Our newest pup (50 pounds at six months) is, we think, mostly Border Collie with, perhaps, German Shepherd. He is a three-ring circus: acrobatic, endlessly stealing another dog's toy at warp speed, turning on a dime, running back by the bewildered other dog and dropping the stolen item . . . He studies and takes notes, too. He's watched our senior German Shepherd open the slider screen by herself, and he's working to do it; after I clanged an outside dinner bell to get the dogs to come to the door, he's tried to make it ding on his own. He's affectionate and fun, and he also found and killed a young rattler.He is, however, a licker and a chewer. Cushions, ointments, lotions, carpet, cables, wires, table legs, PVC pipe, gardening hose, two of my husband's watches in two days, and he has a fondness for the TV remote.
He really likes wood. He would almost rather chew on wood than a rawhide. He is attracted to sticks, twigs, branches, limbs, and tumbleweeds. Outside, he is usually carrying something wooden, and he eventually brings it all up onto the porch. Last night it was another tumbleweed, which I still have tiny break-off stickers all in my hands and feet from -- and which he carried by the bottom in his mouth!!!! He yawned the other day, and I saw (and removed) a chewed-up piece of something wood-like.
Our property is 2-1/2 acres; we've been here a year. The windbreaks on two sides are large, well-established oleanders. They are a favorite here in SoCal (drought-tolerant, disease- and pest-resistant, colorful, low-maintenance). They are also poison. Our dogs love to lie under them -- we live in the desert, it is very windy, and they provide a lovely haven, I'm sure. However, I'm really concerned that he is going to chew on a branch. I feel stupid even writing this. There is no way my husband will remove those things, and he believes that the dogs have a sense about poisonous plants. Any thoughts?
