One of the dirty details of owning a dog. CHEWING. Chewing is a normal part of any dogs life. It eases boredom, feels good, relieves their stress, and is fun! What is NOT fun- the owner of the dog coming home to destroyed furniture, walking into a room with ruined expensive childrens toys, chewed up pricey shoes, shredded panties, holes in socks, and in some cases, entire carpets ripped up. So what can we do to prevent our belongings from experiencing this awful fate? Well I am glad you asked.
The answer is simple really. Provide your dog with their own toys! I'm not talking one or two boring toys laying around the house randomly. Give them a variety. Toys to choose from. Make it fun and give them their own "toy chest". Malinois are active dogs who NEED stimulation. As puppies (and any new dog regardless of age), as soon as they mouth something that does not belong to them immediately replace it with something that is theirs. More than that, PLAY with your dog. Engage them. Make their toys fun! Stimulate them.
Use toys during training. Use them as rewards for a quick obedience session. Get your dog thinking, tire them out mentally. Malinois are an incredibly intelligent breed. They need engagement and training and exercise to prevent boredom. (Boredom will lead to the dreaded undesirable chewing.) My personal opinion from my own experience is that providing toys my dogs enjoy and can chew up, saves everything else in my house. So, this post does focus on toys, but make no mistake, when it comes to Malinois, toys is NOT solely the answer. Like I previously stated- they NEED exercise. Physical and mental exercise. They excel with jobs. Give your dog a job to do. Train obedience. And let's not forget, there are products out there you can spray on things that supposedly deter chewing. (I don't use them though, I just know they exist. *shrug*) Now let's get back on track. TOYS. So. Many. Options! I recommend toys that are large enough your dog cannot accidentally swallow. For this reason I am personally not a fan of tennis balls for my Mals. Although we did get them a jumbo one, and they love that. Their toys should also be durable. When I say durable, I mean "will last longer than a week." Not "indestructible." Because, well....I'm not sure anything is truly indestructible to a malinios haha. In my K-9 toy box arsenal we have a variety of Benebones. My dogs absolutely love them and chew on them every single day. There is a tire, kongs (will discuss more on kongs in a minute), ropes, stuffed animals, marrow bones, jumbo balls.
Yes, I said stuffed animals. If you have kids with many stuffed animal toys then this may not be a good one for you. My children however are not very into playing with them, but my Mals are. And yes, they do make a mess when they tear out the stuffing and it's spreads across the floor. However that is what my broom and dustpan are for, and I would so rather them destroy a cheap stuffed animal picked up from a garage sale or (what another breeder recommended to me) goodwill, verses them chewing up my couch or my childrens' toys.
Eventually chew toys like nylabones and benebones will need replaced, but they do last a considerable amount of time.
Kongs and marrow bones can be filled with wet dog food, peanut butter, yogurt, dry dog food mixed with those things, etc. to entertain your dog. Kong even sells a licker you can suction to something (we put ours on the sliding door.) and smear PB on it usually.
Bully sticks or pig ears are another option to help keep your pup entertained. If you can afford it, bark box is a great subscription mailed to your door so you don't have to go out and about to find toys yourself. They do the work for you. And their toys are always fun. Also something for your dog to look forward to getting, because I guarantee you they will learn quickly what that box means when they see it in your hands.
I don't recommend squeaky toys, some dogs tend to squeak them obnoxiously and... just no. I'll pass on that, between my dogs and my boys playing my home gets loud enough. And I don't recommend rubber type toys either because you don't want your Mal accidentally ingesting those pieces and also those type toys in general just don't last long at all.
A typical morning for my Mals is like this: potty outside, play hard with each other for a bit, this involves tug-a-war with no less than two, often three or more, different toys. Then they both end up choosing a benebone and park theirselves on the couch and chew like it's a race until they are given their breakfast. Before noon, the majority of their toys are spread throughout the house and I do my first 'dog toy' cleanup of the day, and throw them all back in their toy box, where they continue to dig through them and play with them throughout the day.
Yes, dog toys can get expensive. But I truly believe it's worth the expense. I would rather pay the bucks for durable toys than the bucks to replace my own belongings. Never have I ever had an issue with my dogs chewing on anything not belonging to them because they have their own box of toys they love to choose from.
Seriously though, please remember, providing a variety of toys is not a fix all thing. Malinois need MORE. Like a job, mental and physical exercise will go soooo soooo far in relieving your dogs boredom and giving them contentment. TOYS ARE A TOOL, NOT A FIX ALL SOLUTION.
Oakland and Laikhn chewing on some benebones before breakfast.
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