Category: Top Dog

Hey y’all, My neutered 7.5 month shelter mix

(30/20/20/20/10 pitbull/husky/aus shepherd/cattle dog/“supermutt”)

has had felt and fabric and rope toys just fine since we got him in April… until now 🙁 the last 2-3 weeks he is HELL BENT on ingesting any and all string, fabric, rope, felt, wool, carpet, you name it.

I can throw enrichment puzzles, treats, bones, horns, …I’ve tried so many kinds of toys and if they have anything that can get compacted in his intestines it’s like his life’s mission to f it up and consume it as fast as caninely possible.

He’s been pulling and kind of a jerk on walks too and it’s been hard to take him out. He’s super well behaved most of the time and usually a chill dog but I worry he’s either not getting enough exercise or he’s anxious or something?

If I give him too many kongs and stuff he won’t eat his puppy food either so that’s tricky.

Some trainers have suggested he needs a “job” bc of the cattle dog in him but all I see is lazy pit vibes and stubborn husky vibes at home. I’ve tried a few approaches from YouTube and stuff for giving him jobs and if hes not internally motivated, forget it.

I’m losing my mind bc I’m worried he’ll get an impacted bowel. He’s gone constipated twice now only to poop a day later and it has a bunch of string or long unchewed plants or god knows what. I had to pull a 9” long undigested frond of plant from his behind the other day😵‍💫

I have two kids and I’m very vigilant to try and keep any of their stuffies or toys or drawings etc. safe and it’s just been a shift that has me really stressed. I’ve asked at pet stores for toys that might satisfy that front-teeth-flossing, shredding sort of fix he seems to be looking for but everything they’ve suggested has either been fabric (snuffle ball he tried to tear apart and eat immediately) or treats that take him no time to consume and are costly ($12 beef tendon jerky or something from yesterday that he has almost gone through entirely in less than 24h because I’ve given it to him when I have to take something else away).

I bought him a new rope monkey yesterday and the last two lasted him MONTHS and within 15 minutes he’d destroyed it!

And it’s so subtle, it’s not like standing up and tearing and shaking it back and forth or growling or whatever. He lies down politely and just seems to quietly gnaw and shred.

Hellllllllp!! Suggestions? He’s not interested in any of his hard toys including bully sticks or bones or yak cheese anymore aside from occasionally. Boy only wants fabric ☠️

EDITED TO ADD: he doesn’t have parasites (labs are clean recently) and he takes semparica trio or whatever it’s called monthly.)

Looking at the Ruffwear Climate Changer Coverall and the Ruffwear Climate Changer Fleece Jacket for extremely cold and snowy days. The only difference is one has 2 front sleeves and the other one has 4 sleeves. Which one did/would you pick? or do you have a different recommendation? Thank you.

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Hi! My new puppy is about 4 months old. When we’re walking on a leash, he consistently parks himself on the sidewalk and redirects so that he’s facing our home. We can get about two blocks away, then he parks!

He seems afraid to get too far from home? Do you have any tips for increasing the positive associations with walking?

Not sure if it’s relevant, but he’s a mixed breed pup, pretty large, and super smart – he’s very quick to learn, so this “parking” behavior is kinda throwing me. I would have thought he would be naturally rewarded by all the smells/fun of being out of the house.

So grateful for any advice!

My 13 week old puppy is a nightmare at the moment, every minute she is awake she’s either biting me, my clothes, the carpet or the furniture. I’ve bought her 6 different chew toys including the kong stuffable chew toy (which I stuff with a mashed carrot and put in the freezer) but she gets bored with them after a couple of minutes and goes back to biting me and everything else. Does anyone know how to stop her from biting so much? My family dog was an anomaly as a puppy it seems as she didn’t bite or chew on anything other than her toys so this is all very new to me and I’ve no idea how to train her to stop biting.

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I want a dog more than anything but I have two part time jobs right now. I feel like I know so many people who are busy with work but they still get dogs. Do they just leave them locked up all day until they get home? I don’t wanna do that if that’s the only option.

H