Size Doesn’t Matter
At least not when it comes to destructive behavior. A study done in the UK used more than 3000 dog owners to find out what breed does the most household damage.
You may be surprised to find out the innocent looking pint sized chihuahua comes in at number one.
They might be tiny, but when it comes to destroying things in the home, the pint-size chihuahuas can be monsters, that”s what a new list of the world’s most destructive dog breeds claims. The peewee pooches are ranked just behind Great Danes in the list conducted by pet insurer Esure, reports the Daily Telegraph.
So, what is your best friend doing to occupy himself when you’re at work and how much will it cost you in the long run?
The items most often damaged were soft furnishings and electrical goods - used as makeshift chew-toys - and vases and lights, knocked over by wagging tails.
According to the survey, chihuahuas and great danes clock up repair bills averaging 1376 dollars and 1420 dollars respectively during their lifetime.
I remember shortly after we got Bo a friend had given us the book No Bad Dogs: The Woodhouse Way by Barbara Woodhouse. I don’t remember who gave it to us, but obviously it was someone who knew what we were in for.
One day after Lisa and I got home for work we noticed Bo had eaten half the book. I guess Bo’s way was not the Woodhouse way.
Do you have a funny tale of destruction to share? Give me a bark.
One of my Golden Retrievers got upset when we were gone one day - we had been gone all day and they usually have someone home at lunch - and he went and stole my $300 Prada eyeglasses from the coffee table and chewed them up.
Not funny. I was not happy!
When I first got my lab, Shadow, he was about a year old. I made the mistake of leaving a Sunday paper (ads included) and a phonebook out on Monday morning when I went to work. Needless to say, when I got home after work, it looked like it had SNOWED in my livingroom! The whole room was about ankle deep with confetti sized pieces of paper. He has me trained to pick up ANYTHING and EVERYTHING before I leave for work now!
Minster Jr my 20 lb Yorkie when he was about 7 mos old chew one side of a luan door compelely apart and still somehow got from the kitchen to the living room through a pass through in the kitchen above the sink to destroy wires and carpet at the front door..He was locked in the kitchen and had plenty of room to play and everthing was there for him but he still decided he had to get out..
If you talk to my mom she’d say dachshunds are the most destructive dog. I have two younger doggy siblings that prove this fact. They will chew and eat any and everything they can find.
OMD, that explains why I keep getting into trouble, my fursis is Molly a chihuahua/min-pin and she must be the one that keeps riping everything up.
We had an American Eskimo and a red Doberman. The eskie could be the most spiteful thing on earth. She shredded all of my houseplants one day in retaliation for me leaving the house once. It was, however, when we got the dobe that things started disappearing–literally. Those 2 obliterated a big junk of our box spring, pieces of an overstuffed rocking chair, chunks of our couch and a 5 ‘ x 5′ piece of our carpet. (We found nice hardwood floors underneath, at least). One night we came home and put the dogs outside. Now, the dobe still had her full tail (that’s another story) and when she came in, my husband wanted to know why she had 2 tails. Well, she had consumed a pair of panty hose and –tried to expel them outside, but they wouldn’t come out all the way. So, we took her to the emergency vet with tail drooping and panty hose hanging beneath. No surgery was needed and she came out of it just fine; we were poorer and wiser. Soon after, both of them passed out of the “pacman” stage. Thank goodness.,
My Pitbull/Lab mix Angelina is a force of destruction all by herself. She has ruined the carpet in a whole room (she kept pulling out strands of it), she chewed up part of a bookcase (thankfully no books though), she tore up my blinds yesterday, and she has even bitten through the metal bars of her crate! She has definitely taught me to be neater at home, and she now spends her days in a room that is cleared of everything but her brother and her toys. (Her brother is slightly destructive too, but not anything like her!)
Lessee…within three months of adopting Pogo, the tally stood at: 1 pair of sunglasses (cheap); one pair of reading glasses (frames - not cheap); a pair of reasonably expensive shoes; two pairs of flip-flops and a green indelible ink mark on a blue sofa. She’s thankfully grown out of that phase, bol
my GSD never chewed up anything even during puppyhood. My 2 male GSD/Malamute/Wolf mixes on the other hand have chewed up the carpet, paltop adapters, books, plastic food containers, spatulas from the sink.
The more wolf one chews up the whole room if i leave the house and he’s loose. His brother is more malamute like and takes utensils from the sink and has chewed up many spatulas.
Now they get crated when I leave the house. My husky and GSD have never chewed anything. Ever.