# Need help with my 'permanent puppy'



## Someone Nameless (Jul 12, 2009)

Meet Baxter, our shelter rescue dog! He is 6 pounds and will be a year old this month and so sweet but is still all puppy. He has never chewed up anything of ours but he chews up all of his toys that we give him. He can't have any form of stuffed toy. I've given him hard rubber toys and if he can chew an ear off, he does. I give him rawhide bones and he hides them! 

Other than a Kong with treats can any of you recommend toys for a small dog that he cannot destroy?


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## Atunah (Nov 20, 2008)

Oh goodness what a cutie. What kind of dog is he. I love that little face.  

Can't help you with toys, never had a dog. Just wanted to ohh and ahhh over that sweetie.


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## Someone Nameless (Jul 12, 2009)

Thanks, Atunah.  We are not sure but they said the owners that surrendered him said he was a mix of maltipoo and chihuahua.  He is such a smart dog and so sweet.


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## HAGrant (Jul 17, 2011)

Oh, how cute, cute, cute. He's precious and looks like he has so much personality.

No good suggestions, I'm afraid. I give my older dog dental chews that I buy from the vet, but she eats them. Maybe ask your vet about toys?


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## Amyshojai (May 3, 2010)

What a cutie! My GSD does the same thing--wants to take off the ears and tail, or disembowel to remove squeakers. There are some "extra tough" stuffed toys that I've gotten, one in shape of a pink pig that took him quite a while to destroy. I also "amputate" the tails/ears first so he doesn't have that sticky-outie portion to get started on, and that seems to preserve toy life.

There's also some "firehose" toys for dogs that work really well, made from actual fire hose material, stuffed and stitched, with squeaker inside. Those I got at my local grocery store, not too expensive either.


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## Jane917 (Dec 29, 2009)

Baxter is adorable! Jack doesn't play with toys, but Kona has a basket full. Kona never chews a toy unless it has a squeaker. He digs out the squeaker. Be grateful that he only chews his toys, not your furniture. I would stick to the Kong toys and toys without wings, feet, antler, etc. Both our dogs will make a nylabone last a long time.


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## ML-Larson (Feb 18, 2015)

He's still a puppy, and will be for a few years yet.  Smaller dogs can take longer to grow up.  Actually, I wouldn't even give a dog that small rawhide anyway, because it can get lodged in his stomach or intestines, so maybe it's good that he just hides them.

The best thing is to just get him toys that are difficult to chew, so they last longer.  He'll still likely tear them to shreds, but a rope toy, or even a small tractor tyre will be cheaper than buying him a new stuffed animal every other day.  But it's actually good that he's chewing up stuff and destroying them.  It's annoying, but it means he's healthy.  Just as long as he doesn't swallow any of it, be glad he's only chewing up the things you give him.  We once had a dog that chewed the siding off our house, so it could always be worse.


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## FMH (May 18, 2013)

I get my toys from the dollar store, that way they can get obliterated and are quickly and easily replaced. Just have to grab them before the stuffing gets into the tummy. So it's a toy that must be supervised...but oh man. A toy much enjoyed by my little dude.


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## Tuttle (Jun 10, 2010)

He is still a puppy. Puppy means up to 1 year; and developmentally, depending on him in particular it'll be until he's somewhere between 2 and 3 before he acts like an adult. (Different breeds both small and large mature at different rates. I'd guess he'll be about 2 when he acts like an adult given the breeds you mentioned, but it depends on bloodlines. Most dogs its about 2 years old. If you compare to humans, 2 years old is about the equivalent of 21 years old maturity-wise.)

As for chewing: like kongs, other good rubber toys are good, and you want to look for ones that are more round. I really like planet dog as well as kong. They have nice bouncy rubber toys that are nice for them to chew, and they rate them based on how much they can handle being chewed. they also make the rubber nicer to chew for the dog, and are a really nice company in other ways. They're more expensive is the downside, but my planet dog toy hasn't failed me. I think they have multiple sizes, so some for small dogs.

If squeaky is nice, jwpet has rubber toys with squeakers inside of them. It's not as nice a rubber as planet dog, but the squeaker is a nice addition. When I got them I found them on sale on amazon! I'm almost positive they have some for small dogs.

Nylabones are probably a good bet for you. They'll be chewed through eventually, but it'll be a process. 

I love using antlers for things that get chewed through eventually, and I know you can get those for small dogs. 

More interactive play might also reduce the amount of chewing needed. Some chewing is required, its how dogs develop things like healthy teeth, mouths, jaws, etc, but if you do more fetch like games, then less chewing might be required. 

And of course, it depends on what your puppy likes to do. My dog loves to eat fleece so he's not allowed any fleece toys. But he gets every meal by batting around a kong wobbler full of food, because that makes him happy and doesn't risk anything he shouldn't get in his stomach.


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## Someone Nameless (Jul 12, 2009)

Thank you.  I got him a fire hose toy and a Kong tire that I put a little peanut butter in and he works on both of them for a long time.


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## Someone Nameless (Jul 12, 2009)

On the Kong tennis type balls, can the coating be pulled of easily?  He can destroy the outside of a tennis ball covering in no time.


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## Sienna_98 (Jan 26, 2009)

My dogs enjoyed disemboweling stuffed toys and never cared for the really tough rubber or fire hose material, so I would buy them skinneez, which look like animal pelts.  The skinneez have soft exteriors, but when the dogs got around to tearing the toy apart, there wasn't any stuffing for them  to scatter around or consume.  As my dogs have gotten older, there are toys (I don't know the brand name) that are soft, but have round bumps and shaped like dragons, etc.  The dogs really like those and don't destroy them at all, but my dogs are now teenagers and well past the puppy stage.


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## Tripp (May 28, 2009)

First, I have to say, "Squeee" what a cute little guy. OK now that that is over... I have really strong chewers and I love this ball:


There is no outer "fuzz" to be chewed off. And it doesn't get disgustingly soggy like a tennis ball from water and drool. Though it can get slimed. It costs a little more, but it lasts a long time.

I also have purchased some plush toys that have an inner liner that is super durable and withstands my super chewers. My dogs have taken them all outside and I will need to gather them to find out the name. I will let you know later.

Good luck with the little guy, he is darling.


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## Someone Nameless (Jul 12, 2009)

Thank you, Tripp!  We have those balls and that is one of the few things he can't ruin.  I like to spoil him and give him variety but those balls are our basic!


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

He is really adorable!  Looks like you got some great suggestions.

Betsy


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## missypyxi (Jan 23, 2015)

Oh how cute! Cali is my pup, and she's much bigger than yours. She will tear up a stuffed buddy pretty quickly, but she loves to chew. We give her nylabones and she also loves knotted rope toys for chewing, which the vet recommended.  When she gets a knot undone, I just cut away the strings and she goes to town on the next knot on the rope.

The only downside to the ropes is that they leave little string all over the carpet and I'm constantly vacuuming!


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## Amyshojai (May 3, 2010)

I had high hopes for a new Kong ball that I got for Magic. It had a ball inside a ball, with rustling paper or something inside the inner ball, and he LOVED IT! 

And then, last night, I saw he'd managed to separate the seam on the outer ball, dug out the inner one, removed the rustle-stuffing and now wants to play with the teeny (choke-able!) ball. Grrrr!


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