Louisiana Leopard dog.

jd50ae

Calley had turned out to be a very special dog. She is quiet and graceful, and loves all us humans and all the other dogs, cats and birds. She follows me everywhere and heaven forbid I leave the house without her because when I return she is all kisses and wiggly tail (a dogs tail is a great tell) while she jumps me over and over. She insists sleeping with her head draped across my body and is open to rubs at the drop of a hat. She is very smart and it took 1 day to house train her. I am so glad we got her back.

She does however, have 1 really bad habit.

Because she is still a pup (we figure 8 months old) she chews everything. If it is on the floor it is hers. And when she is on my bed, she considers it the floor and has managed to destroy all my feather pillows. Because of the nature of feathers it is a long process to hunt the darn things down. The exhaust from the shop vac makes it an almost comical event, but I ain't laughing.

dandin1

She sounds like a great pup!
I have a 1 year 4 month old labrador that I have had since he was 8 weeks old. Boy does he LOVE to chew. I knew this would be an issue as soon as I got him though, so from a young age I was constantly using the "NO" command and taking away the non-chew toy and replacing it with a chew toy and treat. He really enjoys bones and rawhides to exercise his jaws. Every once in a while we buy him a cheap stuffed toy that he can destroy to get the destructive bug out of him. Overall he's really not ever destroyed anything major (like a couch or wall) so for that I am thankful.

YankeeMan

We have two rescue dogs, part Lab. From the moment we got them, we gave them cloth toys to chew on. They shred the living daylights out of even the strongest toys, but they have never touched a piece of furniture or anything left on the floor.

We go through a lot of toys, but we get them when they're on sale at one of the major pet stores. However, if we leave them alone and we don't clear off the kitchen table, anything on there is fair game, including my wife's glasses, cell phones, napkins, magazines, etc.! I think it's more out of missing us than the need to chew.

PAtoNH

I've introduced KONG chew toys to all my retrievers to get them focused on an acceptable item to work out their energy. Kong toys are rubber and are made in a variety of sizes in regular Red and extra hard Black strengths. Nothing beats a long walk and fetch session to keep a pup happy, tired & well-behaved… that's what makes winter so tough around here, too much snow = not much walking/fetching. Bully Sticks are a great treat for chewers but a bit expensive at retail stores... you can get deals online to keep costs down. I buy from BestBullySticks.com

Echambers

PAtoNH:

I've introduced KONG chew toys to all my retrievers to get them focused on an acceptable item to work out their energy. Kong toys are rubber and are made in a variety of sizes in regular Red and extra hard Black strengths. Nothing beats a long walk and fetch session to keep a pup happy, tired & well-behaved… that's what makes winter so tough around here, too much snow = not much walking/fetching. Bully Sticks are a great treat for chewers but a bit expensive at retail stores... you can get deals online to keep costs down. I buy from BestBullySticks.com

Agree. We love KONG chew toys. We Riley is really amped up we put her dinner or sometimes just a bunch of treats inside and it can taker her a half hour or more to get them all out.

jgibv

Echambers:

PAtoNH:

I've introduced KONG chew toys to all my retrievers to get them focused on an acceptable item to work out their energy. Kong toys are rubber and are made in a variety of sizes in regular Red and extra hard Black strengths. Nothing beats a long walk and fetch session to keep a pup happy, tired & well-behaved… that's what makes winter so tough around here, too much snow = not much walking/fetching. Bully Sticks are a great treat for chewers but a bit expensive at retail stores... you can get deals online to keep costs down. I buy from BestBullySticks.com

Agree. We love KONG chew toys. We Riley is really amped up we put her dinner or sometimes just a bunch of treats inside and it can taker her a half hour or more to get them all out.

Our dog destroyed one of the red kongs when she was a pup so we've gone with the "extra strength" black colored ones ever since, never had an issue since. We found another good brand, very similar to Kong products too you guys should check out --- called "Zogoflex" by West paw design.
http://www.westpawdesign.com/catalog/dogs/dog-toys/guaranteed-tough-zogoflex
I can't say enough about their products, just as good quality as kong, but our dog loves the different styles they offer; and if the toy gets destroyed they'll offer to replace it for free (one time only though). We have bought just about every toy from them and the only one that's suffered any "damage" was the frisbee....our pup wanted to play tug-o-war with it and it got a small hole/tear in the center.

jd50ae

Thanks for the links guys. 2 I didn't know about