The Dog Behavior Answer Book - Arden Moore [45]
Some dogs, however, become tail-chasing addicts out of feelings of anxiety in stressful situations or because of a compulsive condition that requires professional help — and medication — from your veterinarian. If your dog’s behavior persists for more than a moment after a nap, or you notice him grabbing at his tail, distract him with a favorite toy or treat. Give him a more acceptable behavior to perform like fetching a ball or Frisbee or joining you on a long, brisk walk in a place with lots of great scents to sniff.
Without intervention, a chronic tailchaser risks injury. Some dogs actually catch their tails and can hurt themselves by pulling and biting them. In extreme cases, these dogs may not stop even for food or to play with another dog. They literally spin so much that they collapse in sheer exhaustion on the floor. Bull terriers and German shepherds seem to be more genetically predisposed to tail chasing. (See Rhett Overcomes Anxiety, page 120, for more.)
Please do not encourage your dog to chase his tail or to follow the motions of a laser penlight or moving shadow. Either can become an obsessive or compulsive action.
Pass the Plastic, Please
Q Snickers, my yellow Labrador retriever, loves chewing on her plastic food bowl and anything within reach in our house that is made from plastic, such as soda bottles and storage bins. She is about nine months old. I’m worried that she will swallow bits of plastic and choke. I would also like to stop the destruction of household items. Why does she do this and how can I stop her?
A When it comes to Labrador retrievers, my veterinarian friend, Marty Becker, sums it up best by saying: “Labs chew ’til they’re two and shed ’til they’re dead.” By this age, your puppy should be finished teething, but she is a natural-born chewer who needs a way to work her jaws. Snickers cannot distinguish a dog chew toy from the TV remote. She is on a constant quest to find something, anything, to chew.
First of all, any household with a puppy needs to be thoroughly puppy proofed so that tempting objects are out of sight and reach, and access is restricted to certain rooms. Young dogs, especially breeds like Labs, will occasionally nibble on shoes or try a taste test on the corner of your end table. It’s part of the normal growing up and exploring the environment stage. Snickers needs a suitable focus for her oral fixation such as beef- or chicken-flavored chew bones or hollow toys made of very durable, dog-resistant rubber that can be stuffed with treats. Both come in an array of sizes, shapes, and textures. Make sure you provide her with items that are specifically meant for chewing, rather than playing.
Snickers sounds like a good candidate for crate training, so you can control her environment when you can’t actively supervise her. Regular exercise every day should also help curb her urge for inedible items. A quick and easy solution is to replace her plastic food and water bowls with others made of ceramic or stainless steel. These materials are easy to clean but hard to chew and won’t retain the scent of food the way plastic does.
Spray Bitter Apple or sprinkle cayenne pepper on the objects of Snicker’s attention, if they can’t be put out of her reach. If she does pick up an inappropriate object in her mouth, startle her by clapping your hands or making a loud noise and saying leave it! Reinforce the leave it command by immediately presenting her with a more suitable object to mouth and heaping on the praise. The idea is to stop her from chewing on the wrong