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My dog has a shoe fetish
He has a livingroom of about 14x12, a galley kitchen and a dining room of about 8x8 to roam in when we leave for short periods of time. We've video taped him and mostly he spends time time on his pearch looking out the livingroom window. Except for the shoes. They appear to be his downfall. He's started rounding up all the shoes he can find on our stairs and my husband's slippers and dragging them near his doggie bed. If he's been chewing on them, there were no signs of this. Cute, right?
Well this morning we left for the gym and my hubby put all the tennis shoes and slippers away. Hubby didn't see that sitting on a pushed in chair at the kitchen table, were a pair of leather sandals. Can you see where this is going? He tore the 1 inch footbed apart in one of the sandals. He only does this when we are gone, never going for shoes or clothes or furniture when we're there. If we're gone over 2-3 hours he's in his kennel while we're gone.
I want to stem the behvaior by giving him something else to do while we are gone. He has penty of toys, ropes to chew on, but I usually don't leave bones for him while we're gone. While we could put him in his kennel (and still may), we're going on vacation with him several times this summer and I'd like to establish something that he gets only when we're gone so he's calm and knows tht us leaving isn't a bad thing.
Is there a bone, rawhide, treats or something that is safe to leave with him (he's a mini schnauzer) to 1. allow him to chew appropriately and 2. to keep him occupied?
Re: My dog has a shoe fetish
Does he have a Kong? They are by far our favorite thing to leave with Bella in her crate - we usually stuff with kibble, treats, fruit, unsweetened applesauce, pumpkin, peanut butter, etc... and freeze it so it takes her longer to get through it.
We also have an everlasting treat ball that we ordered from Amazon that we will leave with her sometimes. We don't use it as much because the treats that go in it are pretty low quality.
And she has a sturdy, hollow bone that we have observed her chewing and are confident she won't splinter and choke on. We'll stuff it and let her have that some days.
Ugh. My dog loves shoes too. Is he getting enough exercise? I've noticed that destruction is correlated with whether or not the dog has been getting enough long walks/runs.
As for leave out treats, generally frozen kongs are considered pretty safe if you want to provide a special, edible snack.
If your dog is a big chewer, I wouldn't leave a bone or other chew toy, as he could chew it to a size big enough to choke on and try to swallow it when you're not home. I also wouldn't encourage chewing on rope toys, the threads fray and could cause serious intestinal problems.
Your best bet is to remember to put your shoes away before you leave and to excercise your dog more so that he is less likely to get bored and chew your shoes. It's hard - I've lost many pairs of shoes from being forgetful and lazy.
Thanks for the suggestions. My husband works from home so he takes Nico for a walk or walk/run for about 30-45 minutes a day. They also spend time playing together with toys and rough housing. He's tired out and naps in the afternoon and evening.
I'll try buying some kongs and things to fill them with. We take away the ropes when they start to fray and buy a new one. Lately he's been going through the size meant for a bigger dog in about 3 weeks. I think he's really got this need to chew agressively lately (he's 10 months old). He's never chewed any of his rubber/plastic toys up, but now I'm thinking with the shoes gone he may move on so I'll put those away when we leave.
I guess I should be thankful that he's cute. And that he tells on himself when he does things like this by bringing it to us to greet us when we come home. lol
Just FYI, rawhides aren't really safe for any dog at any time. They're not digestible, so they just swell with water and sit in your dog's stomach for a while.
You could try bully sticks and antlers for him to chew on. Antlers are, well, exactly that. Cleaned deer antlers; just natural bone, but completely safe to chew, and it will take him a looooong time to wear that thing down. If you go with bully sticks, get bigger woven or circular varieties (check out Best Bully Sticks .com); don't get a straight standard one or it will probably be gone within the hour you give it to him (judging by your description of his chewing intensity).
Ditto PP about the rope toys. Those aren't meant as chew toys, but rather as tug toys. Don't ever leave him unattended with them to chew on; I heard of someone's dog destroying one in a day and ending up needing emergency surgery to remove the blockage all the strings caused.
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