Ok one of the things that is stopping me going totally BARF (especially at this time of year) is that the dogs like to sit down and have a good chew in the comfort of an arm chair. Now call me picky but I dont really like the idea of bits of fat and muscle rubbed in to the draylon

So tell me how does everyone else manage to keep bones in the kitchen?

BTW I have tries shutting them in the garden but the act of shutting the back door makens them want to come straight back in :rolleyes:

Without meaning to sound flippant, I find shutting the kitchen door very helpful! ;) :D

If only it was that easy - one of mine can open all of the doors! and the other will not settle down to chew until she is satisfied that she is comfortable. So meals could take a very long time if I put locks on the kitchen door. 

LOL.. Drat! dontcha hate it when someone gets the line you wanted to say in first!! ( oooh JG !)
     But to be fair Blue, I'm kinda with you..... In our house we dont actually have a door on our kitchen (!) I would've suggested Babygate, but see you have gundogs (guess that'll be hurdled in a trice!) however it worked for our teenage Sibe when he was first brought home, and he's a verrrrrrrrrry exuberant jumper! we just used it initially to set up boundaries, its no longer used now, what I found worked was that if myself and OH were busy in the kitchen the dog would settle nicely and not being a Hyacinth Bucket (sorry Boooouquet!) type I found there was always lots for me to catch up on workwise in the kitchen at this time!
   Im not sure there's a miracle one hit cure.... it just took lots of time spent with our boy reinforcing... and now we can come and go from the kitchen and he will always remain there during meal times or just general bone chewin' times!!! :D

This is one of the reasons I don't feed bones.  Don't want the greasy things in the house and current dog always immediately digs holes in garden to bury it.  Tried shutting her in the conservatory and she buried it in one of my plant pots

my dog eats all his bones etc in his crate, as dont wana raw chicken wings kicking around the lounge!

I don't feed totally barf, but I give anything that can be eaten fully like chicken wings and lamb ribs to my dog in his cage. As for the love of his life at the moment - a full marrowbone about 2 feet long - I just have a lot of cheap throws for the sofa and change them frequently. He's been working on it for a few days now and I've finally got sick of turfing him off the sofa only for him to get back up there with it as soon as my back is turned.

Sadly I have one that likes to bury things in the sofa so I really dont fancy finding a week old bone down the back.

:D :D :D  One of the funniest stories I heard was about a friend's dog who dug into the sofa.  My friend came home from work and there was a bone sticking up in one of the springs.

It makes me chuckle to think of it but it is one of the reasons why my dog is not allowed on the furniture - ever!

Hi Bluebell,  If all else fails, how about covering the chair temporarily with something that is easy to clean?  BTW, you are supposed to watch while dogs eat their bones anyway so won't your dogs stay in the kitchen if you are there with them?

Hi Annie - how are you doing?

Nope they much prefer to settle down comfortably in an arm chair and since most rooms in the house have an easy chair of some description they have plenty to choose from!

Stair gate is a great game for the younger one. So much so that I took it down because I thought she would hurt herself :rolleyes:

Long and the short of it is that the only time they get bones in winter is when I go out to do some gardening. Summer is not a problem as I can leave the back door open and they will happily sit in the sunshine on the patio.

Perhaps I just need to move somewhere warmer! 

I'm fine thanks Bluebell - well into Christmas stress mode though :D.  Also, Oscar has chosen this time to start regularly waking me up in the early hours and Angus has decided now would be a good time to start chewing the kitchen cupboards!!  Have you now finished your main work Christmas rush or is it still hectic?

If your doggies can open doors (clever doggies ), how about putting door wedges down so the door is jammed!!  Once they get used to the bones, they get eaten very quickly so we're not talking about a long period here.

Last pre christmas delivery done today (woopie). So thought I would take a little time out for me before tackling all of those things that I have been putting off fo the last 8 weeks! I know what you mean about getting up in the early hours, Im beginning to think Hook is going senile as he waits for the coldest nights to wake me and when we get out side he appears to have forgotten what we are there for :rolleyes:

Oh you want to watch those kitchen cupboards, they are expensive to replace, although the only real chew proof thing I found was a crate. Having said that Truffle shreaded a lot of logs out of the basket but never bothered much with anything else (unless I shout at her in which case Im sure it is pure revenge).

The trouble is I have 2 doors in to the kitchen, one opening in the other out so could wedge one but the other would have to be wedged on the inside, so I cant see that lasting long. Also Hook is a true Lab and woofs his bones so fast you think he will choke. Truffle likes to savour them and tease Hook a little before finally settling down to eat, so she will take up to an hour and a half as opposed to Hooks 5 minutes flat for a lamb rib.

So you can put your feet up for all of 5 minutes then!!  I'm not sure why Oscar is getting me up at night, he doesn't seem desperate to go .  I had to laugh at Angus, despite the damage (not too bad so far), because he was sitting there like butter wouldn't melt, prepared to deny everything when he had all these bits of white round his mouth :D.  Hope he doesn't make a habit of it though.  Fortunately, my cupboards are very old.  I'm sure you're right about that revenge thing BTW :D

Re the bones, you could always mince them in their food rather than giving them whole.  They are very hard work to mince manually but I would assume with your business that you have more heavy duty stuff than me!

LOL Annie, it is amaizing how innocent they can look isnt it! Not sure that I should be putting my feet up, still loads of jobs to do just none of them are urgent at the moment. Im sure that I will pay the price later for a little leisure now.

I had thought about mincing them, but to my mind half the benefit is in the chewing. I dont have a very heavy duty mincer, hoping to upgrade to catering spec next year, but have to get kitchen refitted first and that is not going so well. The way things are going I may end up havign to find premises or convert  the garage :(

It's true that the chewing is ideal (in Angus's case though that lasts all of 30 seconds :D) but at least they would still be getting the benefit of the content of the bones.  Maybe you will have to mince them during winter and leave them whole (for eating outside) in the summer :D

Trouble with having your kitchen redone is finding a good time to do it and/or finding alternative premises to bake on in the meantime.  The good thing about having premises elsewhere is that you can shut the door and leave it.

THe way things have been I would never be at home if I had other premises! Dont think that there is any such thing as a good time to have the kitchen redone. I do have alternative premises to bake in but baking Liver cake may be pushing my luck.

:D

Mine are exactly the same, they will only eat their chicken wings in comfort, I guess they like to sit down ready for a good chomp.  I just lye a quilt over the suit, give them their chicken, they totter off to eat it (in about 5 minutes) I then remove the quilt. Stick it in the wash and hey presto, full dogs, clean suit (worn out washing machine) :-D

My lot are quite good and seem to stay on their bed or go outside ! :D :D

Not much help to you though ! LOL :D

Hi Lucy

I think mine are real couch potatoes!

Have you been on the sherry already to come up with such helpful comments :D

I wish :rolleyes: Doing some work whilst looking on here and writing my Christmas cards. Finding it hard to stop the urge to crack open the bottle of Baileys though :D

Dont ! They are giving away a bottle and a blender to crush the ice on our local radio. Glad to hear that I wasnt the last to write my cards ;)

I just pour it over Hagen Daz Baileys icecream ! Yumm !! :D :D

Come on the get on with it get that pen out and start writing ! I am seriously thinking about getting a rubber stamp made for next year !! :D

My dogs have their special bone chewing blankie,at first they would take the bones off and jump on the couch or anywhere else BUT the blanket,but i kept taking the bones and putting them back on the blanket,at first it was every 2 minutes :rolleyes: Eventually they cottoned on and realised they wouldnt get to eat their bone if they wernt on their blanket. Now i give them bones and they automatically go straight to their mat! There's too many ants and such to give them outside anyway,it wouldnt take 5 minutes till they were covered in the little buggers!

It just takes a little repetition and patience,they will get get it eventually :D Sometimes it takes them hours to finish a really big bone and there is no way they will stay in the kitchen with them,especially if i'm not there! A bit of chicken guts and bone on the furniture is a small price to pay for the health benefits and teeth cleaning properties bones give them If they MUST eat them on the chair,just throw the blankets over them,easy fixed :)