Nancy Freedman-Smith, dog trainer and owner of Gooddogz Training, provides a place for dog owners to find positive training tips, canine-activities and places to visit along with the latest information on keeping your dog healthy and active. Nancy lives with her three young kids, Charlee and Finney the dogs, Yellow the parakeet and Tater-Tot the Hamster. Staying current, keeping fresh, and always learning new things is a must for Nancy and her profession because one thing that animals surely teach you is "the more you know, the more you know you don't know."
Does your dog have a woobie?
Trooper, was terrified of storms when he first came into rescue. He used to get wrapped up tightly in a quilt to help weather them. Now he likes being wrapped in quilts just because he likes it. A few weeks ago I got an email from a client with the heading 'Odd dog' at the top. Seems Becky's lab Wrigley has been 'strangling' a few of his toys.
She wrote: "I was trying to find some information on the net about a strange behavior our Yellow lab, Wrigley, seems to be doing more and more of. First it was with this enormous, and rather disgusting stuffed animal. We noticed that after he would wrestle it, he'd eventually grab its neck and suffocate! He will sit this way for an hour if we let him.
His newest object of affection is a big lobster toy that he suffocates on a nightly basis. We take these toys away when we leave, but whenever we're entertaining or watching TV, eating dinner, playing with his sister, it's back to suffocating! Have you heard of or seen this behavior before? I'm not too concerned, and he's still harmless whenever someone takes the toys away, just seems to be a weird new game he plays".
Had I seen it? Had I ever! Just moments before reading her email I had snapped a picture of Sandy next to my chair. Sandy loves to have things in his mouth, and he sucks toys like a baby sucks a binky. Sandy, self soothes himself, and he can stay this way for hours. I have noticed that he has a few special requirements on the texture and shape that he likes to use as his woobie. He likes plush toys that will form a ball shape when in his mouth.
Here's Sandy with a sheep in his mouth nearly asleep.
I have seen dogs suck on their beds, or have special toys that they get and carry when it is bed time.
Quite a few dogs I know have had their special woobies since puppy hood. I know of many other dogs who treat their toys like babies and nurture and sleep with them for years. When the woobie is either lost or eventually falls apart, many owners become frantic as the dogs pace and pace until they find another way to soothe, or the toy is replaced with a suitable substitute.
My sister's deeply missed golden Belmont had his dodo. The dodo was around for 3 years and it was a simple hard rubber ring that he loved to play fetch with and hang around with. No dodo substitute would do and when the next door neighbor's dog started "borrowing it", the dodo had to stay inside. Belmont would have made a great SAR dog as never gave up a search once he began. I was invovled in many a hunt for Belmont's dodo. The dodo was retired after my niece threw it in the ocean at Pomham Beach one cold fall day for a quick game of fetch and the floating dodo was sucked out to sea. Bell went swimming all around in the wrong direction and they were worried that he would drown trying to find it. My niece stripped down to her skivvies and swam with seals to get it back (yes seals and lots of 'em to). After three years of heavy duty dodo-ing, my sister switched Belmont over to tennis balls. She had this to say about that. "After the freezing cold seal incident, I tried to never throw the same ball twice so he would like all tennis balls equally, and not just a ratty one. We would have like 14 tennis balls around at any given time. We finally went cold turkey on the dodo after he lost it. I think I helped Bell look for that thing at least 1000 times over the course of about three years".
My good friend Holly at the Brown Dog Inn had this to add when I asked her if she has many dogs check in for boarding with their comfort items. "Generally the comfort items are as much for owners as they are for the dogs. Typically owners send items with their scent like shirts and blankets. We get a lot of stuffed toys, some have even sent small pieces of furniture and most recently "scented" socks".
While I can only ponder at how widespread dog woobies are, I would hasten a guess that it is more prevalent with retrievers, but I know many dogs of many breeds who have comfort items. Two of my friend Kathy's Border Collies Tucker and Beacon have long established toy sucking habits that sound very much like Sandys. Gracie, a puggle client sleeps with a night light. It is a ball that lights up when moved. At night she buries the ball in a blanket and goes to fetch it when she awakes.
I am far from an expert on dog woobies, and I don't very think much has been written on the subject, but it seems harmless enough to me as long as the toys do not fall apart and create a safety hazard, or like the bee toy in the movie Best in Show, it starts to run your life.
Does your dog have a woobie?
Photo credits
Thanks to B. Diane Myers for the photo of her dog Trooper and to Becky for her photo of Wrigley and for sending me a really good question.
Comments
I used to joke that my Augie was a reincarneted surgeon because he lived to gut stuffed toys in under 30 seconds with the objective of getting the squeaker inside. Virtually anything vinyl or even hard rubber (so-called) indestructible toys met their brief end in his mouth. But some (inherited) flimsy latex toys lasted his entire lifetime and were a source of comfort to him. He treated them with reverence, in particular a small turtle we named "Queek" (because of the sound it made).
My whole gang of dogs communally shares the remaining fabric body of a (once fully stuffed) bear. Once the guts were pulled out by Augie, for some odd reason the bear's fabric carcass (head and feet are the only parts with some filling left) was elevated to a near holy status and continues to be passed amongst them, brought out on special occasions to newcomers and frequently "groomed" lovingly like a puppy by the two female dogs. But all three love to practice shaking and killing the bear too - many times over in a ferocious display of what savage hunters they think they are.
Posted by DonnaJanuary 14, 2008 12:59 PM
hi, nancy! (smile)
my first therapy-dog was a wonderful Basset-Dachshund cross,
Beauregard aka Beau, a slick jet-black with bright-tan points
and a bolt of white-lightning acoss his chest. he ADORED any
stuffed-toy, and when he was 8 - 9 mos-old, i bought a lamb,
leftover from Easter and reduced, in a drugstore we had just
visited.
the lamb had a pink-ribbon round the neck, with a bell.
fool that i was (grin) , when we got outside i gave it to
Beau to carry. he was predictably-thrilled, trotting along,
head-high and stern waving, the creamy-white toy a sharp
contrast to his dark-face.
three-blocks later, i could no longer stand the incessant
jingle-jingle as he jogged beside me - i stopped, had him
sit, give the toy, took off the offending bell and ribbon,
and popped'em in my coat-pocket. i returned the lamb to his
keeping, and we walked on... blessed silence!
a half-block later, Beau stopped abruptly, dropped his
new-toy, nosed it over once or twice, and then SAT to glare
up at me. if ever an animal could shout voicelessly,
'You BROKE it!', he did! LOL...
i capped my heartlessness by laughing at him in the street -
Beau was an unparalleled class-clown, and like any other
comedian, knew full-well the diff between laughing at his
schtick and laughing AT HIM. he refused to pick-up the toy,
sulked his way home, and would not play with the lamb for
the rest of his life sans bell.
Beau collected many toys over his life with me, and would
choose carefully from a box at a flea-market or yard-sale,
nosing aside the non-contenders and picking his favorite.
when other pets came to visit or board, he put ALL his soft
toys away in their box - only chewies stayed on the floor.
he did this whatever the species - a boarding parrot was as
serious a threat to his babies as another k9, LOL...
he was democratic in his paranoia.
he was a gloriously pig-headed hound, but had a heart as soft
as butter, and worshiped children especially. i miss him and
honor his memory...
- terry
Posted by terryJanuary 14, 2008 04:30 PM
Hi Nancy-
I have found Dobermans LOVE blankets, the soft, light-weight ones. I
have a collection of airline-type blankets, and throughout their
lives, they loved them. They would sigh a heavy sigh when I
would "tuck them in" and when I'd tell them "time to go night-night"
they would hurry to get into position for their blankets to be put on.
My last Doberman, Sahara also loved a heavier comforter that had a
cotton cover. She would suck on it, which I believe was a displaced
flank sucking behavior, common to Dobies. Still, she would suck on
her blankie until she fell asleep, still with the blanket in place.
I would have to ease it out of her mouth while she was sleeping. She
did this her entire life. I don't have a picture of that (darn it)
but I'll bet other Dobie owners know about this!
Best,
Elaine
January 14, 2008 04:33 PM
My German Shepherd sucks on his stuffed animals. While he is sucking away, his front paws are also kneading the toy. His actions are similiar to a newborn pup nursing from his mother. I love my big ferocious GSD.
January 17, 2008 03:43 PM
Hi Nancy, My almost 2-year-old cocker, who went to your class over a year ago, definitely has woobies. She likes round toys that have low pile fleece on them and squeakers on the inside. She retrieves them, squeaks them, but most importantly licks and sucks them until they are drenched. It hasn't presented any health problems for her. I am aware of the plush toys that she prefers to shred, so we don't get those for her. With regard to Holly at BDI, she has been nothing but gracious every time Abby has been with her. She is totally correct when saying that owners sending toys and scented items with their dogs is more about the owner. I know that to be true for myself. Now that Abby knows and loves Holly so much, I send her with her food, sleeping blanket, one toy and nothing that is "scented" any longer. However, Holly does get about four contact numbers from me :-) You and Holly are both **great** dog people!
Thanks!
Holly & Abby
January 26, 2008 06:40 PM
My two year old Brittnay has a big stuffed dog that he will at least once a day lay on and suck and work his paws just like he is nursing. It is so precious and it seems to put him to sleep. I often wonder if it means anything? He is loved just like a child and stays in the house and sleeps in our bed!!!
Posted by lenoraJanuary 27, 2008 09:03 PM
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