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It's all fun and games until you're woken up at 3am to the sound of your dog suckling on their blanket, or one of their toys. Or worse. Take a seat on a wet couch., your jeans soaking up cold dog slobber. It's probably around this point that you question what you've done wrong in your life, and why the Universe is punishing you. Suckling on toys and blankets is actually a common dog behavior.. but why? and what can you do to stop it? Like a baby with a pacifier, dogs will suckle on toys and blankets to self-soothe. Its reminds your pup of the feelings of being safe and warm with mom, suckling on her nipple. This self-soothing behavior is almost always a response to anxiety or stress and can be managed or even eliminated with the use of mental stimulation. Because of the need for oral fixation, we recommend a work to eat toy or a frozen marrow bone as an alternative to blanket suckling to occupy their minds and help them fall asleep. Of course, this is seldom a destructive or dangerous behavior so if it doesn't bother you, let them have this form of self-soothing. It beats chewing the coffee table! We answered a question similar to this on the Pawsome University Podcast, check out that snippet below! John CaponettaJohn is a former Animal Shelter Supervisor for the SPCA, and Animal Cruelty Officer with over 8 years of animal welfare experience.
9 Comments
Sitara
4/30/2021 10:13:40 am
Our puppy is 9 weeks and he sucks on his toys to self sooth right before he falls asleep. It's actually really sweet to watch him put himself to sleep. I figured eventually he will grow out of this and so just letting him be puppy / baby.
Loren
9/13/2021 01:28:45 pm
My dog is 3.5 years old. She has been sucking on the nose of her favorite bunny since she was adopted at 6 months old. She does it every single day, usually twice a day, and for about 5-10 minutes. She is self-soothing and calms down a lot. She’s still a very active hyper dog and will likely remain this ways for many years because she is a smaller dog, at 17 lbs. She’s very playful, but when it comes to bunny sucking, she likes her quiet alone time.
Jasmine
12/8/2022 09:53:25 pm
My dog (3.5 years old) does this exact same thing! We got her a limited edition holiday bunny from PetSmart when we first adopted her, and she refuses to suck on anything else but the bunny's nose. We tried replacing it with other bunnies that were similar shape and size since hers was discontinued, but she was attached to her bunny that she's had since she was a puppy. We ended up buying her a replacement of the same PetSmart bunny on eBay since she sucks on it to self soothe quite a bit, and she took to it immediately as if she knew it was her bunny.
Kathy Harthcock
1/19/2023 09:56:57 am
I have a 6 yrs old pit bully she has done it since she was a pup. I say it for her excitement and her quit time. Tit sucking she loves it. 2 to 5 times a day depends on us inside or not. It's interesting to know that dogs can be like babies when they would suckle on toys and blankets. I hope that the dog that I will get will be trained so that the solid taupe pet blanket that I plan to buy will not get damaged easily. I will make sure that it would have other toys it can chew on if it is teething.
Robyn
11/22/2022 01:42:37 pm
I too have a 10 months old Bichon girl that I brought her home at 9 weeks old from the breeder. She does this suckling with the heart beat pup toy i bought her and she still does this several times per day. Ever since 9 weeks old. I absolutely love it and it’s one of the many sweetest things she does. She never harms and never destroyed this toy. I even encourage it by telling her where’s your baby and go love your baby. She knows exactly what I mean and will go find her special toy baby. My Vet said she loved this as well. And has no issues with her doing so. We know she is missing her mommy comfort and it definitely calms her and places her in a sleep mode. I let her do her thing.
Shannon
11/27/2022 05:31:31 am
My 17 week old puppy has started this new habit of putting his whole mouth around my thigh and sucking and needing with his paws, I wish it were a blanket or toy but I’m having to change my pant 3-4 times a day because my whole leg is soaked about 30 minutes of him sucking on it. I try to put a toy or blanket in his mouth while he’s doing it but he just pushes it away and goes back to my leg! 1/16/2023 12:25:49 am
My dog is 14 and suddenly sucks on blankets socks couch cushions. Like she sucks giant holes in blankets. Will soak an entire couch cushion. And won't stop. She is obsessed with it and always is trying to do it and she's ruining kidd blankets socks couch upholstery.. what can I do to stop her Leave a Reply. |
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