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The doghouse

If you're worried about your pet's health, please speak to a vet or qualified professional.

Original poster

Cuebill, Doin someone help !!

10 replies

pimmsgalore · 03/01/2013 23:04

Pimmsdog has been with us since Easter now. He had been badly beaten, starved and thrown out from his last home so didn't have too good a start in life. We think he about 20 months now.

He has settled in nicely, calmed down a lot, been to training classes and now has a multitude of tricks that he will do if he feels in the right mood Grin

He no longer steels food or toys from the 4DCs and will "leave it" if there is something I don't want him to have.

However, we have a small problem. For some reason he loves to steel the youngest DDs underwear. He only ever steels her underwear and he eats them, on the couple of occasions where I have not been quick enough to get them off him he has swallowed them (only for them to come back up an hour or so later). Shock

How do I stop him from steeling her underwear? Today I answered the door to the mechanic that had come to fix my car and he presented him with a half chewed pair Blush Apart from the expense of replacing all her underwear and the embarrassment it cannot be good for him to be eating underwear.

DD is trying not to leave clothes lying around, but today I caught him taking some out of the laundry bin in the bathroom (he had put other clothes on the floor just to get to her underwear)

OP posts:
tooearlytobeup · 03/01/2013 23:08

Sorry, but had to Grin No advice, but at least I will bump the thread for you

gymmummy64 · 03/01/2013 23:20

No advice at all but love it Grin

RedwingWinter · 03/01/2013 23:28

Pimmsdog obviously loves your DD :)

I think the best advice is prevention - keep the underwear in a drawer he can't open, keep the bathroom door shut if he can open the laundry bin. Teach him a leave it command if you haven't already, and when he has the undies swap for an exciting chew toy or something (you might have to make it seem exciting) and hope that he will redirect his energies to the chew toy in future. Some dogs like the feel of soft things so if he isn't a great chewer, a soft dog toy might work better (but only if he won't eat that, too).

I'm sure Cuebill will be along with more advice soon. You're right to worry - a blockage can mean emergency surgery. Good luck, and well done for all you've taught PimmsDog so far :)

LoveDogs · 04/01/2013 08:15

We have the same problem with our girl, she's 3 and she does it mainly to get attention, she doesn't eat them though! She parades them around the house until somebody notices her, interesting when we have guests!
The only thing that stops her is them being in the washing machine rather than the laundry basket.
Good luck!

Cuebill · 04/01/2013 10:10

Some battles are just not worth fighting and this is one of them! For some reason (and I am not going there!) you dog loves this behaviour. It is self rewarding so will be quite hard to find a reward to prevent it from happening.

So I would work on prevention. When your dog realises that he can no longer find the underwear he will stop looking. So for the next few weeks ( I know hard work) make sure the dog does not get the reward eg find the underwear.

Sorry probably not the answer you wanted

rubyrubyruby · 04/01/2013 10:13

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

D0oinMeCleanin · 04/01/2013 10:22

I would have said the same as Cuebill. Chewing things is self rewarding. we've been having the same problem with puppy and dd1's bags and shoes.

When I see him with things he shouldn't have I "swap" for something he can have. If I see him chewing one of his own toys I give him a treat (I carry treats on me always to reward behaviours I want) but otherwise it's just a case of making sure they only have access to what they should be chewing.

SpicyPear · 04/01/2013 10:27

How about in addition to prevention, trying giving him something he can chew that smells of DD? Maybe a blanket that she's had in her bed a few nights? When SpicyDog started chewing my stuff, I wore an old t-shirt at night for a week then put it in her crate. Coupled with locking my bedroom door when I couldn't supervise, she took to cuddling and mouthing that instead.

Original poster
pimmsgalore · 04/01/2013 10:58

Thanks everyone, the DC have been told to keep all the doors shut for now (not a bad habit to get into anyhow)

He has plenty of chew toys and I only give them to him for a while then pick them back up and put away (so he doesn't get bored with them). He is an avid chewer though, he destroyed the largest red kong in 3 days Shock

I think I need to get my clicker back out and attach it to me so I can click and treat when I see him chewing his stuff

OP posts:
SpicyPear · 04/01/2013 11:02

Ok scrap my idea then. A red Kong in three days Shock I always wondered who bought the black ones Grin

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