Jump to content

Tissue Tearing


Erny
 Share

Recommended Posts

I haven't met a dog yet who has not enjoyed tearing a tissue to threads. Even my avatar girl who is now over the rainbow bridge (bless her cotton socks) and who was so NOT a dog who liked anything other than a bone in her mouth, would have a go at the occasional stray tissue.

I guess I never much thought about it until now with Mandela, my very curious 18 week old puppy who has already experienced the joy of 'tissue tearing' and who has also learnt where they are housed and how to pull one out of the box. Every time he sees me with a tissue in my hand and then blowing my nose, he watches with great fascination and not without a look of 'desire' (for the tissue, not for blowing his nose! :rolleyes:).

I wonder if the fascination for 'tissue tearing' is in part (aside from the texture and fun of something so easy to rip apart) the result of our dogs watching us take the tissue and put it to our noses, which to them could just as easily be interpreted as putting it to our mouths, yet never eaten.

Just musing on this beautiful sun shiney day whilst I wait for Mandela's new outdoor kennel to be delivered :rofl:.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Erny,

My boy (now 6mths) did exactly the same thing. He loves to take a single tissue from the box, rip it to shreads then go back for another one. being a retriever he would get so excited about having the tissue in his mouth. :rolleyes:

All my tissue boxes and toilet rolls are now up high behind closed doors as he has graduated to taking the entire box and destroying it leaving both torn cardboard and tissues all over the house for me to clean up. :rofl:

Gotta love him tho. He's sooooooooo cute

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My rottweiler eats them. Anything you practically hand to him he will swallow if he can. Even those cup cake patty pans, hand him one he'll chew, swallow and come back for another one.

It must be a texture thing too for them, and the 'stick to the tongue' sensation :rolleyes:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Kyzer's destroyed a fair few toilet rolls as a youngster and lately he has killed one or two tissues, I have got a cold currently and when I blow my nose he watches with fascination :)

My old girl went crazy for tissues! She would forever be trying to steal them!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My dog is a tissue tearer, paper tearer and foam tearer but will only destuff toys if there is stuffing showing. When I mentioned something along these lines on another forum it was mentioned that it is possibly an instinct related to the ripping and tearing of prey. (WalandLibby where are you?) But it is annoying when you're blowing your nose and they're looking intently at you ready to snatch that tissue out of your hand. My other dog used to pinch them out of my pocket!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Only one of mine is a tissue fiend. He's also the only one with resource guarding issues. If he finds a tissue box he yanks out the tissues clumps at a time, and then shreds the box. I can usually salvage some of the tissues because he pulls them out in clumps. However, now we just have one tissue box on top of the fridge - figure it's easier to manage than train out.

The rest of them have all been known to get into some ripping good times with paper and cardboard, just not tissues. I got up this morning and my OH said "um, Chloe has been writing cheques". This is code for "our 13 week old Afghan puppy has just chewed up the cheque book" :p

It never occurred to me to put the cheque book out of reach because none of them have ever considered it a fun toy before!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Tony I think you're right ...

although one day we had an absolutely giant cardboard box from a click clack couch and OH was behind it against the wall ... all 3 dogs systematically shredded then box until he was standing in a pile of confetti and then turned to look at him like "oooh giant Kinder Surprise we found the toy!" :thumbsup: so maybe I wont mention its a prey drive thing :rofl: :rofl:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I haven't met a dog yet who has not enjoyed tearing a tissue to threads. Even my avatar girl who is now over the rainbow bridge (bless her cotton socks) and who was so NOT a dog who liked anything other than a bone in her mouth, would have a go at the occasional stray tissue.

I guess I never much thought about it until now with Mandela, my very curious 18 week old puppy who has already experienced the joy of 'tissue tearing' and who has also learnt where they are housed and how to pull one out of the box. Every time he sees me with a tissue in my hand and then blowing my nose, he watches with great fascination and not without a look of 'desire' (for the tissue, not for blowing his nose! :cry:).

I wonder if the fascination for 'tissue tearing' is in part (aside from the texture and fun of something so easy to rip apart) the result of our dogs watching us take the tissue and put it to our noses, which to them could just as easily be interpreted as putting it to our mouths, yet never eaten.

Just musing on this beautiful sun shiney day whilst I wait for Mandela's new outdoor kennel to be delivered :).

Erny its been a long time... I have tissue tearers but that is beyond the point... I'm not sure if PM's exist any more (can't see the button)....

I still have your collar and would like to catch up.

Please contact me.

Pampa

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Oooooh .... Pampa! You wouldn't believe that I was thinking of you so 'hard' only just a few days ago. Almost rang you then but something cropped up (in the shape of a puppy :)) and haven't had a chance since. I will so love to catch up with you. I will try to call you tomorrow on your mobile (still the same number I presume) but things are pretty hectic over the weekend so forgive me if it isn't for a couple of days. I'm sure we'll have so much to talk about I'd like to know I can allow time and relax into the conversation :rock:.

To PM you click on the user name and you'll see a pop down box which will give you the option to send a message.

As for the tissue tearing ..... I know it relates to a prey drive activity. But what I meant from the OP was how much of that could be a behaviour learnt by observation. Going back to my "puppy sees us putting the tissue to our noses/mouths". I have avoided Mandela being allowed to see me pull the toilet roll. He's shown some vague interest in the toilet roll once (punched it with his nose) but has not (touch wood) tried to unravel the paper. I am certain he would if he knew what it was about and how to do it. But he's not had an opportunity to learn that by observation. The tissues, however ............................... :cry:

Edited by Erny
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...