Zoe the Destroyer

Zoe is a shredder. She thinks every toy is meant to be torn into small pieces. Undoubtedly this is a habit she developed from years trying to entertain herself in the backyard. It is going to difficult, if not impossible, to change.

I Googled "indestructible dog toys" and learned that there are other owners whose dogs shred toys. Some are Labs, but there were a disproportionate number of pit bulls. Judging from the postings of these owners, there are no indestructible toys. Rather, the quality of a toy is judged by how long it lasts, and we are talking about days, not weeks or months. If it takes several days to destroy a toy, that toy is deemed successful, presumably because it kept the dog occupied (and not destroying other, more valuable things) for more than a few minutes.

Dog toys are already expensive, and when your dog rips them to pieces in a matter of days, toy costs can really add up. Nonetheless, yesterday afternoon I decided to take all three dogs to Petco (no, they were not good in the store, but whatever) to get some new toys. I got a Kong Wubba, which is a Kong chew toy wrapped in canvas with some octopus-like tentacles hanging from it, plus a canvas ring, a flat canvas person-shaped toy and some squeaky tennis balls.

Twelve hours later, the tennis balls are the only things still intact -- and that's only because I haven't taken them out of their sack yet. Yes, she rips up tennis balls, too.

At the end of most evenings, the living room is littered with stuffing and pieces of innocent plush toys. Here are last night's sweepings:



Here is what's left of the canvas ring:



And the Wubba, a couple of hours after we got home:



Breaking this habit of hers is going to take some time and persistence. In the meantime, she has to stay outside or crated when no one is home. If she were allowed free reign while we were gone, I am confident that we would come home to two shredded sofas.