Bed Shredding - Fish is not a popular dog! MINIMU, any ideas? Anyone, please?

[DogsBestFriend]

EVERY fecking bit of bedding shredded! Not just his, but the other boys' too.

Although they have the run of the house and mostly sleep on sofas/our beds my dogs have hard plastic beds and duvets/blankets etc in the kitchen. This is mainly so they can be with me but safely out of the way of danger and so that occasionally they can be put in there if I'm doing things which are not dog-friendly, such as bleaching floors etc.

As soon as I turn my back Fish has shredded ANOTHER fecking blanket.

He was renowned for it in rescue and would do it the very second I popped him back in his kennel having cleaned it and cleared out the last pieces of blanket. Right there in front of me, totally ignoring my commands to leave it. So, whilst I'd normally attribute bed shredding to SA, it's not as simple as that. He does indeed suffer from SA and will bark/whine if he knows he's being left, which has to be managed carefully and is being worked on, including me making an effort to be less accessible to him, closing a door between me and him and the other 2 boys whilst I'm at home, leaving him at home when I'm walking others' dogs and taking one of my other 2 boys instead etc.

I can't justify nearly £300 for three indestructable beds as much as I'd like to - DDs would like to be fed and clothed, I'm afraid! So, I need to cure the behaviour. The bugger knows it's not on, I've picked up bits of blanket and done the stern voiced "What did you do Fish?" and he will look totally ashamed, ears and tail down.... and then do it again 5 mins later!

I used to have a regular supply of old duvets/blankets to hand to rescue... now I've run out of any for my own dogs to use! This can't go on, it's a PITA - any tips please?

Thank you. :)

I've just given most of my old towels and blankets to Jaybeth animal sanctuary nearby but I may be able to find a couple more.
Have you tried spraying the bedding with something unpleasant like the puppy anti biter stuff?
I've not had a persistent bed chewer...only a persistent Lego chewer and luckily the bed isn't made of lego!

:) Max the Lab says please send his love and eternal gratitude to Carol at Jaybeth. :)

I'm considering spraying the bedding but my fear is that he might turn to something else instead and this is a rented house with a very expensive recently fitted kitchen. Can you imagine... !

charity shop?

Dill likes a spot of bed shredding. He has cheap Ikea fleece blankets now. They are still full of holes but were big, cheap and don't make so much of a mess when shredded!

Charity shop for blankets, not to dump the dog :o

It's not the replacement of blankets that's the issue (well, a bit, am in a village with no shops bar a convenience store and have no transport), it's far more a case of wanting to stop the behaviour.

It's the fact that the hooligan causes the poor other dogs to have nothing to sleep on (he's not even fond of sleeping on blankets or in his dog bed himself) and the practicality of disposing of 3 ripped blankets on a very regular basis - the binmen only come once a fortnight!

Yes, I realised that, and remembered who you were, after posting :)

Dill has shredded the cheap fleece far less than either the woollen blanket or the fluffy ones (it's lasted several months so far). Whether it is less satisfying for him as it doesn't shred into fibres or a texture issue or my superb training techniques I don't know. What i do know is that he won't ever EVER be getting a bed stuffed with that fluffy soft toy stuffing again. [shudder]

He is looking at me reproachfully as I type. It must be time for a walk.

:o

Oh tell me about it... duvet "snow" that walks through into the sitting room and sticks, oblivious to the skills of my Dyson, to the brown rug.

I'll try fleece, let's see if that's less chewy and less desirable, thanks. :)

i cant think of anything to help that you havent already tried

but this has reminded me of a friend's goldie who likes shredding loo roll. she was sat in her conservatory one day and thought it was snowing only to discover dog had taken one loo roll at a time outside and started shredding them into tiny pieces. she said her lawn had white specks for weeks and weeks.
her solution was easy though - shut loo door

My 2 played tuggies with theirs til in bits but since I bought these cgi.ebay.co.uk/WATERPROOF-DOG-BED-COVER-30-36-42-CAR-FLOOR-CAGE-/160402729514 touch wood we have not had any ripping sessions. They are just the right size to fit a manky old single duvet folded into quarters

I second fleece, My Beagle destroys anything and everything - but has not destoyed the fleece blankets. She has killed nice expensive bed we bought when she was a pup, never again, she has destroyed hard plastic bed - chewed all around the top. She has ripped towels and wool blankets to bits, but the fleece she seems to leave alone, maybe she doesn't like the texture on her teeth.

I bought fleece blankets recently from Aldi for about £6 nice big thick ones.

Batteryhuman, that looks perfect! And a huge improvement on circa £100 apiece for an "indestructable bed".

Cheers for that, I'm really grateful. :)

If it's any consolation at all, my dog prefers to shred human bed duvets and pillows. She hasn't done it for a while (touch wood) but the last time she did it I caught her de-stuffing my mum's pillow, looking a bit like Santa Claus. Lucky my mum loves her!!

She just stopped doing it though (again - touch wood!!). Just hope Minimu spots this and can give you some behavior advice as it sounds pretty embedded in Fish.

Ooh, sympathies. When we took on our first grey, we were advised that he was a shredder if bored/stressed/up to mischief. This was spot on. If for any reason (e.g. during the bad snow, after he had an op and was going stir crazy in the house) he would/will shred. However, interestingly, as others have said, fleece seems to be the way to go. We've also found that if we can provide him with a diversionary activity, this can help, especially as he has a strong food orientation. What happpens if you give Fish a nice Kong stuffed with smelly treats? Might that help?

My sympathy too. My rehomed labradoodle ate an entire sofa in our playroom within weeks of arriving! She washed this down with a few cushions from my good sofa, a couple of pillows, numerous shoes, skybox controller, my blue tooth headset. the list went on and on. She was a nervous wreck and nearly everytime she went quiet she was chewing something she shouldnt. 2 years on (she is 3) and she has just turned a corner and started to chill with the other dogs.

dont know if there is an answer, but whatever you do dont give your dog one of those fat boy dog beds full of polystyrene balls. Am still finding them!

Does anyone have any use for several pieces of red fleece blanket?

Circa 4 inches square plus one large piece with a fcking great hole in the middle?

If I didn't love him so much.... !

Hang it on the wall as some modern art?

Oh dear. you have to admire his consistency and dedication to the task in hand.

Um, patchwork?

A hamster who needs to keep warm?

(Runs away very fast.......)

make some brooches and sell to raise funds?

Sounds like you have yourself a mighty fine poncho there, DBF

I had this for a bit with pupstar. It was a stress thing, a teething thing and a "haha this pisses her off" thing!

Lou has stopped, wasnt ever bad really; he has a waterproof dog bed that I got at Crufts last year, £50 and it is amazing.

Lolly has some non slip vet bed in her crate and although it has some holes in it isnt as bad as when we had towels/duvets in there.

When she was at her most destructive I took everything out for a week and it seemed to break the habit.

Could fish be bored/fed up?

I would say fleece blanket! My jacks enjoy eating their beds - they work as a tag team one bites the hole and keeps tearing while the the other take all the stuffing out. On top of the bed eating one would wet his bed every day or even do the other while I was at work all day. I had a friend coming in to let them out everyday but I think he got to a point and thought "she isnt coming back, what can I do to cope.......I know I will eat my bed then I will wet it" I tried all the above and then lost my temper totally and went to the vet who suggested drugs.....the drugs were fantastic called clomi calm - wasn't very keen on drugging him but they are for bed eating, wetting, messing, separation anxiety - pretty much anti depressants for dogs. It didn't alter his personality just made him more confident with the other dog and helped even him out. He took them for 2 months (these things are about 50 per month) and then I weaned him off. As long as he doesn't get a real bed during the day he is totally fine. They are still as playful and naughty as ever but I don't have the fear of coming home everyday to a disaster zone!!!

Oh F**k!!!!! I KNEW I shouldn't have said it. She stayed at my mums last night and shredded the settee cover. It's a bloody good job we both love her, the little bugger!!!

"Sounds like you have yourself a mighty fine poncho there, DBF"

:o :o :o

Thanks for making me choke with laughter, buddy! (Shit, I nearly missed a typo there, it could have got a bit nasty if I'd have pressed Send having written "thanks for making me choke with laughter, biddy"! ).

Sorry about the sofa cover. :(

It could have been worse.... you could have been calling me old buddy...

My mums sofa cover was only a throw she puts over it so she doesn't have to hoover the dog hairs off after we have gone so it wasn't too bad.... luckily!!! I can't believe she did it not 36 hours after me saying she had stopped! (Now I've said that I need to check upstairs to see if she has wee'd on my bed whilst I've been out )