Let them shred

Is your dog a fan of shredding tissues, tearing grass out of the ground or destroying their toys? Great news, that’s by and large a normal and healthy canine behavior! Ripping, tearing, and dissecting are all natural parts of your dog’s predatory sequence (orient, eye, stalk, chase, grab-bite, kill-bite, dissect, and consume). Rather than trying to train the behavior away, you can use this as a unique opportunity to meet their needs, help them decompress, and get some extra energy out.

Why should I let my dog shred stuff?

Believe it or not, shredding has a lot of practical benefits for your dog! We know it’s a messy activity, just hear us out:

1. Species typical behavior: One of the established Five Freedoms for animal welfare is “freedom to express normal behavior.” Giving your dog safe opportunities to shred allows you to celebrate their “dogness” by letting them rehearse a natural dog behavior!
   

2. Decompression activity: Tearing and ripping are behaviors that tend to help dogs decompress and emotionally self-regulate. For all dogs, but especially our behaviorally and medically complex ones, we find that shredding can help lower arousal, redirect over-active behaviors, and assist with settling.
   

3. Teething puppies and mouthy adolescents: Young dogs use their mouths (for good and evil) a LOT. Shredding activities are excellent strategies to give those teeth an alternative, more appropriate, option for relieving boredom or teething discomfort.
   

4. Can combine with foraging/feeding: Throwing your dog’s kibble into a crumpled paper bag is an easy way to build some foraging and enrichment into their day!

Photo by Arcane Photography

What can I allow my dog to shred?

Commercial shredding/dissection toys

• Rip & Reveal Toys

• REGGIE Forager

• Hide-a toys

Diy (edible)

• Cabbage

• Head of Lettuce

• Celery

• Carrots

• Broccoli & Cauliflower

• Dog Safe Produce List!
  

DIY (non-edible)

• Junk mail

• Cardboard boxes

• Packaging paper

• Egg cartons

Are there any risks associated with shredding?

1. Will it teach my dog that shredding is okay? Unfortunately, your dog is born knowing that shredding is a perfectly normal thing to do. We typically don’t find that dogs generalize shredding to inappropriate items when we give them outlets to fulfill that need. If you want an extra layer of precaution, you can present shredding activities to your dog in a specific way or only in one part of the house to limit the likelihood of them eyeing your packages by the front door.
   

2. What if my dog eats paper/stuffing/etc? First and foremost, know the dog in front of you! If your dog has a history of eating things they shouldn’t, stick to the edible shreddables list! Paper tends to be fairly low risk, but stuffing or plastic pieces from dog toys can cause serious harm if ingested.
   

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