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I Hate This Dog Bed! Puppy Boredom or Anxiety?

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Adelle Destroys Dog Bed
I like my dog beds better with the stuffing on the outside!

Adelle is a clever one!  She doesn’t just tear apart and shred the stuffing from her dog beds. Nope, she’s very methodical with her dog bed destruction.  She locates the zipper, proceeds to unzip, then starts removing the stuffing.  I was surprised to see she was able to do this with 2 of her doggy beds!

And the third bed she de-stuffed…she didn’t tear the bed…nope, she unstitched one of the corners and pulled some stuffing out.

What’s Your Puppy Thinking?

Any time something like this happens with my puppy I know it’s my fault and not hers.  A smart puppy will get bored.  If you don’t stimulate your pup’s mind then she will stimulate it herself.

While I wish Adelle would go on the computer and finish some of my work, vacuum the floors, read a book, or do something else constructive to cure her boredom I know that unzipping and de-stuffing the bed is her way of stimulating her mind.

On the other hand maybe your puppy has anxiety.  Have you ever read Marley and Me?  If I recall correctly Marley had some anxiety issues from thunder storms and destroyed the garage.  My brother’s dog has done the same thing in the garage in the summer time because of anxiety from fireworks.

As a puppy Linus had some noise anxiety issues (he still does) and was a bit of a destructive puppy.  Some of the things that have helped Linus with his anxiety are:

  1. Turning on music to try and drown out noise from the outside – This works well and helps to keep Linus more calm.
  2. Put on his Thundershirt – We’ve had mild success with the Thundershirt.
  3. Give him access to his crate – Linus looks for a den area when he gets anxious.  He sometimes resorts to the closet, but prefers his crate.

So the next time your puppy becomes destructive ask yourself is she a smart puppy that is bored?  does she have anxiety?  If so, what could I have done to mitigate the problem?  Does my dog need more exercise physically and mentally?  or do I need to do something to help her with her anxiety?

What about you?  Have you had or do you have a destructive puppy?  If so, is it boredom, anxiety, or something else?  Tell us about it in the comment section below.

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9 Comments

  1. Maybe you just have to find a way so that she won’t be able to find the zipper. I really love that dog. She’s really smart. Unzipping a zipper is actually hard but she can do it. Maybe she doesn’t have anything else to do that’s why she’s using her time tearing up her dog bed all the time.

  2. Guess, what…she unstuffed her bed again! I’m amazed that she’s able to unzip that thing. It’s her best trick now if I can only get her to do it on command 🙂

  3. Adelle has unzipped two of her dog beds and it’s really my fault for not stimulating her mind and body enough before crating her for a longer period of time. One other thing that I’ve learned helps keep her mind occupied is putting one of her indestructible Nylabone toys in the crate with her when I’m gone.

  4. Thankfully I’ve never had a dog that liked to rip up beds! However, I fostered a dog that would do this only in her kennel so I think she was anxious in her kennel. I also took care of a German shepherd puppy that would also shred her bed in her kennel, but I think she was just bored and full of energy.

  5. Stetson eats from food toys and chambered bowls not to stimulate his mind, but rather to slow down his eating. He’s a speed eating champion!

    I won’t be teaching Adelle to open the refrigerator, but she will probably learn to do that when she goes to the prison and starts her advanced training.

  6. One of the biggest benefits of feeding Honey in a food toy is that she takes a nice little nap after eating. She’s very clever so it doesn’t take her long to eat her food. But it provides more stimulation than eating out of a bowl.

    Adelle is a very clever young lady. Do you think she’ll be learning to open the refrigerator soon?

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