Doggie CRACK.

[TilliesMom]

Oh.MY.WORD.
so Tillie TOTALLY figured out this whole Himalayan chew thing... I've been letting her have it just once a day and she goes for almost 2 HOURS non stop chewing on it... she seems to take a break and I scoop it up and put it away for the next session. Well, last night she FREAKED out, whining, pacing, sniffing EVERYWHERE, didn't give it back to her till mid morning. BUt she was giving us "the eyes" and sniffing frantically ALL morning! poor girl! My husband swears she winked at him! lol

Is this 'normal' behavior? It seems over the top... OCD ... as much as she ADORES it, I wonder if I'll be getting her a new one when this one is gone. Which at the rate she is going will be MAYBE 2 more days. tops. and I got her the large dog size.

[Murphysmom2011]

Murphy went crazy for the first couple of Himilayan chews, but then seemed to tire of them.

He goes crazy for bully sticks still. We usually give him one when we have company and sit down to dinner to keep him occupied. Last time though, he did not want the bully and wanted to be part of the action. After everyone was gone, he finally turned his attention to the bully.

It is funny when he gets one because he knows we only let him have it for a awhile before we take it back. He will first roll on it, and then carry it around the house looking for a hiding spot for it.

One time he made it outside with one and ran right out to the dirt and started digging.

Murphy always knows where the bully sticks are. We keep them on a high shelf and he sits and crys by it hoping we will let him have the stick. I think I need to find a new location to store them.

[davetgabby]

yeah crack is a good analogy. lol . For her it certainly seems so. Another dog might not even touch it. What you've got to watch for is extreme resource gaurding. Even the gentlest dog can guard certain things which might even lead to biting. Does she growl when you take it away? Does she do this even closely with other things? That's why everyone should limit access to things of high value. But it has to be done systematically. How do you take it away and what does she do?

[TilliesMom]

She does lightly growl if she is really chewing hard on it and the KIDS come over to pet her. She doesn't do anything when my husband or I come over to pet her. I have warned the kids to stay away from her when she in the "bone zone".

I only put it away when she is 'done' chewing for the moment and she walks away and leaves it behind. I put it in the freezer so she can't smell it! Sometimes she will sniff frantically looking for it, insisting that she LEFT it RIGHT THERE! lol we just ignore her for the time being and she forgets about it. Other times she doesn't even realize it's gone...

[krandall]

Originally Posted by TilliesMom

Oh.MY.WORD.
so Tillie TOTALLY figured out this whole Himalayan chew thing... I've been letting her have it just once a day and she goes for almost 2 HOURS non stop chewing on it... she seems to take a break and I scoop it up and put it away for the next session. Well, last night she FREAKED out, whining, pacing, sniffing EVERYWHERE, didn't give it back to her till mid morning. BUt she was giving us "the eyes" and sniffing frantically ALL morning! poor girl! My husband swears she winked at him! lol

Is this 'normal' behavior? It seems over the top... OCD ... as much as she ADORES it, I wonder if I'll be getting her a new one when this one is gone. Which at the rate she is going will be MAYBE 2 more days. tops. and I got her the large dog size.

I think she'll settle down as the novelty wears off.<g>

Just remember, it IS cheese, so my guess is that the caloric value is high. So you don't want to give them to her TOO often anyway. Kodi loves them, and I keep a couple on hand, but he might see them every month or two. (for no more than a couple of hours at a time) I get the largest size too. He's perfectly capable of chewing them, and it takes a lot longer to get down to choke-hazard size.

[krandall]

Originally Posted by TilliesMom

She does lightly growl if she is really chewing hard on it and the KIDS come over to pet her. She doesn't do anything when my husband or I come over to pet her. I have warned the kids to stay away from her when she in the "bone zone".

I only put it away when she is 'done' chewing for the moment and she walks away and leaves it behind. I put it in the freezer so she can't smell it! Sometimes she will sniff frantically looking for it, insisting that she LEFT it RIGHT THERE! lol we just ignore her for the time being and she forgets about it. Other times she doesn't even realize it's gone...

We've done TONS of work with Kodi on resource guarding since he was a pup, because of his "addiction" to paper. (he doesn't shred, he eats it!) We HAD to be able to get non-food items away from him, to keep him from hurting himself. For a LONG time, we would "trade" for a high value treat. And they had to be BIG treats, because if there was a way that he could snatch the treat AND keep the contraband in his mouth at the same time, he would!

Then, we would set up situations with a high value chew (like a Himalaya Chew) that he didn't want to give up. With these, we'd ask him to give it to us, saying "drop it" and putting our hand under his chin so it would drop into our hand. Then we'd give him something yummy, and hand the chew back.

Now he will hand us "contraband" without a "trade" in sight, even if you can see in his eyes that he REALLY doesn't want to. But he then RUNS to the kitchen to collect his cookie. It literally took years to get to this point though... he's only been reliably dropping "treasures" within the last year.

When he was a puppy, there were times when we had to pin him down, pry his mouth open and go on a fishing expedition to retrieve really bad things. Certainly not an"approved training strategy", but sometimes ya gotta do what ya gotta do when they have something dangerous in their mouths.

The first time he HANDED me a kleenex when I asked, I just about fell over! For a LONG time, his default answer to that situation was "swallow fast"!

[TilliesMom]

lol, yes I am very thankful that Tillie learned and obeys drop it fast. In fact, she steals things, RUNS down the hall, jumps onto the back of the couch and drops it at her feet. without me saying a word.

[gelbergirl]

she's very obsessed.

[emichel]

Originally Posted by TilliesMom

Is this 'normal' behavior?

Nope, it's not, your dog is totally nuts. JUST KIDDING!

[Suzi]

Maddie acts like Tillie with her ball. I created a monster. Its like the only thing she want to do. I give it about a half hour and then listen to her bark at me and look with big sweet eyes.