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Why is my dog obsessed with anything that is made of plush?

Hello~ owner of 10yr old maltese who loves her plush squeaky toys and tears them to shreds... except her tug squeaky toys...

Anyways... that is not my main question because we got the solution for that... my question is...

Why is she overly obsessed with anything that is made of plush? Even stuff that is made for humans!!!!

I’m a early childhood teacher so... sometimes I bring in puppets that are made for storytime for kids... you know what they are made of... PLUSH!!! My dog goes CRAZY and nvr leaves my room and just stares at my puppet (until we call her for her food or she needs to go do her potty business...) I always leave it where she can never reach it because I know she is going to rip it to shreds...

Not just that though... sometimes really rarely I would go to amusement park or go to dave and busters and win a doll for my own entertainment... when I go back home, again SHE GOES CRAZY!!!! I can never leave any plush related doll at the places where she can reach until maybe a month later after I earned it for myself... TT

  • If the plush doll (my doll that is made of plush) stays for a month, my dog loses interest. Not for her own plush dolls though... even though the squeakies may be broken because of her, she always puts it at her bed and plays with it sometimes

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My dog LOVES to tear out the fluff from plush dog toys! I think it could possibly be a natural instinct in certain dog breeds. Wolves and coyotes tear things apart in a similar way, so perhaps it is a behavior inherited from their ancestors? Dogs can sometimes shake their toys as well as a "kill pattern" used by their wild ancestors. This prey-cry trigger can cause dogs to rip apart their toys in an effort to get to the sound (in squeaky toys). My dog always tears out the squeakers from toys. It could also be a behavior that results form boredom. If it bothers you, you could try looking for more durable toys, or ones not made of fluff / plush material.

Good luck!