Ozzy here - I'm in trouble!!! Last weekend, Mommy and Daddy were straightening up the house and Daddy shows Mommy a poster he got. It's a poster of a plane being proposed to replace the aging fleet of military tankers (it's a flying gas station, where fighter jets pull up behind it, link up with a hose and re-fuel in mid-flight).
Mommy said to keep it and Daddy laid it on top of my kennel (on top of the blanket covering part of the kennel). I'll let Mommy tell the rest of the story.
Mindy here - I got home yesterday afternoon, to find Ozzy's kennel filled with chewed-up poster pieces, and the blanket completely wrapped around the bars with most of it inside his kennel. Apparently, Ozzy grabbed the blanket, and dragged it inside the kennel, then proceeded to chew up the poster. A smaller, 8 X 10 picture of the tanker survived. The blanket barely survived, with many threads pulled and chewed up. I cleaned the mess up, but I haven't told hubby about the poster yet.
He was prepared to throw it away anyway, but I suggested we keep it, and he was the one who laid it on top of Ozzy's kennel.
I'm not sure what to do - I'm kind of ticked off at Ozzy, but I'm wondering what caused him to go nuts. He has never done this before with the blanket. I've replaced the blanket with an old towel I don't care about, but I'm worried he is very unhappy being kenneled while we are work. Or, was he just bored and was looking for something to do???
Number one hubby at fault for placing it on top of the kennel dogs feel like that is their little house , hey dad left this on my house to play with?most likely he was bored and it gave him something to do. When you leave for work do you put Kongs or a bone in the crate to give him something to do while you ae gone?
Papbouv
I do put a Kong toy filled with treats in with him, but he usually has that cleaned out in seconds. I thought about putting a chew stick or favorite toy in with him, but I'm afraid he will accidentally choke on something. I try not to leave him alone for more than 4 hours, but I guess he can get bored during that time.
I wish I could make him understand that this would be a good time to take a long nap!!!
Mindy, Ozzy Probably Gets Bored.....try putting a kong in with him that is filled with frozen low fat yogurt. That will take him a little longer to get out. I agree with you on being afraid of them choking. My two seem to take a nap when they are crated.
Loki sez: There was a paramecium of food on the poster. Prolly a chocolate finger print smudge. Everbuddy KNOWS --if ya gotta, you gotta eat the blanket AND the poster to get a half a lickie of food. That's what ya do.
Bet he was grabbing the blanket to get to that foreign object on top of his crate (the poster !!!). Ozzy-man - no chewing !!!
If you freeze the Kong over night it slows them down a second or two understand about the bones & raw hides though also allot of exercise before crating helps make the sleep in the crate.
Papbouv
Chilie did that once to the irreplacable photo of DH's graduation from Marine Corps boot camp. She only chewed the top where it gave the company name and probably battalion number. But DH was pretty mad about that one.
You know, dogs prefer the cave feeling of a kennel. Maybe you should try getting a piece of plexiglass (Home Depot) or plywood cut to fit, and that would solve the eating-from-the-to-of-the-kennel crisis.
But some kind of really durable chew toy, and maybe background music or talk radio to ease the boredom. Remember, a bored doxie is asking for twouble!!!
Karen :heart:
Porky has chewed up his blanket that we lay over his kennel before too. Its aggravating. Porky just does it because he gets so bored in there while we're gone. Papbouv has a great idea with the exercise thing. Since I work 4 hours maximum a day it fairly easy for me to take Porky on a looong walk right before i leave. This accmplishes two things, one to go potty, and two to make him tired. It usually takes an hour or two of me walking/ him running for him to get worn out enough to sleep the whole time. I also like to make sure his tummy is full when i leave, also making him more sleepy. I feed him right after the walk and then kennel him.
This system has worked quite well for both Porky and I. Our neighbors have also said they have noticed he is a lot quieter while i'm gone. Thank the Lord!!
Oh, Cesar Millan would be proud of you!! He says 45 minutes in the morning. And he says walking with head up and nose not on the ground sniffing, meaning that the potty event happens at the end of the walk.
Yeah, except the last time I was walking a "Herd" member it got really hard to pull him and I turned to see Roscoe hunched over, pooping while being dragged along by me!! So his idea of potty breaks and my idea of potty breaks ae not the same!!
Wieners - ya gotta luv 'em!
Karen :heart:
Not sure about Doxie's but some dogs will Bloat they say runing a dog then feeding it can cause bloat know of a Corgi that died from bloat so not sure if Doxie's can get it or not. Know large deep chested dogs are high risk for it.
Papbouv
Yes doxies can bloat. So we shouldn't feed them and then give them lots of exercise or exercise and then feed and give lots of water. I would feed earlier and then exercise and give a little water and a treat when back. Then the frozen kong so he can't eat too much too fast. Our kennel club has had several members lose dogs to bloat. One was even a vet who had her dog at a kennel and they waited 45 mins till she got there before the dog was taken to the vet. Needless to say she doesn't trust the kennel anymore. The bad thing is that lots of vets don't want to touch a bloat case except to stabilize and send to an Emergency Vet.
Don't want to scare you all, but these are people who have been in dogs a long time. They really don't know what causes it but some things seem to set it off.
Merion & the ZZ's
Thanks for the information about Doxie' can Bloat I mainly have had Bouvier's & now this Doberman so I know they can Bloat was not sure about the Doxie's they would seem to be in the deep chested dog catagory.
Papbouv
For Ozzy's kongs, I fill them with a little of his dry dog food, a couple of crushed up treats, then carefully fill the kong with low-sodium beef or chicken broth. I seal both ends with a little lo-fat peanut butter, then freeze them overnight. Ozzy gets a kong in the morning when I leave for work, I run home for a little while over my lunch hour, then he gets the second kong when I have to return to work. I also give him a little treat for obeying the "Kennel" command.
So far, the old towel is working fine - even if he pulls it in and chews it up, I have plenty of old towels to use.
Yikes! Thanks for the bloat info...I'll have to be more careful from now on!!
Quote from: MindyKay on September 19, 2007, 07:24:33 AM
So far, the old towel is working fine - even if he pulls it in and chews it up, I have plenty of old towels to use.
Hey, great way to use up old towels! Will it work for linens too? LOL
Karen :heart: