AmyB

If I give Clifford any type of chew bone, he gets frantic & carries it nervously around the house. He'll get in my bed, dig up the covers & bury it in the covers. He'll let it be for a while & then go & get it & repeat the behavior, burying it in the couch or somewhere else. I've tried different kinds of bones (Busy Bones, Dentastix, etc.) & he reacts the same with all of them. I'd like to give him bones, to help with teeth cleaning & just to give him something to do, but having a bone stresses him out. I'm guessing it has something to do with something that happened in his past, which I do not know. Does anyone have any ideas about overcoming this, or should I just give up the idea of giving him bones?

__________________
Amy, mom to
Sadie (ATB, 6/9/06) & Spencer (ATB, 8/19/10) - always in my heart
and Clifford (gotcha date 7/2/11).

roscolaylamommy

My cousin had a black lab that would do this but only when her husband was home. Any other time the lab would eat it's bone. I wonder if he's afraid that someone will take it away from him.

MollyMcFrecklesMom

My last dog used to do that too, and she was an only dog. I let her do her thing and didn't disturb her treasure. She'd get over it when she realized it was safe and treat it like a normal toy.

__________________
Michelle - proudly owned by Molly (21 mos) and Winston (14 months).

Molly McFreckles' World:
The adventures of a Basset Hound living with Addison's Disease and a baby brother named Winston

bassetmom26003

Annie does this with her stuffed toys as well, I found it kinda weird too, and hard to play with her. At first she showed no interest in the toys then started this behavior.

__________________
"A basset is an asset" Kathy, Miss Annie Gotcha Day 4/27/11, and Angel Bentley ATB 3/1/11 gone but forever in my heart

Wworm

Well, Worm is worried i will take it away from him. and with good reason because i do take his rib bones from the pet store away from him once he starts splintering them. and also let him eat beef rib meat/bones from the supermarket for 20 min, then it goes in the trash before he can do too much with the bone. so i guess it's reasonable he thinks i might take his chew toys away.

over the weekend he got a smallish rawhide bone. he got sick of it after eating one end, but would keep a close eye on it. and he'd carry it around from place to place. at one point, he was in the bedroom with it while we were in the living room, which was unusual. he's almost always in the same room as us. so yeah, we got the sense that he was worried we'd take it away.

i don't know if that explains what Clifford's doing, but Worm came this way, worried that we would take stuff from him. he's gotten much better w/the food bowl and now doesn't think we'll take his food away.

__________________
see what the Worm is up to: http://bassetworm.blogspot.com/

Lightning&Stomps

Have you seen the commercial where the dog buries his bone, then worries about it all night, then puts it in a security box at a bank? Sounds like Clifford! Lightning is a treat eater, but Stomps was a treat hider. I guess he worried (and rightfully so) that Lightning would get his treat, so he'd constantly move it. I finally just stopped giving them both treats!

Barney'spal

I had a beagle that did that...really drove me crazy and I felt so sorry for her. I found myself trying to help her hide it, which accomplished exactly nothing. She did alot of whinning and pacing...very agitated. With her it was a phase that thankfully she got over. Always felt that she was stockpiling like the squirrels do. Who knows.....maybe Mikey.

__________________
Properly trained, a man can be a dog's best friend.

Jnfr

Abby will happily chew a bone/raw hide until I deem its time to come to an end. She is really good about letting me have it in exchange for a cookie.

Jake, has always been a worrier/hider. And not a very good hider. He wanders around and paces until he finds the "perfect spot" (which is usually an open corner). Once he is satisfied it is "safe" he will go lay down they, both Sophie (AT and Abby who have been watching his antics, get up, grab the chew, stand in front of him with it for a moment (as if to say Ha Ha), they merrily chew it. Weird thing is, he seems ok with they finding and stealing it.

AmyB

Thanks for your replies. Lightning&Stomps, yes, I know that commercial & I love it. You're right, that is like Clifford. I decided to not give up with the bones & I gave him a Dentastix today & he actually chewed it & ate it without obsessing! Yay. I wish I could get inside his head & see what his life was like before I got him. It might explain some of his behaviors like this one.

__________________
Amy, mom to
Sadie (ATB, 6/9/06) & Spencer (ATB, 8/19/10) - always in my heart
and Clifford (gotcha date 7/2/11).

Floyd

We had to give up on things like that in our house a few years ago. Our boy Fred will chew on one for awhile, then go and hide it somewhere in the house. The difference is, he'll then go to another part of the house and pee! It happens every time! The only thing we could think of was that he was trying to throw Floyd off the track by marking another part of the house!