bones and teeth

[debbiej]

As many may remember, Boris is transformed into a primal beast by raw bones. But his teeth are dirty, and He enjoys bones so much.

I tried giving them to him again about 6 months ago for these reasons, and after enjoying it for most of the day, he snuck it out of his kennel with him, and was posessive of it in the back yard.

opinions on benefits of having raw bones outweighing the posessive behavior they trigger? Of course, one reason I ask is that someday I want to get him to the place where he won't act like that.

[AngelBunny]

Raw bones--as in raw beef marrow bones??

My youngest dog is a terror to other dogs when they're fresh and gets anxious if a human comes near, but after she's picked hers clean and worked over her sister's and foster brother's and left them, she could care less.

Why don't you just leave Boris alone with his bone til he's done with it??

[debbiej]

oh, believe me, I do leave him alone.

he is crated or kenneled with the raw bone, the few times he has gotten one. But he doesn't finish it off very quickly, and will try to bring it out of kennel or crate with him, still feeling posessive. maybe a smaller one, and only in his crate, never outside in his kennel would be better.

[AngelBunny]

Don't let him out of his crate or kennel until he's done with it. If you go to let him out and he picks it up to take it with him, don't let him out.

[moondog]

I agree you shouldn't let him out with it....and it sounds like a great opprtunity to work on the "drop it and leave it" commands.

I have Chili leave her "precious'es" in her casbah when she comes out if there's another dog visiting and it could cause a problem. She's fine with that, because I do think she's figured out they are safe until she returns.

[Sharon Marples]

Ditto to the above,. When we give our dogs their bones, we leave them alone with them. But when we go to get them, we make them leave the bones in their kennels or crates.

To me, the benefits reaped by the dogs having the bones is well worth the extra supervision when they do have them.

[debbiej]

Ok, so getting out of the kennel is the reward for 'outing' the bone. We can do that, and we will remember to shut his kennel door so he doesn't go in his kennel and bring them out to guard later.

I do think he needs to get them both for his teeth and for getting those 'imaginary thieves' out of his system. when he has a bone, he growls and snarls even when he is outside alone.