How Many Is Too Many? – Dogster

Hello, I’m Savanna! Learn my introduction to study extra about me and my spunky Chihuahua combine, Penny.

Most of us canine house owners give our canine dental chews to assist hold their enamel clear and their breath recent. Greenies are a well-liked alternative, however for some purpose, Penny doesn’t tolerate Greenies nicely, so we give her Minties as a substitute, however we simply name them her “chew bones.” In response to the feeding directions on the bag of Minties, I ought to give her one per day. That’s what I attempt to do, however Penny generally has different concepts about what number of of her chew bones she ought to eat at one time. Let me clarify.

Chew Bones: A Crate Incentive

Apart from being one thing to assist hold her enamel wholesome, we initially began giving Penny a Mintie as an incentive to enter her crate if we needed to go away the home. We tried placing up a child gate to maintain her in a single room so she didn’t get into the cats’ litter packing containers and meals whereas we’re gone, however after coming residence at some point and her greeting us on the door after she chewed via the child gate, we realized a crate was mandatory.

So, the chew bones began as a crate coaching device. We are saying, “Let’s get you a chew bone,” get a Mintie out of the bag, and provides her the cue, “Go to your crate.” When she goes into her crate, she will get the chew bone. That is particularly useful once we journey together with her, as a result of it offers her consistency in a spot the place the remainder of the routine is completely different. She nonetheless expects a chew bone when she goes into her crate even when we’re elsewhere apart from residence.

The opposite concept behind this was that she might chew on the chew bone whereas in her crate to maintain her busy for a short time once we’re gone. However she doesn’t eat them whereas we’re gone. As an alternative, she normally saves them till we get again and eats them whereas sitting on the sofa with us. It’s type of like she was displaying us that she “earned” it by staying within the crate. The crate in a short time changed into her protected area that she usually goes to nap even when we’re residence.

Hoarding Chew Bones

Some days, I’ll discover that Penny doesn’t eat her chew bone as quickly as we get residence. I normally don’t assume something of it. Possibly she’s simply not hungry, so I neglect about it.

However at some point, she jumped up on the sofa with a chew bone after we acquired residence, ate it, after which went to her crate once more. Just a few seconds later, she got here again with one other chew bone, and ate that one too. Then, a number of seconds later, she comes again with yet one more chew bone. At this level, I’m questioning, “The place are all these chew bones coming from?” I believed perhaps one of many cats had knocked the bag off the shelf and it spilled.

However nope, the bag was nonetheless on the shelf and sealed. So I’m going look in Penny’s crate, and tucked into her blanket, I discover about 3 or 4 extra chew bones that she’s been hoarding. Apparently,  she’s been holding chew bones again a few times per week, burying them in her blanket and mattress to avoid wasting for later.

I do know canine do that as a pure intuition to cover meals from competitors, but it surely’s humorous to me, as a result of she has no competitors in our home apart from the kitties, who aren’t all for her chew bones anyway. However I assume she doesn’t know that.

How Many Chew Bones Is Too Many?

After she ate the third chew bone and I found out the place they saved coming from, I believed, “I’d must step in right here, she’s going to be sick!” I’m unsure what number of chew bones is just too many, however I’m guessing for the reason that bag says “one per day,” three is pushing it a little bit. However I used to be afraid to maneuver stuff in her crate and take out the opposite chew bones, as a result of she’s very explicit about her stuff.

So, I began taking part in together with her to distract her, so fortunately she forgot in regards to the chew bones. Or both she acquired full from the three she already had and wasn’t going to eat any extra anyway.

Each every so often, she nonetheless eats a number of chew bones in a day, however I’ve began making an attempt to verify she has not more than two further in her crate always. I believe three might be sufficient for at some point. However she loves Minties, they usually appear to assist as a result of her vet all the time says her enamel look good once we take her for checkups.