My dog won't stop eating clothing!

[Guest Anonymous]

came here to hopefully get some help with my 1 1/2 year old American eskimo/sheltie mix.

she has a very bad fetish with eating out clothing. My bras, underwear, my husbands boxers, t shirts. Worst of all she swallows socks whole! She throws them back up and I am so afraid that one day she will choke on one.

We do not leave these things lying around. Like if I seperate laundry and go put a load in, I come back and she has dug through the clothes and devoured two pair of undies in 5 minutes! We try to yell/disipline her but she just doesn't stop. And she knows she is wrong cause when we catch her she puts her ears down.

I am getting ready to bring a new baby in this world and I have seriously thought about giving her up( the dog that is). I can't handle my clothes being eaten, and then my new borns as well. can anyone give me some suggestionson what to do.

Oh yeah... and she gets PLENTY of attention, so I dont think that is the issue. Besides this clothes eating habot, she listens well.

[Rosebud]

:D

Does she have any toys and acceptable chews, bones.

:angel:

[Kiger]

...or windowsills? :lilangel:

[Guest Anonymous]

she has tons of balls, ropes, dolls, you name it! She also has her mother to play with. Our two dogs are mother and daughter.

and windowsills.. lol I read your posts. She did that once too. I couldn't believe it. :)

[Rosebud]

:D

Does she anybody's clothes or is it just your clothes.

:angel:

[Guest Anonymous]

pretty much everyones. But mainly mine

[Barbiro]

:o That is so odd. I have never heard of a dog doing that. Be careful she doesn't swallow the socks whole :o

[imported_Debbie]

My Lab/Rott , Gretchen has the same fetish. :roll: Gretchen will dig through baskets to find socks, and if there are baskets with towels , she digs for washcloths. :wink: She has plenty of toys and chewies , she also has her JRT sisters to play with and they get lots of attention. I think every dog has some kind of quirk. It just makes them unique !! :angel:
Make sure she's not eating the socks, because it can cause blockages and they can die. :o
I would just put the baskets up to a height she can't get to. If I leave the house I put my baskets in my kids toy room and shut the door.
Thereby removing all temptation !!! :wink:

[Guest Anonymous]

thank you for the insight. I still wish I knew what I could do. I wonder if obidence trainig would help her?

And yes, she can swallow my ankle socks whole. My husbands socks she can digest half and find the other half lying around somewhere. I hope this silly stuff stops soon.

[Malamum]

My dog has a fetish for socks as well. I don't know that there is much you can do other than remove the temptation.

[courtnek]

Dogs are attracted to unwashed laundry because of the smell. It smells like natural, sweat, body fluid, etc. In their world, those are good smells, not bad. It also smells like you. Does she show any aggression when you try to take it away? That's what you need to look out for. If not, just go witht he suggestion to keep everything up high where she cant get it.

My dog chews up socks and pantyhose if givent he chance.

[Mama A.J.]

Dogs usually chew when they get bored and are unsupervised. My advice to you would to make sure your dog gets enough exercise in the day, that you dog has some chew toys (ones that your dog will actually chew and enjoy) and keep an eye on her, dogs chew...it is a part of life, if you leave something where they can reach it you can never guarantee that you will come back to see it whole!

Also, train your dog! My dogs know both "leave it" and "drop it"...they know their boundaries and what they should/ should not touch, that is when I have my eyes on them...I would never trust them with something that I didn't want them to chew. You can't blame all of this on the dog if you are the one leaving the basket in her reach, you need to know how to correct her and you need to remember that she is just a dog...not really knowing right from wrong unless she is taught.

Yelling will never do anything but make the dog afraid of you. You come upstairs and see that she has chewed up a pair of socks or a shirt, and you yell at her- she is not going to know what she did wrong.

I will not say this enough time, what you put into your dog is what you will get out of it. They are not as easy to take care of a fish, it takes time, care, love, and patience to trian a dog.

I wish you luck!