Stopping bad habit

[Lynn]

SO our new puppy in the last 3 days we've had her has decided she has a taste for cotton and catnip. How do I work with her to keep her from tearing up and eating everything rather than just chewing on it and playing w/ it. We have bought every type of toy under the sun but the only ones she wants are the ones w/ cotton filling b/c she will tear them up and eat the cotton. (then throw it up the next day). Doesn't matter if we've had her outside playing all day, the second she comes inside she finds a toy and goes to town. We have to hide all the cat's toys now because she ate several of them the first night we had her. I know dogs are supposed to tear up their toys but this a bit much, we go through toys like water now.

[Cheetah]

I would take toys like that up until you can watch her with them. I have to do the same thing with my pup. >X.x;<

[Lynn]

i did end up hiding the rest of her cotton filled toys (though I feel really guilty about it) but I don't want her to swallow the squeekers either. she was left w/ a handful of "harder" toys and she's taken to a bbq flavored rawhide bone so she's out on the porch right now tearing that to shreds.

I just didn't know if tearing up and eating her cotton toys was common or not because none of the dogs I've ever had in the past have had that "quirk"

[pittiegirl]

It's very common.

I'm really concerned that you say she's outside tearing up a toy. If she's tearing up toys and swallowing and vomiting pieces, she should be supervised constantly with toys especially with "harder" toys. Those are even more likely to cause an obstruction or other damage. You'll have to either find a toy she can't destory or supervise her time with any toy.

[Lynn]

no no, she was inside when she got ahold of the toys. She would pick up one of the cat toys and carry it around in her mouth, which I thought at first, was harmless...but as soon as I would walk towards her to take it from her or try to get her to drop it, she swallowed it whole. I thought I had moved the cat toys out of her reach, and while I can't monitor 100% of the time (no one is able to do that) I have a pretty good watch on her since I'm home all the time currently but for the few moments I had walked away from her she managed to get ahold of them again and it was another race to get it from her. I did call the overnight ER vet and they said to just monitor her. As long as she was still eating and drinking, and not vomiting incontrollably she would be fine. She continued to eat and drink and she wasn't just throwing up at random, she passed one of the toys when she went poo outside and the other two were thrown up. That was all yesterday. Since then she hasn't thrown anything else up and she's still eating normally (in fact, eating voraciously, due to her background of living in basically a pound for the last few months and having to fight for food). We bought her new, bigger toys last night thinking she wouldn't be able to swallow them, which she's not, but now she just tears them up and eats the cotton inside...so I took those away too. She has a rawhide bone that she is on the porch chewing away at like I mentioned, but it's a covered porch and it's not "outside". We live in an apartment, much larger than you may care to think, but our 2nd story porch can be directly viewed from the livingroom, kitchen and dining room because it has multiple door access. She has been fine with the bone now since it's something she can't just easily tear apart and swallow and she's entertained herself with it for a few hours. When I took her outside for a walk on the trails behind our home earlier, she brought the bone w/ her. If it keeps her happy and busy as long as I have an eye on her I'm not worried anymore. She just won't get cotton filled toys until she grows out of that habit.

[Cheetah]

I would only used those stuffed toys if you're playing with her with them then. Any other time they should be put up. That way, you can supervise her, and if she starts trying to shred them, you can put them up.

I personally don't buy my dogs stuffed toys for that reason and also because most dogs can't tell the difference between their plushies and yours lol... I also personally don't let my dogs chew rawhides unsupervised (when and if I ever buy those), because they can break off a piece and choke on it. It happens quite a lot. >O.o;<

Have you tried a Kong? Those things are awesome. Each of my dogs have their own.

[nancy]

I only gave my dog toys to play with for a short time, as soon as she started chewing them they were taken off her and replaced with a rawhide chew . this worked very well with her.