Why is my dog destroying her beds?

Family, Education, Health and Pets
1
She's not bored, I walk her 2-3 times a day and spend lots of time with her in between, staring into each other's eyes or playing. I work exclusively from home, although she's fine being alone, this seldom happens.

She has wonderfully sharp teeth and takes to things with surgical precision. If I give her a tennis ball, she will deftly peel the skin off. IF anything with tasty looking seams gets her attention she will pick the seams.

The thing is that any bed I buy her has surgery performed on it. I seam will be picked, a hole will be made and the stuffing will be removed. Then she will commandeer the cats bed. From time to time she'll destroy that too, however the newest one has been left alone.

I think she just gets a kick out of using her sharply little teeth, but why the beds? She has chew toys galore, I play tug and she has a trove of socks (i don't have any left!) - so it's not like she's short on things to chew.

Any ideas?

The poor kitties

2
Does she eat the bits she chews off?

Clearly she's not doing it from boredom but maybe it's something partial to her breed? Our dog's not a chewer but likes to walk around with something clamped between the teeth (ball, toy, towel from the bathroom).

Maybe chewing is just a comfort for her like a baby needs a dummy, or someone chews the end of a pen-top.

3
She doesn't eat the stuffing, but she does like to carry a stone around on walks. There's a pile of sticks and stones outside the front door that get taken away from her on return. Smuggling something in undetected is the prize for her. I do think she just enjoys using her teeth, she seems to enjoy precision chewing.

4
Aww... she sounds like a bright little thing.

It's not exactly chewing but have you tried stuff like lick mats, snuffle mats and other toys where she has to spend time and brain power getting stuff out? It might satisfy her mentally and be more attractive than surgically altering her bed.

5
She's too clever, I give her lick mats and other such toys, but she gives me the look that says 'i know what you're doing' and then makes me do it - it's the same with rules, she will flout them just to let me know that she knows they're rules and then comply.

IT's almost like a challenge for her, maybe I'll make a bed out of kevlar and see how she does.

6
Instead of walks, work her hard, play frisbee or similar until she’s exhausted. She might not be bored as such, but she’s not tired.

7

Maybe try some mental stimulation puzzles for her? I have several of these for Zola, in varying degrees of difficulty. I’m a huge fan of the ones from Nina Ottosson: https://www.nina-ottosson.com/

It’s a fine line with these, because if they’re too hard, the dog might give up. If they’re too easy, they finish too quickly. You may need to experiment to find the right level of difficulty.

It doesn’t sound like she’s bored, but Zola is a bit similar with wanting stuff in her mouth. She always comes back from walks with a pinecone or a rock in her mouth (I have a little bucket of ‘walkies souvenirs’ at the front door ), and she has an obsession with socks and (annoyingly) the broom & mop.

There’s also the Kong wobbler which keeps her entertained for a good 30 minutes, and I also make Kongs in bulk (blended Greek yoghurt + banana, fill the Kong then put it in the freezer), which keep her going for another 30-45 mins. I know you’ve said you tried licki matts, but maybe try freezing them too. It makes them last much longer.

It does sound like she simply enjoys chewing, which isn’t abnormal. Expensive for replacing dog beds though!! Good luck with it, and thanks for the photo, what an adorable fur family!

8
Yes! The Kong is brilliant for chewing - frozen stuff keeps them going for ages.

9
I used to give my fiendishly always-looking-for-something-to-do Schipperke a Kong with frozen peanut butter. She could never *quite* get the last bit, but it would keep her occupied for hours trying.

10
I had a Kong Wobbler for my wolf. It was great until he learnt to pick it up and drop it on the floor hard, to get the food out faster. That wasn’t annoying at all, god knows what the apartment underneath thought.

11
Why does she do it? Because it's fun! And girls just wanna have fun.

The trick is to convince her that just a much fun can be had in other, more acceptable, ways.

In addition to (or rather, in conjunction with) the excellent suggestions from other posters, have you tried playing 'swapsies'?

This is a training game to redirect a dog's focus away from contraband and onto an object that is acceptable to chew, and ultimately to teach them to choose wisely.

Whenever you find your pup chewing her bed, you give an interrupt signal*, and when she looks to you then give her something else, something she sees as a higher value. You are swapping the unacceptable object for something she is allowed to chew, like a kong, a chew stick, treat, a robust toy, etc.

In the easy form of this exercise, say chewing shoes, when you give your dog the acceptable item you take away the contraband. Enough interations and your dog learns to choose the toy (or whatever) over the shoes.

However, that your pup is doing this to her beds will make the exercise a bit harder - you really don't want to take away her bed.

You might start by establishing the 'swapsies' pattern in another context, trading one toy for another, perhaps. Something easy.

Then having established the basic idea, what I might do with the bed is when you see her start to chew the bed give the interrupt signal, call her to you (to get her out of the bed, a further break from the unwanted action) into a sit, offer the good thing, then send her back to her bed to chew the good thing to her heart's content.

After a many iterations, place the acceptable thing in sight of the bed. When she starts to chew the bed, give her the interrupt signal, send her to the good thing, then back to bed with the good thing.

The idea is that, a few thousand interations of this, ultimately she pairs the good thing with the chewing urge, and makes the choice herself.

Use a clicker to mark whenever your dog makes a good choice, if she is trained to that.

As with any extinction exercise, this takes time, and timing on your part. You have to be there to give the interrupt and further direction so as to establish the acceptable/not acceptable connection.

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I'm a big believer in 'choose your battles'. The Muttley Crew have successfully been trained away from chewing their beds and my duvets/pillows/sofas... but I allow them to rip any toy of theirs to shreds if that brings them joy. All the fluffies have had multiple surgeries to replace amutated limbs, ears, etc.

Obviously I have carefully observed how they shred their toys. None are eaters, they just enjoy the destruction. If there was any danger of eating bits of the toy, I would take a different approach.

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* First you train the interrupt signal, of course. You've probably done this in classes, so it's easiest to use the same signal for anytime you need to interrupt. The signal means 'stop whatever your are doing, look at me' in any and all situations.

12
I would make sure she’s getting the opportunity to do the same behavior but on an appropriate item. So cheap stuffed animals, old socks tied in knots, homemade plushies etc.