there are some toys marked as long lasting. Mother Bunny (GEM sells them now) and very well made and virtually indestructible.<br />

[brianamac]

Truman is the biggest theif in the world. He'll steal anything that's not nailed down.

Another clepto grey here! You should see the xmas tree this year... only the top half is decorated!

 

But aside from exercise, I agree that teaching a really good 'trade' or 'drop it' command will be invaluable. I would guess if Achilles only just started stealing things like the xbox controller, it will likely increase as time goes on.

[Guest cwholsin]

The toy destruction does stop after a while. Or, at least it did in this house. There are some stuffies I have had for years. The road kill or flat ones have last well and so did the hedgehogs. You will find in the stores there are some toys marked as long lasting. Mother Bunny (GEM sells them now) and very well made and virtually indestructible.

Here too. Hermes was a toy destroyer for a while when we got him. We put all his toys out in a box, and he stopped trying to destroy them and they've lasted pretty much since then! Maybe it'll stop when he gets more comfortable with having his own toys. As for the stuff around the house, we taut our guys (and puppy) a no-no noise (Ah-ah!) that tells them they're not allowed to be doing something they're doing. It worked really well for our guys and worked pretty quickly once they figured out what things they can have and what things they can't. In my opinion it works better than trading up because it teaches boundaries--provided you don't have a resource guarding grey. I don't see any reason to trade up with things that aren't your dogs to begin with, just use the no noise, and start teaching the drop it/give it and reward. Our greys will not try and interact with things they've been told are not for their use! Relax, he's just exploring his new environment... And now it's up to you guys to show him what his boundaries are and crate him when unsupervised until he understands what's ok and what's not

[cleptogrey]

oh yeah, exercise will help...... i don't think so. felix gets excellent work outs and disembowels every toy he approaches. the flat squeekies- 7 minutes and no squeekies left, tuff toys- give me a break, wubbas....no legs in less than 10 minutes. some dogs kill toys, some don't. annie is walking around w/ the same pillow in her mouth for 3 years- that's her favorite toy!

Edited December 20, 2012 by cleptogrey

[a_daerr]

I just wanted to add that it's important to always try to "trade" if you're taking something away. That way, you lessen the desire for the first object and it will be less likely that he'll feel the need to (1) guard the item or (2) seek it out again. At first, I made the mistake of just saying "NO!" to Truman and taking the item away. But then I noticed he would go out of his way to re-steal the same things.

[KickReturn]

oh yeah, exercise will help...... i don't think so. felix gets excellent work outs and disembowels every toy he approaches. the flat squeekies- 7 minutes and no squeekies left, tuff toys- give me a break, wubbas....no legs in less than 10 minutes. some dogs kill toys, some don't. annie is walking around w/ the same pillow in her mouth for 3 years- that's her favorite toy!

That is about as adorable as it gets.

[Guest Symphony7]

I'm not as concerned about him stealing things he shouldn't have. We are very careful about watching, and I can tell he definitely understands that it isn't his, it seems like he starts stealing out of a frustration to find something he CAN have. But I can't trade anything because he destroys anything I give him, minus the tennis balls and the Kong which he finds boring. Last night he did lay down with his tennis ball and chewed and chewed and chewed. The super high value toys are Desmond's squeakies, which are currently hidden to try and save them.

 

I am hoping he'll learn the difference between chews and toys...because he just doesn't seem to differentiate. Chews are difficult in this house because Desmond has a severe beef allergy and so I don't bring any beef products, rawhides, bully sticks, bones, etc. into the house. I found these veggie teeth cleaning bones but they lasted about 5 seconds...anyone have any non-animal protein based dog chew suggestions that last a while??? I would really like to give him something to chew that he can't mutilate in under a minute, something to keep him busy, that won't set us back if Desmond gets a hold of it.

 

As far as exercise, he is walked 2x a day, 30 minutes in the morning and about 45 minutes at night. By the end of the walk you can tell he's done...and the couple of times I have taken him to run off leash he wasn't interested. He just kind of sniffed around a bit. But even after his long walks he comes home and goes to the tennis ball trying to kill it. Luckily, in the evenings he settles down next to us by the couch and takes a nap...so he's not a pest in the house constantly looking for something to get into, it's just the times when he DOES want a toy, we have to watch him like a hawk.

Edited December 20, 2012 by Symphony7

[cleptogrey]

i have a tennis ball killer in my house- felix chews on a tennis ball until it pops open- when he's in the mood. try a firm no-chew when you catch him and a trade for a greenie or what ever chewie you give your pups. after many many times he will may eventually understand that it's no chew. but he has a need to chew, tear and disembowl- count your blessings that it's only toys and not pillows and shoes. exercise- try to up it but he just has a need to play. yup, play- my first grey used to catch and eat doves in our backyard. i would find a circle of feathers- the remains of her toy. i'm surprised that your beddlington isn't joining in. my very very first dog was a beddington and man did he have a prey drive!

 

yeah, i look at toys and turn my back to them since i know i'm throwing money out the window.

 

try these, i got my money's worth out of them:

http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=12302870&lmdn=Dog+Toys&f=PAD%2FpsNotAvailInUS%2FNo

 

http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=12166049&lmdn=Dog+Toys&f=PAD%2FpsNotAvailInUS%2FNo (the largest ball is what they seem to perfer)

 

http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3207032&lmdn=Dog+Toys&f=PAD%2FpsNotAvailInUS%2FNo it seems as if all of the cuz toys have lasted. the wierd birds and fish are his favorites- some are in the yard- black and moldy, gross, but still squeak. the sound is awful, but felix loves them. (i don't know why the link states not availabe in US. i have purchased all of the above)

 

there are also some weird laytex monkey toys out there that are stuffed w/ daycron. that lasted, who knows why, but he LOVED and cared for the ugly purple monkey for nearly 2 years.

Edited December 20, 2012 by cleptogrey

[a_daerr]

You can get bones and chews made of pork, venison, and lamb (not as cheap or plentiful as the beef ones, but this might help).

http://www.bestbullysticks.com/home/bbs/smartlist_152/hypoallergenic_dog_treats_and_chews.html

[greytpups]

There are some toys on the market that are "guaranteed" not to get destroyed. I don't have this problem at all so I never really looked into it, but I have seen them in pet stores.

[Guest Gemma]

I had a foster just like your boy; he ate EVERYTHING. It started with toys and then progressed to other things. Even worse, because we had to remove so many things from around him, he started resource guarding. And, to be clear, we were not taking things FROM him; just putting everything out of reach but that was still enough for him to start thinking we took everything, hence the resource guarding.

 

Here is what we did: increased his exercise. This boy was like a lab puppy in a greyhound suit! We walked him more and I played fetch with him multiple times a day, as well as encouraging him to run around and burn off extra energy.

 

I also bought him a HUGE nylabone and, every night, he went in his crate for 'chew time'. At first, he ignored it and whined to be let out but we persevered. Eventually, he'd chew it a bit then more and finally we reached a point where he would chew until he was exhausted! We did this with him EVERYDAY. It made a HUGE difference! Because he was getting his need to chew satisfied every night, he started playing with the few toys we put down, as opposed to eating them. There were still some toys he couldn't be trusted with but, in general, he was much better.

[Guest Symphony7]

Thank you guys for the advice! As per the Bedlington, he USED to be the exact same as Achilles, only less potent. He would destroy his toys and eat them but we were able to find non-destroyable toys suitable for his size. Achilles is 10x more powerful so Desmond's non-chew toys quickly were destroyed by the new guy! I'm not quite sure what to get that he can't chew through. I wouldn't care if he just destroyed them, I'm used to replacing toys on a regular basis, but he ingests them which is definitely no good!

 

I may try the Nylabone option...never have used it before, but I'm pretty sure it doesn't have any animal proteins in it. I would do pig ears, but Desmond's IBD and food allergies were SO bad the vet doesn't want him to have any other animal proteins except his rabbit food within reach. So, I am stuck trying to find alternatives that are safe for our house. I could separate the two...but I'd rather find something safe to leave out all the time that I don't have to worry if Des gets a hold of it.

Edited December 20, 2012 by Symphony7

[Guest Giselle]

I share my personal and professional life with lots of working breeds (dobies, pitties, belgian mals/tervs, etc.), and the unfortunate reality is that these dogs have a huge desire to chew and we just have to find ways to satiate it w/o wrecking our homes. Also, it almost always decreases with age, so it's only going to last for a few more months or years

 

That being said, I think the long-term chews you're looking for - durable, yet safe to ingest - require supervision. Because they are of this nature, they pose a choking hazard and need supervision anyways. Thus, it may be better to give these durable chews to Achilles when he is separated from your other dog by a babygate or something. In the meantime, I think it may be better to teach Achilles to play tug and fetch so that he's using his mouthiness in productive ways. Do you need tips on teaching Tug or Fetch? I'm not sure how familiar you are with the Fetch/Tug training process, but something to remember is that we always need to teach the dog "Give" first. This prevents any issues with resource guarding. So, my advice is two-fold: 1) Find a strong and edible chew (keep in mind there are no perfect ones, especially if your pup has food allergies) 2) Teach Tug/Fetch as productive ways to use your pup's mouthiness.

 

Edit: I've tried a lot of edible chews and none last very long aside from bully sticks and rawhide. The vegetable ones get crumbly very fast, so I'm afraid it's a compromise you'd have to make for a dog w/ food allergies. Could you find rabbit skin and tie it into knots? I'm sure there are some out there.

Edited December 21, 2012 by Giselle

[Guest june]

Deer antlers are a hug success in our house. Almost last forever.

[spottydog]

I have smeared peanut butter inside a kong and that was very popular!

[Guest mirinaaronsmom]

My first grey, Aaron, used to eat his toys also. We went to a friend's house one day and her grey had toys everywhere and I was afraid that Aaron would kill and eat them all, but he didn't. He had so many choices that he didn't stick to any one toy long enough to chew it up. So instead of getting him just one toy at a time, I got him a whole bunch and he stopped eating them. I don't know if this is a possibility for you, but it worked for us. He ignored the nylabone I gave him - had no idea what to do with it. None of my greys have ever had any interest in them.