Jed can tear up any soft toy in less than two minutes. None of our dogs have been able to have soft toys because of Jed. I’ve asked him to stop being so destructive, but my pleas couldn’t compete with the lure of that squeaker hidden beneath soft fluffy layers of polyester batting. His opinion: “It’s more fun to tear up toys than it is to play with them. And isn’t the point of toys to have fun?” The economics of the situation made no difference to him.
But when Pearl showed up under our porch, I was finally able to get through to Jed. I explained to him that because Pearl didn’t have siblings to keep her company, she needed soft toys to help her feel safe. Especially since none of our dogs would let her cuddle with them. (Turns out she had Parvo, and they didn’t want the potentially fatal virus she had.)
So, Jed and I had that talk, and he immediately stopped tearing up toys. That’s the end of the story. Boring though it may be, I think it’s pretty incredible that all I had to do was give Jed a good-enough reason to stop tearing up toys, and he stopped. It’s been a couple of months since then, and now our house is full of stuffed dog toys.
Georgia has started playing with them too, and she and Pearl have made a game of stealing a small stuffed Lambchop from each other, then running through the house, instigating a lively chase.
It’s a short, boring story, but one of those “Holy shit” moments when you realize all over again the power of telepathic animal communication to create immediate positive change.
Thank you for sharing. Testament to mankind being able to live with animals a tradition lost in this day and age, but likely still alive in the wild. No it was not boring but insightful. Thank you.
Thanks so much for your reply, Nazir. I know that anything without DRAMA is boring to a lot of people, but I’m thankful that you were able to appreciate the subtle communications that we share with our animal companions. It’s not exciting, but it’s real.
What a great story! I have been known to restuff and sew up toys for our granddog, learned from my cousin. Only to have them ripped open again. I can’t believe your success! Incredible!
LOL, Faith! Been there, done that, but I know that whenever they’ve taken a notion to tear something up, all the sewing we can do won’t stop them from doing it all over again. I’d begged Jed not to tear up toys before, but it took a good reason for him to comply, and once he understood my reasoning, his transformation was immediate. He can now chew on a toy or gently tug at it with Pearl without tearing even one thread. Animals are just like people in a lot of ways. We’ll comply with directives we understand, but ignore those that don’t make sense to us. So will they.
This was a very good article, it brought back memories of Teddy, Zip, Chocolate and Boo Boo the dogs I had throughout my childhood. Oh yes, I remember the conversations we would have after school and I felt they understood and behaviors were changed.
You’re so right! Our animal companions listen and understand in the same way people do, but just like humans, they need to be convinced that what we’re asking of them is reasonable. People often think that animal communication is just a means of putting in our order and expecting everything to change. But our animal companions have free will, so they get to choose what they’re willing to do to make us happy. I think that when we honor their opinions, they’re more willing to care about ours. If we can manage to balance mutual respect with personal needs in our multi-species families, we can work miracles by working together.