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Mazlin Jan 2018 12:56pm, 27 Jan 2018 4,348 posts	0 Mazlin I’ve not seen Rory since Tuesday, and I don’t get him back till Monday evening I miss him. I did get some photos of him looking like he was running very fast and covered in mud though And he’s with Anna, who teaches his class. He bloody loves Anna. She has to instruct me from halfway down the hall because if she’s too close he gets over excited
Mazlin Jan 2018 1:16pm, 29 Jan 2018 4,360 posts	0 Mazlin Collecting Rory this evening. I cannot wait to see him (but I hope he doesn’t get in and immediately start killing his bed which I lovingly sewed up for him yesterday evening...)
Chrisull Jan 2018 1:46pm, 29 Jan 2018 12,193 posts	0 Chrisull Hope he's fine! You remind me though, what do others here do about dogs killing their beds? Dougal doesn't have anything vaguely soft to sleep on, because he'd just hump it, bite holes into it and drag it outside to die. Does anyone else take precautionary measures, or accept that dogs do this?
D2 Jan 2018 3:24pm, 29 Jan 2018 10,317 posts	0 D2 I hope absent dogs will be glad to see you, I'm sure they will. No idea what to do about bed destruction... I think I would say no and give something else to play with... though of course this answer clearly comes from someone who has never had a dog who does that! I'm guessing that wouldn't work Mine is so rough with me at the moment, I'm hoping it just another phase, he swings his head round really hard, woe betide any sensitive body part nearby, I had a huge lump on my forehead yesterday. He will be two in April, I'm wondering if I will need to have him neutered eventually but as yet no humping but lots of rough play including with his best friend this morning. She is the most intimidating dog, I certainly wouldn't rough her up but he got away with it just!
halfpint Jan 2018 4:49pm, 29 Jan 2018 25,041 posts	0 halfpint I read your post with interest D2. In the last week or so we have had a few worrying incidents. Whereas previously Ernie has only shown aggression in response to the aggression of other dogs, he has growled and snarled at a few dogs without obvious provocation lately. He's the same age as Indi but smaller breed and I thought we were long past the adolescent stage. Yesterday was the first time neutering crossed my mind.
Alice the Camel Jan 2018 4:49pm, 29 Jan 2018 3,488 posts	0 Alice the Camel I can't remember how old Dougal is? Charlie was dreadful at destroying beds, to the point that we decided not to waste any more money and let him sleep on the floor! The same with any soft cuddly toy. A few weeks ago he had a friend sleep over and took a liking to sleeping in their nice soft bed. We decided to give him one last chance and bought an identical one. He's been fine with it and used it as designed. He was almost 2 years old though, so perhaps over the puppy chew/hump/destroy stage. He still rips soft toys limb from limb though.
Mazlin Jan 2018 4:58pm, 29 Jan 2018 4,361 posts	0 Mazlin I’m sure Rory thinks that his various beds were actually large strange animals that needed disposing of. I keep buying them, for some reason, although since he has free access to my bed and to the sofa there’s clearly no reason why he would chose to sleep in one. I am an idiot sometimes.
Chrisull Jan 2018 6:42pm, 29 Jan 2018 12,195 posts	0 Chrisull Dougal is 14 months, so yes still in the silly puppy stage, just have to wait it out.
Sharkie Jan 2018 6:58pm, 29 Jan 2018 12,969 posts	0 Sharkie I think many dogs go through a phase of destroying everything - ESPECIALLY beds (and humping which bitches do as well) ... but in my experience it does just stop.
BaronessBL Jan 2018 8:53am, 30 Jan 2018 7,046 posts	0 BaronessBL Wanda destroyed her bed the first time we had to leave her for any length of time (despite us doing all we could and having the dog walker come in twice during the day). Difficult to say exactly how old she was that time but certainly less than a year and perhaps only 8/9 months. We put that incident down to the stress of being left alone and beat ourselves up about it for weeks. As it happened while we were out we couldn't correct it at the time. However we do frequently give Wanda cardboard to destroy and praise her for that so a cereal box, bonios box (they are a favourite) any cardboard really and that seems to keep her destructive tendencies contained. We also praise her for that sort of play so she knows 'chew up cardboard' is good play 'chew up anything else' not good! We patched up the bed with duct tape but she never really did anything like it again. However her beds do get dragged around a lot (one of the reasons why she now has multiple beds to save her dragging the same bed from the living room to the kitchen to the study). She likes to drag her bed from where it is in the room to into the doorway so that nobody can enter or leave the room without her knowing about it. This causes wear from the scratching and dragging but it's not wilful destruction which I guess they do grow out of at some point. We currently have four dog beds in various parts of the house (one has so little stuffing left in it it really should be retired but she still likes it!) and since we have had Wanda we have probably binned another 2 so in just over 4 years we've purchased six beds