Bones

[KhaosandKalamity]

Our lovely Staffy/Lab x loves bones and toys but just does not seems to get that not everything is food.

We thought that she was burying her bones but have discovered that she is actually eating the entire bone, and then she has an upset tum the next day. She is chewing them to the point where they are not a choking or blockage risk but the poops we have to deal with the next day are just horrific.

For the same reason we can not give her toys except for cardboard tubes. They are the only thing that she will not actually eat, and the only thing that we would not be concerned if she did eat it. She actually figured out how to untie the knots on her rope toy so that she could eat the threads.

Anything with stuffing also has to be banned, she knows she is not allowed to eat it because she wont do it while we are home but the second we go out she rips it apart and eats the innards, so she can't have any bedding except blankets, and even then chunks seem to be missing from them.

Is this normal? How do we teach her that some things are just for chewing not to be swallowed?

Have you tried Kongs? They are pretty indestructible and you can stuff them with nice goodies she can dig out and eat.

I also have a staffy x possibly lab but DNA testing showed different, she has 3 toys a black kong (the red one got destroyed) a nylabone and a stag bar, these are the only toys she cannot destroy/eat, she does have a rope, tennis balls and wee squeaky space hopper but they have to be used under close supervision or she ruins them!

Antlers are great and last ages, my lab can eat most bones in a day, but he's barely made a dent on his antler and he's had it months.

We've found a tyre is also pretty indestructible and the kong squeez range tends to last well.

As long as they're raw they should be fine? my dog can devour a large raw bone completely in about half an hour.

My dog is exactly the same so he's simply not allowed toys unless he is being supervised .He has stag and nylabones when we go out and for general chewing during the day .We also have a Kong but no matter how well stuffed and frozen he still finishes them in a matter of minutes and the actual kong holds little attraction for him . He also only has blankets as a bed ( ate all the beds) and his blankets are generally holey ,they look much loved but a bit embarrassing when you hang them on the washing line .

She is so methodical in her destruction that even kongs don't survive more than a couple of days, and they are so expensive we can't replace them. 1.5L iced tea bottles are the only thing besides toilet rolls that we can give her without her eating them, but she can't be left through the day with one because she makes one hell of a racket with them. If we are home she knows that shush means find a quiet way to play with them which is probably her best feature, none of the old farmers at work will believe me when I say my dog knows what shhhh means.

Thank you all for your suggestions, I think we are just going to have to live with it. I do get worried sometimes because neighbour children tend to loose things over our fence, we came home once to find that she had eaten a frizbee, but the neighbours all love her as she is a watchdog (the kind that only barks for good reason, thank god) for all of the surrounding properties and understand that we will do our best to get their toys back to them but it is not always possible if we are out at the time.

Getting my dog has actually finally stopped balls etc coming over the fence ,it used to be a real nuisance but now I've taken back a few half eaten ones they miraculously manage to keep them in their own garden .