indestructible dog bed???

[robugmum]

Our 7 month old standard poodle has taken to chewing up her bed. She loves her crate and goes willingly into it each night but has developed a bad habit of destroying the wooly cloth pad on the crate floor. She'll actually carry it around the house during the day to chew on it as well. Has anyone else dealt with this? Is there such a thing as a bed that won't get chewed up?? Or at least that isn't harmful if it gets swallowed?

[Oubliette8]

I can't think of anything. I would recommend a few things- first, stop buying expensive crate pads until she outgrows this. Some old towels or a few yards of fleece will work just fine until they get past the destructive stage.

Next, spray the bedding with a chew deterrent- such a bitter apple, or Fooey. It tastes nasty. Generally once the dog gets a few mouthfuls, they don't want anymore. You might have to try a few- some dogs are not deterred by one flavor or brand but absolutely hate another. You also have to apply it frequently at first.

Next, make sure there is something safe and chewable in her crate- maybe a kong fillled with peanut butter or other food toy, or a nylabone, etc. Something that the dog will chew, and that is an acceptable alternative. I wouldn't recommend rawhides or other edibles chews unless you know your dog is a safe chewer- if they ingest a large piece of one of those, it can be a medical emergency.

Finally, don't let her chew on the bed during the day! If you see her, correct her, exchange the bed for an acceptable chew, and put the bed back where it belongs.

If you think its anxiety related, a DAP infuser near the crate may help. If its exercise related, try giving her more exercise and see if it helps with the negative behavior. If worse comes to worse, she doesn't strictly NEED any bedding at all. Chewed bedding is a health hazard and can cause intestinal blockage if they swallow it. I'd rather my dog have no bedding if I couldn't train them out of it, than risk that.

[Ola_]

I agree not to give her nice bedding for now unless supervised. Some old towels or a folded blanket will do just nicely and honestly for Chaos we often didn't use crate bedding at all. Personally I wouldn't do spray deterrents on anything that actually goes in her crate as I wouldn't want the negative association with crating.

Also, given that she's a poodle and likes to carry her bed around I'd be working on putting those retriever instincts to work. Play fetch, or have another "special" toy for her to carry around. You may need to experiment a bit to see what kind of toy she likes - Chaos' personal favourite are toys that have long floppy arms/legs so she can shake them and smack herself in the face. She also sounds like her poodle-brain needs to be put to work, so I'd definitely have at least 2-3 food dispensing toys for her (a Kong, one of those treat balls, and another hard rubber one). A friend of mine has a std poodle and she calls her a rocket scientist - those dogs are smart!

[robugmum]

Thanks for the responses!
Most of these are already in place.
The pad isn't expensive - I'm more worried about it hurting her insides
She has lots of sturdy chew toys, stuffable and not and only ever eats from puzzle toys, food balls or treat sticks. I, too, was worried about creating unpleasant crate associations if i used bitter apple. But, now that I think about it, we've sprayed it on the rug and she doesn't stay away from that...
I think I will just replace her mat with a towel, (or maybe a few towels sewn together would work!). I just don't like the idea of her lying on the plastic crate bottom all night.

[wahoowhippets]

Be careful with toweling...it can be ripped up and swallowed...not worth the risk IMO...I have found that the fleece beds seem to hold up the best as far as chewing is concerned...even better is a Kuranda dog bed placed inside the crate...these are virtually chewproof...we put one in our Saluki"s crate as he will chew bedding....it is wonderful and totally worth the money! He can't chew it up and he looks so comfy on it!

[gingerstar]

Originally Posted by wahoowhippets

even better is a Kuranda dog bed placed inside the crate...these are virtually chewproof...we put one in our Saluki"s crate as he will chew bedding....it is wonderful and totally worth the money! He can't chew it up and he looks so comfy on it!

Awesome! Thanks for that recommendation. Maybe my pooch can have a bed in her crate after all!

[robugmum]

Thanks!
I hadn't heard of the Kuranda beds - off to check them out!

[Tizzy]

Our Springer Spaniel did that, he chewed his bed and our other dog's bed. I wasn't impressed. So he got a couple old blankets - they're both versions of fleece. And they're so much easier to wash. He gnaws on them but hasn't shredded them. I think it's not as rewarding to him if there's no stuffing to rip out.
One day I hope that he'll be mature enough to have a real, nice looking dog bed, but until then he just has a pile of blankets. I wonder if he prefers them because they are easier for him to rearrange?

[robugmum]

funny, I had thought fleece would be more likely to invite chewing! I will try that - we have lots of old fleece blankets left over from when the kids were smaller. Those beds look good too though, especially the really low one. We need it to go inside the crate and we have a tall dog!

[jocelyndale]

Are you giving her enough social interaction/mental stimulation? Do you take her for long walks every day? Have plenty of playtime? She might need more mental stimulation. Standard poodles need quite a bit and she'll need *both* walks (linear motion) and playtime.

Otherwise, it's a habit and you can try to distract her until she passes this phase of her puppyhood.

Our last standard poodle would shred his bedding if he was anxious. It was a good way to declutter old comforters. He didn't eat it, though.

Our current spoo only chews his bedding if it looks like a chew toy. The last bed had a couple pleather bone shapes sewn to the plain fabric. He tried to pull those off, so I flipped the bed over to the boring side.

[SophieAnn]

Good suggestions so far. The only thing I would add/suggest is - how about no bedding in the crate?

Anytime we've put any bedding in the crate for our dog(s), it ends up bunched up at one end of the crate. They really don't need bedding in the crate, unless they're an old dog or have sore joints or something.

Kongs are the BEST, btw.

[robugmum]

She gets 2-3 long walks or run and fetch sessions in the park and 2-3 short walks each day, plus lots of playtime in the house with her humans. Her food is all in puzzle toys or kongs etc, no bowl. I don't know how much more stimulation we could give her!
She seems to be a little better lately. I'm hoping it was just a puppy "stage"!