[yorkietalkjilly]

Oh, you are far from alone. Many a bored dog will fall into troublesome behavior they keep up until it drives their owner crazy! A sand box would be wonderful and help him learn to enjoy other instinctive activities but he could become an inveterate digger and begin to dig obsessively on your expensive carpets, couches, bedspreads and chairs until they are worn thin in spots so be sure he doesn't obsess over digging. Not too many toy dogs become OCD about constant digging though. The thing is, he'd probably love to hide his chewies in the sand! But, if he can still smell them himself, he still may cry as he'll still know they aren't well hidden.

In the wild, dogs can run for miles to hide their goodies and feel rather secure they've gotten their goods away from the pack but in a yard and home situation, they know hiding, which they instinctively want to do, is really useless as far as anything being really secreted away, as the scent carries throughout the immediate property.

His constant crying now is serving three purposes - expressing his dismay at not having a good place to hide his resources, gives him something to do - kind of like frequent, useless barking some dogs do to pass the time and manipulating you into giving him more attention so he'll probably keep it up as long as it serves his purposes. If this were my dog, I'd buy him some new toys and remove the chewies for now so he won't become obsessive over them and in a couple of weeks, return them for a while until he begins crying again - at which time I'd remove them once more for another two weeks. You just don't want to create a dog who learns to cry whenever he's frustrated, to pass the time or get attention.

From what you describe, again, if this were my dog, I think I'd decide he mostly needs more life enrichment activities such as puzzles and games I'd create to play with him, such as hiding treats throughout the room for him to search out, puzzle toys to work, lots more daily exercise, at least twice daily 5 minutes of obedience training(all dogs absolutely love to learn new things and work toward a goal and get praise, treats from you in the process) to fulfill him more than chewing rawhide and whining as a past-time. I'd get that out of his life for the present and show him some new interesting, more fulfilling, less frustrating things to enjoy.