# Eating the vet bed



## hcrowder (Dec 26, 2013)

When we first brought Penny home we had a vet bed set up in her crate. I bought the chew proof one but it was not scratch resistant and after the first night we had to take it out. Penny was ripping the backing to shreds. 

After she got used to the crate (2 weeks) we tried the vet bed again. No luck. 

I just tried it again (4 weeks later) and she is still eating it. I have just put the bet bed on the floor rather than in the crate and she is lying peacefully on the bedding but as soon as I put it in the crate she things it is a toy. 

Any thoughts on getting her used to this nice bedding that we have for her? Do some dogs just not like their bedding?

This is the bedding I am trying to get her used to: http://www.profleece.com/ProfleeceUltimateNonSlip


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## hcrowder (Dec 26, 2013)

UPDATE: She was lying nicely on the bedding while it was out of the crate. Now she is back to trying to eat it...


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## CatK (May 29, 2013)

Sounds like someone might be bored in the crate!

Try getting something in there with her which she'd rather be chewing on, stuffed kongs when you aren't watching her, a whole range of other options when you're about to check on her. She'll get out of the habit eventually and you should be able to reintroduce the vet bed.


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## hcrowder (Dec 26, 2013)

Thanks CatK. The strange thing is that she isn't chewing on her towels that I normally line the crate with. She only wants to chew on the vet bed. 

In or out of the crate she loves to chew the vet bed. Perhaps she likes that it is fluffy and soft?


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## CatK (May 29, 2013)

I'm sure other people will have good advice for you, but sometimes Morris just gets it in his head that something is fun to chew on, especially if he sees the item as 'his' like a favourite blanket. To stop him shredding a blanket on a day when he's just liking the feel of that blanket in his mouth more than any of his toys we have to tell him to 'leave it'. Maybe practise 'leave it' with food AND the vet bed for a while see if it makes a difference.


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## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

Some pups are just more chewers than others. The good news is most outgrow it. Lucy was my chewer and I could only put towels in her crate until after she was a year old.
There was no toy that could hold up to her, and the towels would even have holes in them over time.
She can still destroy toys but leaves bed intact.
She got plenty of exercise and interaction with us, but she just enjoyed chewing.


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## hcrowder (Dec 26, 2013)

Glad to see Penny isn't the only one that just decides to eat something. We will try leave it with a reward. That is something we are working on anyway so this will just add an extra layer of work for her. 

Penny is 12 weeks today and is a chewer. She loves her raw bones but even after an hour of munching she will still want to chew something. I guess the bedding is just her new favorite thing. I really hope she grows out of this.


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## tknafox2 (Apr 2, 2013)

This is just a guess, but perhaps it gets to hot (like human feet in some shoes??) or it might make her itch, or her skin tingle...she many just be very sensitive. My guess is this vet bed is a synthetic material, and the towels are cotten?? Are you old enough to remember Polyester...OMG How did we ever wear those clothes???

My other thought ...which is kind of crazy... is that it may take her back to her whelping pen to some memory she has of something there. The reason I suggest this is... Fergy has a very very odd behavior that I am* positive* comes from his whelping pen... with his inattentive mother, and no littermates, just a stuffed elephant to cuddle up with.


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## Melissa_DT (Jan 9, 2013)

I tried to put a bed in Bentley's crate on a few Separate occasions when he was younger and it resulted in him destroying 2 dogs beds. I finally gave up and just put 2 comfy throw blankets in for him and he never tried to destroy those and still uses them now. 

If she's not doing well with the bed in the crate I would suggest just using towels or blankets instead. It still provides something soft to sleep on and it sounds like she would have better luck with those. I think Bentley prefers the blankets because he likes to sometimes burrow under them to sleep.


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## hcrowder (Dec 26, 2013)

Thanks for all the replies. I don't think it is an irritation issue on her skin as she spent a lot of today lying on the vet bed while it was in the living room, on the floor. I hadn't thought of that at all and it is possible that she likes to eat it because of the weird synthetic material while she doesn't eat the towels. 

For now I will stick to the towels. I guess in the wild dogs sleep on the ground so she doesn't need the super comfy bedding.


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## esslevy (Mar 23, 2013)

organicthoughts said:


> I have a kong crate bed. Pretty much indestructible.


Yeah, my V destroyed one of those 

He's destroyed a few crate beds, it's nearly always been during the day when we were either pushing the time that's he's been crated (Thanksgiving day was the last time), or he was crated without enough prior exercise. It's been as much a lesson for us, though now anytime that bed is laundered, I'll spray the underside/seams with bitter apple for extra measure


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## Bob Engelhardt (Feb 14, 2012)

Melissa_DT said:


> ... he likes to sometimes burrow under them to sleep.
> [/quote
> 
> ]


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