It Snowed Inside?

When Levi was a puppy, I had a lot of people offering toys and presents for Levi, so we never wanted for entertainment. As his collection of toys grew, though, Levi discovered that some of these toys, if he was rough enough with them, had cotton "guts" that he could get to and tear out. He would take one of these toys (usually one of the ones with the squeakers), and within five minutes have it limp and lifeless with cotton all over the living room floor. I finally got tired of cleaning up messes and stopped giving them to Levi. Every once in a while though he got his hands on one and it was like a special treat. As soon as he figured out there was cotton in it, he would go nuts with excitement and, not unlike an alcoholic falling off the wagon, take things too far. This formed a bad habit that I still have yet to break him of. Anytime he spotted cotton, the excitement took over. He even ate a couple of decorative pillows I had in the back yard on outdoor sofas. He would turn this:

into this:

About a year ago, I was at work for a little longer than usual, trying to finish up some projects before deadlines hit. When I came home, I knew something was wrong. Levi looked guilty. Those dog owners out there reading this know what look I am talking about. Every dog has a guilty look that he or she takes on when something naughty happened while master was away. Levi not only wouldn't greet me at the door, he was lingering in the kitchen with his head poking around the corner looking up at me with his ears pulled back. I asked him what he did wrong, and he turned and ran for the backyard with his tail between his legs. So I figured I better begin the search, which really didn't take more than another step into the house, where the living room came into view. My living room (not a small area, about 20' by 22') was completely covered by what at first glance I could only describe as what looked like snow. I stood there, momentarily flabbergasted by the scene before me. As I surveyed the damage, it struck me; where in the world could this much cotton have come from?! I stepped down into the disaster area, and as I got closer to it, I spotted the sofa. I had a tweed sofa with cotton stuffing that Levi loved sleeping on while I was gone, the seat of which had been completely gutted. A two foot by two foot hole had been hollowed out right in the center of the large cushion. I can only imagine that Levi was preparing his bed, digging and such, and exposed a little area of cotton through the threads. The cotton must have set him off, and he went to down on the sofa, having a ball in the process. Afterwards, he probably just stared at his handiwork thinking..."uh oh..." As I cleaned up the mess, I decided that from then on, I had to only get bonded leather sofas (which, by the way, seems to have solved that little problem). 

For any of you struggling with the same issues with your dog(s), I have had tremendous success with these products and would recommend them to any dog owner looking to clean up fewer messes and buy fewer toys while still satisfying your dog's urge to chew. All of these were purchased over two years ago, and Levi is still happily gnawing on and fetching them to this day. 

1. Nylabone Big Chew Beef Bone

2. Kong Extreme Ball

3. Kong Extreme Wobbler

4. Kong Wubba Thrower/Tug of War