Indestructible Toys that your dog beat

Discussion in 'Dog Chat' started by Melody, Aug 4, 2012.

  1. Melody

    Melody Well-Known Member

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    Have you ever come across a dog toy that someone will recommend as indestructible, but your dog somehow destroys it? You buy it for you dog and he/she chews it up.

    I remember that my Lab loved bones. I didn't want to buy the meat ones at the store because of an incident she had where a bone fragment caused her to throw up blood (it was resolved quickly, but it was scary). I bought her the Nylabone bones that are made of hard material. Here's one example:
    http://www.nylabone.com/product-finder/my-pet-is/dog-large/big-chews-for-big-dogs-beef-bone.htm

    Another example:
    http://www.nylabone.com/product-finder/my-pet-is/dog-large/dura-chew-bone-original.htm

    I don't know how, but she would chew them in half. Then, she wouldn't want them anymore...like they were broken! I got her the Galileo bone, which was even stronger, but she wouldn't play with it at all.

    I had a similar experience with rubber tire toys that were supposed to be indestructible. My brother's Chow mix chewed it up into small pieces within the first week.

    Have you had similar experiences?
     
    Melody, Aug 4, 2012
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  2. Melody

    pugskjj Well-Known Member

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    Kash can destroy ANYTHING she gets her little mouth on. We call her destructo and joke that we are going to get her a Tonka truck just to prove it can be broken. She chews through the ropes with no problem and of course I find rope for days in all kinds of places. There isn't a rubber toy we've bought and had for more than 2 weeks; glad to know she's not alone LOL
     
    pugskjj, Aug 4, 2012
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  3. Melody

    argon_0 Well-Known Member

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    Indestructible dog toys almost sound like an impossibility. Mishka had one of those activity treat balls and managed to get the opening sliding door off fairly quickly. She sometimes helps herself to a firewood stick we have stacked near our woodheater. I take them off her after she had a little play.
     
    argon_0, Aug 5, 2012
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  4. Melody

    Melody Well-Known Member

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    Argon, I have known dogs like that. My sister's previous dog was an Australian Shepherd who ate aluminum soda cans and destroyed the seat on their three wheeler. She once chewed up an entire roll of duct tape, too.

    I bought her for Christimas one year a rope toy. This is when they first came out. They were advertised for serious chewers.

    My sister was not very happy with me when she walked into the living room to find the rope spread all over the floor in thousands of strands of thread. She had chewed through it and unbraided it. It made quite a mess!
     
    Melody, Aug 5, 2012
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  5. Melody

    argon_0 Well-Known Member

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    Jeez I can say I'm lucky Mishka is not as bad as all that Melody. I think the mess though is not so much as a problem if a vacuum cleaner can pick it up. Now glitter kids use can make a mess. Do you think your sister's dog was encouraged to chew on soda cans? I've never known that one.When Mishka was a pup I discouraged my kids from playing excessive tugging games. I thought at the time it would make Mishka into a dog that liked ripping things apart.
     
    argon_0, Aug 5, 2012
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  6. Melody

    pugskjj Well-Known Member

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    Actually this was a good thing to teach the kids. Dogs use tug games as a sign of dominance in the dog world, it's kind of like our arm wrestling. When you play tug and let the dog actually "win" you are re-enforcing their Alpha Dog instinct. If you do play tug it should always be with you winning, an approved toy that looks nothing like anything they are NOT allowed to chew, and make sure that no nipping accompanies it. Also make sure to have a word for your dog to "drop it" so that you can assert your role with, this protects against things they may pick up and when you go to get it back they won't think it's ok to play tug.
     
    pugskjj, Aug 5, 2012
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  7. Melody

    haopee Well-Known Member

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    Let me see? Hmmm... Kongs, Air Balls, Tennis Balls, Tug Ropes... the list goes on and on and on... They even grew bored of this that they started biting on my table because they've CONSUMED most of the supposedly sturdy toys. Even the big bones weren't spared!
     
    haopee, Aug 5, 2012
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  8. Melody

    Melody Well-Known Member

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    Argon, no, they never encourage any of it. I think it's more of a case of a young working dog (Australian Shepherd) who found things to do during the day because she had no sheep to herd. Amazingly, she was never harmed by the cans she chewed up.

    I can remember one funny situation where the dog found a way to occupy herself. They were redoing the backyard and planting all sorts of flowering plants. My brother-in-law would work hard after work planting a flower bed. When he'd come home the next day, the plants would be neatly piled by the back door. There was 3 or 4 days of replanting until they caught the dog digging up the plants and making her pile by the back door. It was so funny. Maybe the dog thought she was giving them gifts. She was such a good dog once she matured, though very hyper. She died at 14.

    I am really lucky with Misha. She chews up stuffed animals but not much else. She did go through a horrible teething stage when she was losing her teeth and then right after the new ones grew in. She chewed the entire outer edge of her plastic crate leaving whole chunks gnawed off. I bought her the plastic chew toys designed for teething and she would whittle them down. She love the Nylabone wish bones. I must have bought 6 or 7 over a 3 month period.

    My Lab had a bad teething period as well. She chewed up a molding around the walls, gnawed a chunk about of my headboard, and whittled part of the wood tv tray stand leg to sawdust.
     
    Melody, Aug 5, 2012
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  9. Melody

    pugskjj Well-Known Member

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    LOL It's so nice to know my dog isn't the only one!! Kash was literally eating me out of house and home when she chewed molding and then chewed a hole in the floor!
     
    pugskjj, Aug 5, 2012
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  10. Melody

    argon_0 Well-Known Member

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    Melody, that story of the shepherd stacking the plants at the back door was a hoot.:D I can imagine it thought it was doing the right thing in herding up the plants. I hope your brother-in-law was tolerant? Our dog likes rounding up the chickens when I lock them up at night.She often gets them going in the wrong direction and if there is a wallaby in the chicken yard eating some of the vegie scraps then it's even more confusing.:rolleyes:
    Thanks for a lesson pugskjj. Back then I didn't have information at hand as we do these days.I was always worried when the kids would swing the dog from the end of the toy. I guess I was thinking of dental bills and bad dog behaviour.
     
    argon_0, Aug 6, 2012
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