[WinnieThePoodle]

I can't work out why Winnie is whining when I give her certain chews. The common denominator in each case is that the chew is hard and at first I thought it was too hard for her. But then she will eat other chews that are equally as hard without any whining at all. She is currently finishing a chew that has taken her 40 minutes so it was pretty hard. She has all her new teeth and will chew on her plastic chew toys which are even harder than the chews as the chews eventually get soft or crumble. She will eat it all the first time I give it to her with no whining at all. Then the next time she gets it she won't eat it and just whines all the time roaming around the room. I end up taking it away and giving her one of her other chews. I don't mind giving her the same chew all the time but I sometimes try others to give her variation. I just can't understand why she eats it all the first time and then whines the next. I thought maybe she just doesn't like it but then would she have eaten the whole thing the first time? I gave her a Lily's Kitchen Woofbrush a couple of days ago and she wolfed it down. Today she just sat there whining and roaming around the room. And she does it with lots of different flavours of chews and she is not normally fussy. Does anyone else have this with their poo's and do you know why they do it?

 

[Starla]

My JRT did this, and Starla did too. In both cases, they didn’t really want it then but didn’t want anybody else to have it either. Both would hide the thing they were obsessing over if they could find a good enough spot and didn’t think they were being watched.

 

[PeggyTheParti]

Yep! With my last girl it was a sign of stress (albeit an adorable one). Maybe the chews are too big for her and she’d be better with something she can comfortably digest in one sitting. Pure dehydrated chicken jerky was a favourite of Gracie’s.

 

[WinnieThePoodle]

My JRT did this, and Starla did too. In both cases, they didn’t really want it then but didn’t want anybody else to have it either. Both would hide the thing they were obsessing over if they could find a good enough spot and didn’t think they were being watched.

That's what I couldn't work out, whether she wanted it or not. She has tried to hide it too.

 

[WinnieThePoodle]

Yep! With my last girl it was a sign of stress (albeit an adorable one). Maybe the chews are too big for her and she’d be better with something she can comfortably digest in one sitting. Pure dehydrated chicken jerky was a favourite of Gracie’s.

I could try cutting it to see if it makes a difference although she eats it first time round without a problem. But let's see if a smaller bit helps.

 

[Raindrops]

I see it as a "I want to have my cake and eat it too" kind of stress when Misha does this. Usually only if it is very high value.

 

[PeggyTheParti]

I see it as a "I want to have my cake and eat it too" kind of stress when Misha does this. Usually only if it is very high value.

Gracie didn’t actually want to chew hers, just hide it....often in my bed. Delightful!

 

[WinnieThePoodle]

Yep! With my last girl it was a sign of stress (albeit an adorable one). Maybe the chews are too big for her and she’d be better with something she can comfortably digest in one sitting. Pure dehydrated chicken jerky was a favourite of Gracie’s.

I tried cutting a woofbrush chew in half longways. It actually broke into 3 slim pieces so I gave her a piece at a time and she gobbled each bit up in just a few minutes so it may seem she doesn't like anything too thick. I was hoping it would keep her occupied for a bit longer but alas no. At least she wasn't whining which is good and I don't have to give the rest of them away. I might have to stick to braided lamb skin if I want to occupy her for a bit longer.

 

[PeggyTheParti]

I tried cutting a woofbrush chew in half longways. It actually broke into 3 slim pieces so I gave her a piece at a time and she gobbled each bit up in just a few minutes so it may seem she doesn't like anything too thick. I was hoping it would keep her occupied for a bit longer but alas no. At least she wasn't whining which is good and I don't have to give the rest of them away. I might have to stick to braided lamb skin if I want to occupy her for a bit longer.

I’ve been knotting Peggy’s chew inside a sock lately, so she has to puzzle it out. Not good if your puppy eats socks, though! And if she’s anything like Peggy, she’ll quickly figure out the easiest way to solve any puzzle is to repeatedly place it in the human’s lap.

 

[WinnieThePoodle]

Revisiting this previous post. I thought Winnie might be whining because the chew was too big/hard but now she has taken to whining with any chew or biscuit I give her even if it is not hard. She just finished it in 20 seconds but whined for 5 minutes before hand. It's very annoying.

 

[Dechi]

Revisiting this previous post. I thought Winnie might be whining because the chew was too big/hard but now she has taken to whining with any chew or biscuit I give her even if it is not hard. She just finished it in 20 seconds but whined for 5 minutes before hand. It's very annoying.

As others have said, it’s a form of anxiety. It doesn’t have to do with the hardness, or softness. Maybe you can try feeding little bits by hands for a while, to see if it makes the behavior disappear.