PSA: Chew toys made of string don't come out well in the end... if you know what I mean. (clean, poop)

[TomSD]

So speaking of Harper and his antics. I got him this really cool looking toy he liked when we were at PetCo...



Now it looked tough and Harper was certainly having an awesome time with it but soon it began to fray. You see when Harper is given something to chew on he takes it as a challenge. To give you an idea of what I mean I give him the largest rawhide bones they sell. He will carry it around barely putting a dent in it for a while. Presumably not yet interested in it as a chew thing but wanting to keep an eye on it. Then one day I will notice him starting to work at it. Less than a week later he is chewing on that last little bit like it is a piece of gum and grinning at me like he is saying "Is that all you've got?".

Anyway, back to the string story.

So this chew toy is starting to fray and he is happily working his way to the center of it like it was a tootsie roll pop. That is when things got fun. We go out so he can do his business one night and as usual he finds a spot and pees then squats for a number two. That is when things go horribly wrong. He finishes as usual then gets this curious look on his face. It is a combination of surprise and concern which quickly turns to fear and anxiety. All the sudden he is sprinting around the yard freaking out. Chasing his tail like I've never seen before, dragging his butt on the ground and generally panicking like he forgot his towel.

Well it turns out even though I was collecting absurd amounts of string remnants in my daily sweep/clean I apparently wasn't getting them all. He swallowed some and they didn't digest very well at all. As you can guess by now his horror was that even though he was done doing his business his business wasn't done with him.

Chasing down a dog in the middle of the night with a dirty weathered receipt as the only protection between me and that string's dark passenger might have been terrifying for Harper but I couldn't help but laugh.

All that is left of that string toy now is the two knots though they currently look more like reggie tribbles on a bad hair day than any kind of knot. He still works on them quite frequently though not nearly as much as he did before he tore the middle in two. I'm guessing he considers the challenge over now, lol.

The string incident has only happened a couple times since and only one of those times did I actually have to intervene.

In all not a bad toy as he loved destroying it but not sure if I'll be replacing it any time soon. As funny as the incident was it really scared him and I don't relish the thought of having to chase him down again, lol.

This post is true, with no embellishments. I hope you enjoyed it. I just felt everyone should share in my laughter and maybe learn something from my little PSA.

[SouthernBelleInUtah]

ROTFLMAO! I had a similar occurence with one of my dogs, except he didn't panic as much. After I had to pay for an emergency surgery for another dog, for a stomach/intestine obstruction that almost killed her, I took away all the string ball/rope remnants. She had her stomach cut open and the intestines were cut in 2 places. Quite scary. The vet showed me what they got out of her - stringy, twisted long stuff that they couldn't pull out of her stomach.

My APBT chews everything to bits and quite quickly. Kongs are about the only things he can't destroy!

[TomSD]

Yeah he has done a job on a smaller red kong but it isn't falling apart so I think it might survive for the long term. The bigger black ultra kongs though he goes to town on and they just sit there an take it. Love having something I can flavor up and let him go to town on without worrying about it being destroyed.

Thanks for the input on the complications of string type toys. I think I'll make what is left of his rope go bye-bye. I'll find something tougher for him to play with for his next one.

[Shagbark Hickory]

My dogs simply love those knot bones. I used to get them all the time and they used to last a pretty long time. As soon as they start to go bad, I throw them away. If they chew into the knot, they will unravel very quickly.
It seems like they aren't made as well anymore. I've had the best luck with the Booda brand knot bones. The other brands get destroyed in one sitting but either my boys have just gotten too good at them or they just aren't as tough anymore.

So now I just use the knot bones on special occasions when I'm there to supervise. Mostly we use it for fetch/catch me if you can games and when the game is over the knot bone gets put away.

[SouthernBelleInUtah]

Yeah, I had an old rope toy that lasted a long time. The new ones just aren't worth it!

[ShelbyGirl1]

This is an old article, but still worth the read. I had always heard the "string" toys are very dangerous when ingested.

Chew Toys Unsafe For Dogs? | KOMO News - Seattle, Washington | News Archive

[TomSD]

Good article, I didn't realize the danger. Thanks Shelbygirl1!

I knew he was eating some string but I was cleaning up tons of it so figured it wasn't much of a risk. I assumed since it wasn't hard or sharp it wouldn't be an issue working its way out of his system. Never thought of it getting clogged up on the way through.

[thegirlinaz]

One time while picking up dog poo I found a fully intact (un-used) tampon in his pile of poop. Apparently those things don't digest well.. I can't believe that he passed that through!

[TomSD]

Originally Posted by thegirlinaz

One time while picking up dog poo I found a fully intact (un-used) tampon in his pile of poop. Apparently those things don't digest well.. I can't believe that he passed that through!

OMG, that's just scary. That had to be uncomfortable as all hell for him.

[SouthernBelleInUtah]

I have some kong-like hard rubber interlocked circles that the dogs can play tug-of-war with. They miss the old rope toy with 3 knots, extra long, one knot in the middle. All 3 dogs would grab a knot and play with it.