Advice needed

I have four dogs, three females and one male. All are 'Dogue de Bordeaux', _http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/images16/DogueDeBordeauxRoxyReese22.jpg

The oldest female is nearly five years old, while others are 15 months old. Like all dogs, they often prefer to gnaw something. It is usually a wooden stick, but sometimes they make some damage such as damaging plastic pots with flowers.

But I have a problem with one of the younger females. She loves to gnaws almost everything, which is not a big problem, I guess she would does that less as she becomes older. The problem is that she swallows almost all what she gnaws. Usually she vomits it later, such as for example a thin soft dishwashers wire. Once she even had an operation because the sock stuck in her small intestine, and she almost died. I'm very worried for her, and I don't know what to do. I try to keep my yard clean, but I can't be the whole day with them. She is a good dog and I love her very much, but I'm constantly worried about her. I will not have enough money for some new operation If something happens again to her.

Does anyone have any advice what should I do?

Hi Argo

Dogs can be very much like a 2 year-old child. They will gnaw and teeth on just about anything they can wrap their jaws around. :)

Wherever you're keeping them, you've got to double and triple check the area for anything that poses a risk to them.

Is your yard fenced in? How did the pup get a hold of a dishwasher wire? Are you providing a chewing alternative?

Our family has several cats and it takes constant vigilance to make sure that they don't get into something they aren't suppose to. Years ago, we had a similar experience to yours. One of our kitties became ill and couldn't keep any food or water down. She needed a costly and traumatic surgery to remove an almond (nut) from her small intestine.

It's quite a responsibility to care for another creature. I had to stop and really think about how much these little guys relied on me.

Thanks for reply BrightLight11. :)

Yes, my yard is fenced. I take care about that carefully because I live in the countryside surrounded by fields, woods and orchards. Wild animals such as foxes, deer and rabbits are common here. Although there are no neighbors next to me, the village itself is very close. People here are afraid of big dogs and they are almost all armed.

It's my fault that she found the dishwasher wire. I prepared a garbage bag to throw it away and leaned on the car for three minutes. I went into the house to get a few more little things and when I returned bag was broken and trash strewn around. I learned that lesson then, but I was surprised that she swallowed a wire. I have dogs for 15 years now and something like that never happened before. Usually they use a wooden stick for chewing, but sometimes I buy them dried beef tendon. And that was fine so far with my other dogs.

Our family has several cats and it takes constant vigilance to make sure that they don't get into something they aren't suppose to. Years ago, we had a similar experience to yours. One of our kitties became ill and couldn't keep any food or water down. She needed a costly and traumatic surgery to remove an almond (nut) from her small intestine.

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My vet specifically warned me to watch out for nuts. Because if they ingested it, that can have an effect as glass and it's hard to find it in the intestine.

Having a dog is a big responsibility, but I can't imagine life without them. :)

I have a young female Lab mix who loves to chew on things also. I give her raw meaty beef bones (large ones) and she'll enjoy chewing on those for days. They are good for her, too. Here's an article with some good guidelines for bones: http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2010/05/19/caution-bones-can-kill-your-dog-find-out-which-ones-are-safe.aspx

Also, you might investigate a homeopathic remedy. If the dog is eating weird stuff, there could be a medical reason. A good site for homeopathic research is hpathy.com

Aren't dogs great?!

Dogs can get bored easily, and can even go insane if confined too much.
This can be dangerous, especially if you have children around.
Do your dogs have plenty of room to play? Do they have plenty of activities they can do?

Remember that dogs are related to wolves and act like a pack animal, so if you have several, they will begin to act like a pack, and establish a hierarchy.

I liked the suggestion of the raw meaty bones. Get big ones.
Hide them around so that they have to 'hunt' for their food.

MusicMan said:

Dogs can get bored easily, and can even go insane if confined too much.
This can be dangerous, especially if you have children around.
Do your dogs have plenty of room to play? Do they have plenty of activities they can do?

Remember that dogs are related to wolves and act like a pack animal, so if you have several, they will begin to act like a pack, and establish a hierarchy.

I liked the suggestion of the raw meaty bones. Get big ones.
Hide them around so that they have to 'hunt' for their food.

Click to expand...

Good idea MusicMan, thanks.
Hiding the bones around really could be the good way to keep them busy and entertained.

I really don't know if they have enough space to play. If you ask me, it is always better to have a lot of space. My yard is about 0.5Ha (about 1.5ac), but I have a 2,5Ha of fields with clover and orchard next to the house. A few times a week I let them run around the farm, but not without supervision because that part is without a fence. There is no a dog house, they sleeping in the house where I sleep. The only two places that they don't have access are bathroom and kitchen. Of course, the same as the storage, cellar, and similar rooms. :)

Hi Argo, it occurred to me that if you have a rotary clothes hoist, you can hang treats and toys from it and just let them go nuts playing with it, they can play with that all day.
Just make sure they can't hang themselves.
They can get to do their spinning, too, just as the C's advise.

It is a good idea also. :)

They already played in a similar way with the swing hanged to a tree. Of course, they destroyed the swing. :D

Hi Argo,
II was following this thread and something came to mind and I was wondering if you had checked it out.
Yes some dos chew on everything it seems. But they don't normally swallow everything. Have you spoken to a Vet to find out if he has a Pica disorder? Pica effect humans and animals. Its the desire to eat anything. It is a serious disorder in humans. I know that animals can have it but have never cared for one. Good luck to you and your furry friend. Tarri

Thanks Tarri!

It didn't occur to me that something like that could be at stake! I have a problem with only one dog (I have four of them), and three of them grew up together, and this is what confuses me.
I will check with my Vet.

Thanks again! :)

Oh dear sounds like their in some serious need of raw meat and bones. Kibble is and wet food is just not mentally fulfilling. I feed 4 dogs raw meat for 4 years, vibrant physical mental health. They get so much out of breaking and crunching up their food like a wolf would do in the wild ( I have a high content wolf dog, I assure you raw food is very necessary good health and behavior) they chew on sticks a bit and toys also but nothing compulsive, cause they don't need to waste energy, they're super chill cause of the high nutrient content. Cards and grains will stimulate bad behavior because their just not content with what's going in their bodies. One of my dogs like chewing in toys quite a bit more than the others, so personality could affect that.

If you need to distract your dogs from chewing and swallowing things that will harm them or that are of value to you, you could make yourself up a pepper spray with cayenne pepper in it, and spray it on the items you don't want them to touch.

(We used to use mustard in eggshells for chickens that cannibalised their own eggs.
Seemed to work.)

Dogs will mark anything that they want to "possess" with their own scent, so maybe the behaviour is because of the heirarchy that your little 'pack' has set up, meaning that the usual chewy items are all marked for those higher up in the hierarchy, and your dog won't touch them, so it goes for something different.

Also, if you want to confine your dogs to a certain area of your property, there are ultrasound devices that you can buy, which you place in the corners of your property.
Your dogs will not go past them (it hurts their ears).
It may keep other dogs out, too.

MusicMan said:

Dogs can get bored easily, and can even go insane if confined too much.
This can be dangerous, especially if you have children around.
Do your dogs have plenty of room to play? Do they have plenty of activities they can do?

Remember that dogs are related to wolves and act like a pack animal, so if you have several, they will begin to act like a pack, and establish a hierarchy.

I liked the suggestion of the raw meaty bones. Get big ones.
Hide them around so that they have to 'hunt' for their food.

Click to expand...

Good advice MusicMan,
except concerning the "pack" thing, you may want to read the links provided in this thread http://cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php/topic,38082.0.html, especially this one: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0Bym8guodEBMpNzhROEwwaGRqYUk/edit?pli=1

Essentially, the "pack" thing is a pack of you know what, as is the "hierarchy". I had this confirmed over and over.
.A