ellejaytee Posted August 23, 2015 Share Posted August 23, 2015 We've had a bit of a strange issue with our 18 month old malamute. The other night, there was a dog show on TV and he was very interested in it, then he climbed up on the couch and started obsessively cleaning the doona on the couch with his front teeth. The only way we could stop him was to physically move his mouth away from it, then he'd start doing it to us. We washed the doona, but he's still doing it. The other night I hid some treats in the lounge room and he walked around sniffing them out, also had some treats in my pocket so if he started doing it, I could call him over and get him to sit and give him a treat. This worked great in keeping him distracted from obsessively cleaning. I can successfully call him off doing it if I see him about to start, but if I miss that sign and he gets going, he can't be stopped without physically stopping him (his ears don't seem to work when he's on this mission). He only does it in the lounge, and only to one doona (which his male human uses, he is a daddy's boy too but he's been around when this is happening). I wondered if maybe the dog show stressed him out - he was going to doggy day care weekly but got expelled a few weeks ago for being too noisy so he's really missed playtime with other dogs (we are arranging play dates with friend's dogs soon). I thought hiding the treats would help him associate the lounge with good times and no stress. I've checked out his front teeth/gums and they look okay (a couple of weeks ago, he stood up on his hind legs to check out what was in my hand, then fell down and hit his chin on the wall:( ). He is a habitual licker of himself, he does chew the fur off his front ankles which we stop him doing when we catch him because he will do it right in front of us. Vet can find nothing wrong with his ankles by examination (no X-rays though) and put it down to habit. Any ideas why he's doing this? It's so bizarre, I've never seen anything like it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Rusty Bucket Posted August 23, 2015 Share Posted August 23, 2015 ellejaytee I'm not a behaviour expert so these are guesses... The doona has become like a comfort blanket to him and de-fleaing it is comforting to him. I think if this is not causing any other problems - I'd leave him be with it, otherwise if you stop him from doing it he may transfer to some other behaviour that is not so desirable like tail chasing or ripping couches up. So I would let him have the doona but I'd still work on distracting his attention from it without physically separating him - ie it has to be his choice to let it go. You might be able to get him to transfer his attention to a baby toy like a teddy bear or something - try getting daddy to sleep with the toy then give it to the dog. Do you play any training games with him to engage his brain, build his confidence and wear his brain out a bit? I don't know if that will help but it seems like he doesn't have enough to do that he's looking for ways to entertain and comfort himself when he might be sleeping. As for not being able to call him off once he gets going... I'm guessing this is a high focus behaviour or high distraction eg a level 10 distraction and your treats are only level 8. It's possible to work on this - ie push the envelope back on how distracting the cleaning is, just around the edges of where he loses it and becomes over excited (obsessed) by the doona cleaning. I think catching him in the moment before he goes over the top and giving him something else to do is definitely worth a try. I work with my dog and cats - and she has to be a fair distance from the cat to still be able to pay attention to me and we work on reducing the distance (with the cats who stand their ground - tho they're pretty easy now and I don't want to reduce the distance to claw range). Some dogs do get OCD behaviours and sometimes medication + training is the only way around it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RuralPug Posted August 23, 2015 Share Posted August 23, 2015 I am assuming that the doona is being used as a couch protector, could you try protecting the couch with a completely different old blanket or something, with the doona over this. When he starts to OCD with the doona, offer him a chew treat (cow hooves and deer antlers are great, non-smelly indoor chews) and REMOVE the doona to another room. I doubt that he would transfer the behaviour to the blanket or other cover underneath. The ankle chewing indicates to me that he has a tendency to OCD and that your method of distracting him at the beginning of an episode is helping, but you might want to consider having him assessed by a good behaviourist. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest crazydoglady99 Posted August 23, 2015 Share Posted August 23, 2015 Any possibility of food sensitivities? My previous dog used to get itchy feet/paws and would obsessively lick them... then started doing as you have described your dog doing on beds/doonas etc. Ours was doing it because of itchy/irritation to her mouth. Some dietary changes sorted it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dame Aussie Posted August 23, 2015 Share Posted August 23, 2015 Our old Chihuahua used to do this to a certain quilt, but only ever to the one quilt. We took it away and the behaviour stopped, it was very odd! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
persephone Posted August 23, 2015 Share Posted August 23, 2015 my dog used to blanket suck and foot chew ... chiropractic did help to an extent ..but basically I let him have his 'blankie' - a very holey piece of vet bed on which to do his calming activity ... it was never a real problem ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
persephone Posted August 23, 2015 Share Posted August 23, 2015 Mitch did this for over 10 yrs ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dame Aussie Posted August 23, 2015 Share Posted August 23, 2015 Our Aussie suckles on toys and pillows. She just has her own things she's allowed to suck on and we let her do it, never been an issue. She's done it since a pup. She doesn't chew at herself though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ellejaytee Posted August 24, 2015 Author Share Posted August 24, 2015 Thanks everyone for your responses! We tried out a few theories last night, replaced my partner's doona with mine, he still de-flead it. Removed the doonas totally and he laid down and went to sleep. Very odd. Out of sight out of mind! We just let him go with his little cleaning ritual tonight, until he was getting so into it that he's irritated his top gums and there was blood staining on the doona (not a lot, but I imagine it to be a bit like carpet burn type irritation on his upper gums). Put the doonas away again and he went to sleep. We had been at my parent's place tonight, then my partner walked him the 1.5km home on a route he's never been on, so it was new smells and excitement. He came home exhausted, came into the lounge and started cleaning immediately. Food allergies we have wondered about especially with the ankle chewing. He has advance dry with some raw pet mince and a little canned food. Was having Nutro dry before that. The raw pet food shop suggested he may be better off with just raw kangaroo meat because he may have an intolerance to grains. Our vet suggested his chewing was just a habit but prescribed antibiotics because she thought he had given himself a skin infection. We're thinking of getting a second opinion from another vet to see what they think. We've seen him do it, he folds his front paws over and chews them with his back teeth! Also his back ankles but not the the same extent as his front. He's such a quirky little guy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Rusty Bucket Posted August 24, 2015 Share Posted August 24, 2015 Maybe he's allergic to doonas. Definitely not the bored thing then. My dog is allergic to the grass in my lawn and if she spends too much time lying on that she gets very itchy and a horrible rash. So I put a tarp (pegged down) with a towel or jumper rag on it for her to lie on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ellejaytee Posted September 8, 2015 Author Share Posted September 8, 2015 We went to see a new vet last week. The last time we had him examined by his original vet, they prescribed antibiotics 'in case he has given himself a skin infection'. This didn't sit right with me, he had the full course anyway, still chewed. Anyway, this new vet is very conservative. He had a look at our dog's front ankles, he said this habit isn't hurting him - he seems to be just chewing the fur off and not hurting the skin. I showed him the video of the de-fleaing and that supported his theory that our boy has a bit of OCD! He said he could put him on some doggy Prozac, but seeing as though his habits aren't harming him and seem to make him happy, not to bother with going down that road. We were happy with that! He said he'd never prescribe antibiotics for an issue like that - which I was glad about. The last thing we want is for him to build up a tolerance to an antibiotic he may really need one day. He suggested just keeping him busy, with toys, sandpit, walks - all of which we do. All of his toys either dispense food, make a sound or expel a puff of air. He also has a huge area where he can dig to his heart's content, and he's often quite busy with his earthmoving! He has a daily walk as well as training daily. Also recommended putting Itchy Scratch where he's been chewing his legs to deter him from continuing to do it. Very happy with this new vet, he came highly recommended by a lot of people, and his charges are much cheaper than where we had been going, so it's a win all round! :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Rusty Bucket Posted September 8, 2015 Share Posted September 8, 2015 Oh I do love a happy update. cheap vet? Mine - as best I can tell is a bit random... Sometimes follow ups are about half price, sometimes free, and sometimes the same as a regular visit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scottsmum Posted October 31, 2015 Share Posted October 31, 2015 Scottie has started fleaing his blankie too.... little odd bod.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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