Dog Community

Dog Eating/Chewing on Wood?

Posted : 2/1/2007 10:12:07 AM

We adopted a 9 month old lab/pit bull mix a few weeks ago. He stays in the garage while we are at work during the day. He has a crate in the garage but I don't lock him in it. There's not much in the garage for him to get into. However, he did get into a bundle of shims (small wood "sticks";) and chewed up quite a few of them. I'm not sure if he actually ate the wood or just chewed on it. I picked up the mess and the remaining shims and put them out of his reach. But then last night he started eating sawdust. My husband and I were in the garage working on building him a dog house and hadn't swept up the sawdust yet. Why would he be doing this? Should I be concerned?

He has lots of things to chew on (bones, kong toy, etc) so I'm not sure why he would be doing this.

gayle

Posted : 2/2/2007 2:50:54 AM

i cannot believe no one has replied here yet.

do not take what i say as the bottom line, but as far as i can tell he is just being a puppy. when my dog was a pup he would eat/chew on anything in sight, and 9 months is still very much a puppy for a labrador (mix). i would just do my best to make sure he cannot get his paws on any wood, as splinters in his digestive tract are a very serious concern. if he seems to be acting abnormally or his eating and potty habits seem to change, i would get him to the vet asap to make sure he is not having any complications from ingesting some of the wood. hopefully he just chewed on it and that situation won't arise, but it doesnt hurt to be prepared. good luck with your puppers and welcome to i-dog!

Christina Dyer

Posted : 2/2/2007 4:09:40 PM

Thanks for the reply! I have put everything out of his reach so he should be alright. I wasn't too concerned about the whole thing (thinking it was just a puppy/chewing thing) until he started eating sawdust!! We've swept up the sawdust so that isn't a problem anymore. I watched him for a few days afterwards to make sure he hadn't eaten too much wood. I really don't think he actually ate a lot of it -- just chewed on it mostly.

Thanks again for the reply and welcome!

Chrissy

snownose

Posted : 2/2/2007 4:44:46 PM

Welcome to the forum......we are usually not that slack......ahem....[

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As always we love to see pics of the furry babies[

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jenhuedepohl

Posted : 2/2/2007 4:46:12 PM

I think pups like to chew wood because they can really crunch it up and DESTROY it! Kongs and bones really aren't as fun just because they stay in one piece! If he doesn't swallow the things he chews up, you can try giving him cheap stuffed toys, plastic bottles (caps & rings removed) and cardboard boxes to destroy. Make sure he's supervised though!

sallya

Posted : 2/2/2007 4:49:30 PM

I always have small dogs, but have you ever tried giving a frozen washcloth tied in a knot for teething? Helps a lot.

gayle

Posted : 2/3/2007 2:44:45 PM

ORIGINAL: sallya

I always have small dogs, but have you ever tried giving a frozen washcloth tied in a knot for teething? Helps a lot.

i have mentioned this before. a washcloth is not suitable for a larger dog, they can easily ingest it and it would cause a major obstruction of the digestive tract. i know of a dog that swallowed a whole towel once and i would hate to ever hear a similar story.