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You’ve just brought home a big bag of exciting new toys that you hoped would last much longer than the few hours that they did.
There are bits of stuffing, rope, and googly eyes scattered all over the floor and your dog looks quite pleased with themselves, but you only feel frustrated.
Fortunately, you are not alone in this struggle and lots of owners are searching for the magic inscrutable toy that will be able to stand a chance against their dog but most of the time are disappointed again as they see it being destroyed in minutes.
In this guide, we will talk through the multiple reasons as to why your dog is destroying its toys because it sounds like self-sabotage to us but maybe the dog has different motivations in mind that we are not aware of.
Possible Reasons Why Dogs Destroy Their Toys
If you feel like any of these causes may correspond with your dog then try and put into practice the ways that you can solve it and you will find yourself saving a lot of money that used to go into buying new toys every few weeks.
The Toy Isn’t Suitable
The first reason that we should cover is the fact that the toy is just not suitable for your dog. This may be due to it being targeted at puppies that have much softer mouths than adult dogs do so it didn’t stand a chance in the first place.
Or it may have been a human toy that you thought would work for a dog as well but unfortunately, they are made a lot less robust than dog toys are and can have inherent dangers as well such as plastic eyes and noses which your destructive dog can easily chew on and swallow, putting them at risk of choking or blocking their digestive tract.
Some breeds such as the Staffordshire bull terrier have very strong jaws that can easily bite through lots of toys that are even marketed toward adult dogs but in this instance, you should look for toys that are designed to survive the heavy chewing and are made from a material such as firm rubber.
Boredom
Another reason as to why your dog is destroying its toys is because they are bored.
This boredom could be due to multiple things, but the first possibility is that they don’t have enough toys in the first place and thus, leaving them bored so when they finally get one they go all out and destroy it in a matter of minutes because they have so much pent up chew time that they haven’t had an outlet for.
To better understand it from our point of view, when you are at school and are finding yourself quite bored as you sit in math class, most of us would start to take apart our pen or poke holes in our eraser.
For dogs, destroying toys is the same thing and it brings them momentary interest before they find something better to do such as go for a run or play with their favorite human.
Lack Of Exercise
This brings us to our next possible cause which is a lack of exercise.
All dogs require exercise, no matter the size or temperament and it is up to you to provide them with that whether its 30 minutes or 2 hours depending on the breed so that they are happy and relaxed when they get home which makes them much less likely to take the frustration out on their toys.
To check whether you are giving your dog enough exercise, talk to your vet or do some research about your breed online because you do not want to over-exercise them either as it can cause joint problems, especially if they are still growing.
Instinct
Sometimes it is in your dog’s blood to tear open that squeaky rabbit toy, and when it comes down to this there’s not much that we can do about it.
The squeaker inside these toys mimics the sound of an injured animal that drives the dog onto attacking it more, which is a lot of fun for them but can ultimately result in a destroyed toy.
There is one possible way that you can curb this reaction which is to not buy any toys that have a squeaker inside of them as this will make your dog less likely to go into their instinct behavior and tear it apart.
Teeth Problems
Like babies when they are teething, puppies like to chew things to ease the pain in their gums and they should be able to have this relief because it’s not nice to be in constant discomfort.
Saying this, you should get some dog toys that are specially made for teething puppies because they are a bit tougher and there won’t be any small pieces that can be broken off that your puppy can choke on.
Adult dogs can also be chewing because of problems with their teeth such as food or debris being stuck in between them or tooth decay that can cause them a lot of pain if not treated.
If you suspect it could be because of this then you need to take them to the vet as soon as possible in order to prevent the risk of infection.
Lack Of Training
If your dog has never been taught that they can’t destroy their toys, then they have no real reason not to do it. They destroy a toy, and they get rewarded with a new one with only reinforces the behavior.
Ways that you can teach them that they are not allowed to destroy their toy is to take it off them as soon as you see them start to chew it too much and make sure that they don’t have any other toys that they can turn to in the meantime.
After a couple of minutes, you can give the toy back to them and repeat it until they get the message.
Enjoyment
Finally, the reason why your dog is destroying its toy is that they are having a great time and it shows that the dog toy is a good one since they are so interested in it. It is up to whether you stop them from destroying their toys but for some people it’s worth the extra money to be able to sit back and watch their beloved dog have the time of their life with a new toy, even if that means it doesn’t last long.
