# Rescue Dog and Toys



## Anonymonanous (Sep 16, 2009)

About three months ago we adopted a rescue from a self-sufficient no-kill shelter (he'd previously been in a kill shelter and was one day away from being put down; before that, we don't know what happened to him apart from the fact that he was _extremely_ malnourished). Judging from his teeth, he's likely coming up on two years of age. When we got him, he'd recently been in a "fight" with a pitbull because one of the people had stupidly put a single bowl of food between two male dogs. He didn't fight back (just stood there and took it), but he did get some pretty nasty wounds, the worst of which was a hole all the way through his ear.

Now, he's a big-time chewer. He's pretty medium-sized with a slightly greyhoundish build (I'm not good with breed naming), and he was able to whittle down and eat a third of _compressed_ rawhide in two minutes easy. Big shocker: when he graduated from school he got a stuffed football. In well over a month, he hasn't even taken the tag off. He's incredibly delicate and affectionate with them. Since then he's made friends with a large stuffed money with a four squeakers (one in each foot, and one in each hand). He loves it. He takes it to bed, around the house, to the store, and even outside to go to the bathroom. It's his safety blanket, and he especially loves it when I make it squeak.

My concern in that from time to time he'll just stand there with it in his mouth, not looking at anything in particular, and whine softly. It's a worried whine. He almost never whines, and in the time we've had him we've only heard him bark three times (it was imperative that we play with him NOW). He's very, very quiet, and very rowdy (except with soft toys).

I worry about the times when he whines while holding it though. It seems completely random. Does anybody have any experience or advice with this issue?

Thanks in advance.

EDIT: It's probably also worth noting that he has extreme abandonment issues.


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## spotted nikes (Feb 7, 2008)

I had a dog that I found as a stray, that when I would give him a bone or something similar, he'd walk around and whine, because he was trying to find a safe place to put it. Maybe yours is doing the same. He thinks the toy is "special" and doesn't want to lay it down just anywhere. I wouldn't worry about it.


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