The Strange Case of the Disappearing Pigs Ears
Why Dogs Need Chew Toys
This was a bewildering case and most baffling. It occurred with my Beagle Oakie.
Now Beagles are noted chewers, as are most puppies and dogs. Dogs will chew for many reasons, and there are equally as many old wives tales as to the meaning of this behavior. One long held belief is that when a puppy is teething, it will chew on something as a natural instinct to help control tooth growth and gum strength.
To some extent this may be true, but recent beliefs are that a dog will explore its world using its senses. It does not have hands as we do in order to pick up an object with to examine it closely. It uses its mouth for this purpose, so it is exploring the object with its mouth, primarily to see if it is edible and food. Further to this, around the house, a dog will pick up and chew any item that has a human scent on it. Socks, slippers, shoes, and other items usually fall victim to this. Other dogs may even tackle bigger items like seats or furniture.
Chewing on household items is associated with anxious behavior in a dog, especially if they are left alone for periods, they receive comfort from the items they chew on, and usually although mischievous behavior to us when they decide to chew on our best slippers, it is not a sign of destructive behavior, merely the dog seeking comfort from the familiar.
When I was growing up my Granddad always advised me to throw an old shoe onto the bed of all of my dogs that I had, and it worked a treat. My dogs would happily chew on the old shoes, and not destruct the good furniture in the house. My mom would kick my behind if she found out that the shoes were not as worn out and old as they might have been. But, no matter it was a good ploy on my behalf to get the latest in shoe fashions.
Roll forward to today, and I have forgotten a lot of that early advice. Like all pet parents, I was excited to bring my Beagle puppy Oakie out into the world. I got a Beagle to begin with because where I grew up was a place still steeped in the old traditions and ways.
Our family lived in a new urban development on the edge of the city, about a quarter mile from open countryside. So in essence I lived and grew up in two distinct worlds, the new fast growing city sprawl, with all of its problems, and in just a few minutes’ walk, the peaceful tranquility of an unchanged rural landscape.
One of the traditional dog sports practiced was Drag Hunting. Now this is not what it sounds like, where a bunch of hairy men dress up in their wives or girlfriends best Sunday dresses and high heels and parade around town with their best looking dogs in tow, to the catcalls of locals. Drag Hunting is practiced by Harrier Clubs. These clubs date back a couple of centuries and are a traditional English pastime. Of course the transplanted landed gentry in my country carried on this tradition. It would consist of running a pack of about thirty Harrier Hounds, and riders on Horseback, chasing a Fox over a preset course. Now there were Anglo’s in my neighborhood growing up, but not enough of them, as it was primarily a working class area. As working class, we could not afford Horses and such to be able to partake of this sport. So, Drag Hunting evolved as the working man’s alternative.
It was enthusiastically pursued where I grew up. For the most part instead of Harriers the locals used Beagles, and instead of chasing a live fox, a runner would run a preset course over the countryside of about six miles, dragging a rag soaked in Aniseed Oil.
The Beagles would then chase the scent, and it was first home that won. This early experience of scent hounds running so exuberantly and thoroughly enjoying the activity seared the idea into my mind of one day getting a good Beagle of my own.
But, back to the case at hand.
A Beagle likes to get down and dirty, the wetter, and mucky the better. They are not shy about picking up just about anything. So from a very early age, my Beagle puppy Oakie on my walks in the park, would pick up twigs and branches and merrily and gustily chow down on them.
I thought nothing of this, and saw no danger nor harm in the practice, and in fact would pick up some sticks myself to throw for him to fetch back. A few weeks later he started to bleed severely from the lips and gums, and his mouth swelled to where he was having difficulty eating. Off to the vet who on examining his mouth found a small splinter from a twig embedded in the dog’s soft pallet which was infected and causing the discomfort.
One severe lecture later by the vet on the danger of allowing a puppy to chew on twigs and branches, he advised that I should buy the dog Pigs Ears to chew on, as these would not splinter and would be soft. He said they would also satisfy the dogs desire to chew.
I could not believe how voraciously Oakie attacked the Pigs ear, and I was very happy as it seemed that it would occupy the dog for hours without him getting into mischief while I was out taking care of different things. The Pigs Ear came a couple to a pack, but it seemed to me that the dog was going through one ear a day. Dutifully each morning I gave him a new Ear to chew on, and each evening I could not believe that there was no sign of the Ear, had he eaten it all so quickly? This went on for weeks and I still felt that the vet was right, for my Beagle stayed occupied most all of the day, busily chewing on a Pigs Ear.
Now, I also installed a Doggie Door in my sliding patio, so that Oakie could also go out into the yard whenever he wanted. When I used to come home and went out in the yard, Oakie became very guarded of certain spots around the yard, especially the flower beds and would anxiously run to them as if he was guarding them from something.
I started to get suspicious. Then one day soon came the call………..
Get home right now there are worms all over the house and your dog is to blame. Somehow he was my dog then, and no longer the family dog, when something went wrong.
And there were white tallow worms crawling all over the floor, and sure enough Oakie was looking very guilty. From my days when I was a teen and fishing was one of my big occupations, then I would bury a raw piece of meat in a plastic bag for a few days to get “bait worms” to use for fishing. So immediately I recognized that a piece of raw meat was probably the culprit here too, but I did not feed Oakie any raw meat, so how……?
I remembered Oakies behavior when I went out in the yard, so I had my suspicions that the answer might lie somewhere there. On digging around in the flower beds, and under extreme protests from Oakie, I discovered a pile of half eaten, and half rotten Pigs Ears, crawling in maggots. Oakie immediately ran into the house and onto his bed, growling at me in warning as I approached. When I lifted his bed, there I found more rotting Pig Ears, diffusing streams of wriggling worms…..mystery solved.
I immediately stopped giving my dog Pig Ears, and also stopped giving him Raw Hide chews. But obviously the dog still needed to chew on something during the day, otherwise, he would revert to destructive chewing, and that call would not go so easy.
This is why for your puppy and dog, you will need the basics at least. I have found that a good quality “Knotted Rope” coupled with a couple of interactive treat balls, which can be filled with treats is doing the trick at the moment.
Oakie has forgotten all about Pigs Ears, and now looks forward to me filling up the Interactive Treat Balls with some dry food each morning and letting him occupy himself all day with trying to get the treats out of the ball. Nice and clean with no more nasty worms creeping around the house. I just rinse the interactive treat balls under warm running water to clean them, and they are ready for the next day.
An occupied dog is a happy dog, and less likely to be a destructive dog, so it is very important to always have the basics for your puppy and dog.
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