How long do 8 week old puppies sleep?
Most puppies will sleep about 18 to 20 hours a day to support their fast-growing brains and bodies. Puppies from 8 to 12 weeks old may seem to go from zero to 60 out of nowhere, then suddenly pass out to nap within minutes of being in overdrive.
Can it Be a Bad Habit?
While chewing cardboard is fine, it can lead to bad habits, as well as become a health issue.
Chewing and then eating cardboard begins to become a health issue if large amounts are ingested. Because cardboard isnt digestible, it can cause an intestinal blockage, which will lead to symptoms such as appetite loss, weight loss, weakness, abdominal pain, and diarrhea.
Ingesting too much cardboard is perhaps the worst it will do to a puppy. However, other results of chewing cardboard can result in annoying behaviors for their owners.
If a puppy really loves chewing cardboard, it may start to seek out cardboard and similar items on its own. These items might be toilet paper, books, and yes, homework. Some people use cardboard boxes to store important documents which will lead to double trouble for unsupervised puppies!
As puppies find similar chewy textures around the house, the potential for them to create surprise messes will grow. In order to keep chewing cardboard from becoming a destructive habit, it will be important to regulate the activity as soon as a puppy is introduced to it.
Here’s an alternative way to let your dogs have fun without costing you a penny—and maybe even helping you recycle in the process!
If your dog doesn’t naturally take to it, kick or toss the box and energetically say “get it” enticingly a few times. Praise them when they begin to rip at it and they’ll catch on. Box destruction seems to satisfy their need to destroy something. They will dismantle it by ripping or gnawing off pieces, which you then should pick right up and put in your recycle bin before the dog considers chewing thoroughly so the cardboard becomes gummy—and ultimately swallow-able.
Do you keep trying to find the perfect toy for your dogs to play with and they either ignore what you’ve purchased, or they immediately tear it to shreds?
Do not even think of trying this at home if you have a dog who swallows bits and piece of various other items they have happily decimated—and you especially want to reject this whole exercise in managed fun if you happen to have of those legendary Labrador Retrievers whom we’ve all heard about, who eat entire socks or swallow brassieres!
CAUTIONARY NOTE: Always supervise the cardboard mayhem, picking up the smaller pieces right away as your dog tears them off.
Puppy Training Games
Do you keep trying to find the perfect toy for your dogs to play with and they either ignore what you’ve purchased, or they immediately tear it to shreds?
Here’s an alternative way to let your dogs have fun without costing you a penny—and maybe even helping you recycle in the process!
You know how people with very young children say that at Christmas, the kids seem more interested in the boxes and wrapping paper than the presents? It seems that many dogs share that same fascination with “the box!” I’ve had dogs whom I’ve given a cardboard box to and encouraged to express their desire to destroy by attacking. It can be a box of any size—from cereal boxes to packing cartons. You’d be amazed at what a big kick they get out of taking apart a cardboard box!
If your dog doesn’t naturally take to it, kick or toss the box and energetically say “get it” enticingly a few times. Praise them when they begin to rip at it and they’ll catch on. Box destruction seems to satisfy their need to destroy something. They will dismantle it by ripping or gnawing off pieces, which you then should pick right up and put in your recycle bin before the dog considers chewing thoroughly so the cardboard becomes gummy—and ultimately swallow-able.
It can be a nuisance to clean up all the pieces. It also means being careful to keep out of your dog’s reach those boxes you want to keep intact! But box destruction can be really fun and satisfying for dogs and saves on costly toys they chew apart in no time, anyway.
CAUTIONARY NOTE: Always supervise the cardboard mayhem, picking up the smaller pieces right away as your dog tears them off.
Do not even think of trying this at home if you have a dog who swallows bits and piece of various other items they have happily decimated—and you especially want to reject this whole exercise in managed fun if you happen to have of those legendary Labrador Retrievers whom we’ve all heard about, who eat entire socks or swallow brassieres!