Strange behavior, can anyone help?
 

This is going to probably sound quite strange but I am getting quite concerned. I am not quite sure where to start.
I have had soft blankets for her ever since I got her. When we sit at night I put a soft blanket on my lap and she knows it is snuggle time. When we go somewhere there is usually one with us.
Celine was spayed on the 23rd of this month,( she turned a year on the 8th) at that time they also checked teeth and said they look good.
Recently and we kind of noticed it a couple of times before spaying but thought it was kind of funny, cute. What she did was nibble on the blanket really fast. Only with her front teeth. Like a chatter. It didn't happen often, and at first I thought it was the material but when she is doing it she is so obsessed.
After surgery we noticed it more often, we took the blanket away and she would start the nibble on the bed spread. It isn't hard enough to really even break the material. Tonight it was awful, I would say loud Celine stop it and it was like she was so into it she did not hear me. We tried everything to have her stop. I came out to my computer to see if anyone is up this late. She is sleeping on my lap now, not nibbling. It seems like she is a little more teary eyed than usual too.
I know that I have read on here that some dogs lick their paws with allergies, could this possibly be an allergy? I am really puzzled. In my mind the blanket has always been a comfort for her so could this be pain she is having? I just don't know. Does anyone have any insight on this?

Not sure what is happening with your little one, but for Piccolo.... When she starts doing something obsessive like that I have finally, finally figured out that she has some type of hair that has worked its way into her mouth and sometime down her throat. It is really tough to find, too. (The first time I had to take her to the vet because I could not figure out what was wrong.)

There could be a reason why she is doing this, maybe she has some type of pain in her mouth. Hope you get things figured out.

Sounds like a pain reaction to me also. But I've never heard of this before. Call the vet in the morning. Hope you figure something out, poor thing.

my boy sonny is totally obsessed with toys especially fluffy ones, when he goes mad nibblin at it i take it off him then his teeth continue to chatter, its total excitement , and he wont let up till he gets it back:rolleyes:, but thats only my experience :animal-pa

I think the first thing that you need to do is determine if it's a medical or a behavioral issue. I agree with the others and say take her to the vet to be sure there is nothing bothering her mouth. If that checks out then you'll know it's a behavioral issue and can handle it differently.

I thought my Cooper had a night time licking obsession and used to yell at him to stop. I should not have done that because it was allergies which was no daily of his.

Thank you Lisa, that is a thought! She does do this kind of nose down almost like when she is digging outside. I will definitely watch for that. This morning she is fine and dandy again.

Celine does like her toys like Sonny. It even reminds me of how happy she was when she managed to get the stuffing and squeeker out of one of her toys. It does amaze me though (knock on wood) that she seems to know not to bite through her blanket....
Thank you, I will keep you posted if I discover more.

Did Cooper lick his paws? How do they determine if it is allergies? I have only read bits and pieces on allergies. I will definitely check with the vet today too! Thank you!

Cooper was never a paw licker. At night he would continually lick his mouth and smack his lips. It came on suddenly so I took him to the vet. The first check was his mouth, which came back fine. We then decided to treat it as allergies. He went on a plain diet for 3 months and I took away his rubber ball (the vet thought a possible rubber allergy). There was no change. We put him on Benadryl, which did nothing. He now takes Zyrtec every night before bed. It seems like it's seasonal allergies (although every season:rolleyes:) and it's almost equivalent to a human having a stuffed nose and sniffling.

My vet was going to begin helping me treat it as a behavioral issue if the Zyrtec didn't help.

I wish I could offer advice on your dog, but I can only share my story.

Oh thank you for sharing! Here in Utah our weather does change. This is kind of her first winter except for when she was tiny.

I'm new to using some of the features here, so I hope I did the "Quote" option properly.......I guess we'll see. Anyway, I was wondering how much Zyrtec do you give a dog per pounds? I have Daisy on Benedryl which works pretty good. But I would like to maybe try the Zyrtec and see how it does for her....Thanks Carol.

I once had a cat that would do this same thing, I thought it was super strange, she would do this with clothes and blankets, what I figured out was that she was suckling on it , she was a stray that was born outside in my neighborhood, she must have lost her mother early I found her outside when she was a tiny kitten and used to feed her a can of cat food outside, she was very skiddish and it took months for me to get her to come in the house she was ferrel. One time during a snow storm I got her to come in and noticed she did this with a blanket and later did it to my daughters sleeve of her shirt. After a while she did this every single time she came in my house, I assumed it was due to not getting to nurse for long enough it seemed to sooth her? Could this be? Maybe she is sucking on the blankets?

Kaji is a big time nibbler. We call it his love bites. :love: But, in no way is he obsessive. He will nibble his toys, me and well... me. But if I ask him to stop, he does. Have your little one checked by the vet. Let us know what happens.

Hi Carol. I'll never give anyone dosage information. It's not that I don't want to, but boy I don't want to be wrong. Give your vet a call. My dog did so much better on the Zyrtec than Benadryl.

I can appreciate that. Thank you, I will call my vet and see what he thinks.

please keep us updated on you little one, this is very interesting, i never would of thought it cud be a health problem, :D

I think Celine is fine :)
 

I did call the vet this morning and they said just to keep an eye on her. Make sure she is eating, drinking and acting okay.
Tonight I noticed a post "Does your Yorkie Nibble on you?" It really does sound like what she does! One post said that it started when their furbaby turned a year old. That fits exactly! I am rather excited to find out it seems to be a cute Yorkie thing. I think that I am as over protective with her as I was with my skin baby's! Thanks everyone, if something changes I will let you know but I am going to be cautiously optimistic on this one!:D:D:D
Happy New Year Everyone!

Must be pretty common behavior for them to do this nibbling as there are many posts online about it: (Examples) Why Does My Dog Nibble With His Front Teeth? | eHow.com and Why does my dog "nibble" us like he is eating corn on the cob? They call it flea biting, corn-on-the-cob biting, corn nibbling & blanket nibbling. Causes are ranging from grooming to play to comforting to boredom.

Redirecting seems to be the best advice to try to stop the behavior. Give them something you want them to chew on instead.

Thank you for the info. I did try redirecting, it did work some of the time. The last one she had (when I posted) was so intense she was like in a trance. I do think she was upset because I am not usually up late. I had taken time off during the holiday to have her spayed and it was rather nice staying up later. So really I had also changed the schedule she was used to.

i was worryin for nothin:rolleyes: as sonny does this with toys, socks etc glad celine is just fine, happy new year :animal-pa