[Roxy's Dad]

I swear, Roxy can be the most annoying little brat when it comes to her toys. Fetch and wrestle are lots of fun with her, even when a stray tooth gets clamped down on the hands. But one thing she continually does is find ways to wedge her squeaky toys under the furniture. She will fixate on the toy, trying to paw it out from under the couch/endtable/loveseat, only pushing it farther back towards the center. And if you chastise her for pawing at the furniture, she will get all sassy and bark at you until she gets her toy back! On average, we're forced to move the furniture at least once a day to retrieve whatever squeaky she wedged under there.

I actually think she has developed this as part of her game now. I know many people anthropomorphize their dogs, but I swear, she does this intentionally in order to get more attention.

Advice on how to break her of this? I've tried putting flat boxes underneath the furniture in order to prevent the toys from getting wedged under there, but those get pushed back along with the toys. And since we have tile floors, no friction to hold the boxes in place.

 

[Mom of 2 Beagles]

Pooh Bear has a ball that usually winds up under the furniture every time he plays with it. And yes he will do anything to paw, scratch, reach his nose under to try to retrieve it. I don't know how to remedy this. We usually think it is funny when he gets a toy stuck under the furniture. It is funny to watch him try to get it out. Of course Pooh is 8 years old now and gives up pretty quickly.

 

[Murphys Dad]

Bigger toys or lower furniture.

Sorry.. that was too easy.

 

[Murphys Dad]

Originally Posted By: Murphy & Summer's DadBigger toys or lower furniture.

Sorry.. that was too easy.

I agree! Chloe used to be able to crawl under the TV table when I first brought her home, but now - all that she can do is this:

And that's after she squeezes herself half way in

 

[CarrieD]

Menolly crawls under the couch, computer desk, and my parents' bed and it drives us nuts; especially the day she surfaced with a family picture!

Wish I had some advice for you.

 

[Brisen]

My husband and I were just talking about this same thing last night. We were trying to watch the Olympics, and Maggie kept getting her toy stuck under the couch. If we didn't get it out immediately, she'd paw and scratch at it, then start barking.

After a few retrievals by my husband, we watched her for a few minutes, and we saw ber actually lay down on her side and push the toy under the couch with her paw!

After that, there was no question whether or not it was deliberate. We figure it was her way of telling us to pay attention to her and not the TV. Smart little critters...when they want to be!

 

[Zookeeper]

Our will sometimes get their toy stuck (or, even worse, a treat!), but luckily not often.

My friend has a Yorkie that intentionally gets his ball under furniture and this dog is ball crazy, so he drives them nuts until they fetch it. So she takes towels or other obstructions to keep the ball from going under there. It's pretty funny, he tries to move the towels (or boxes in the case of the microwave cabinet) to get his ball under there.

 

[Murphys Dad]

Originally Posted By: zookeeper My friend has a Yorkie that intentionally gets his ball under furniture and this dog is ball crazy, so he drives them nuts until they fetch it.

Question? Who is training who?

 

[Zookeeper]

Oh, Bailey has them well trained! LOL

 

[angelaH]

Our last beagle, Spotty, used to do this. We just laughed and helped her get it, eventually she got bored. I wish our present two would play with toys, we would be more than willing to play the game of retrieve.

 

[Gingergoose]

Originally Posted By: Chloe's Mommy.[/quote

I agree! Chloe used to be able to crawl under the TV table when I first brought her home, but now - all that she can do is this:

And that's after she squeezes herself half way in

Great picture! That looks like the perfect time to tickle two beagle feet!

 

[Nolan]

Without a doubt, my Josie will intentionally push her ball under the couch. Retreiving it is just another game to play... We would have to constantly crawl on the floor and fish it out with a yard stick that we kept under there for just such an occurance.

My wife's parents were throwing out a bunch of pillows. We took four of them, and stuffed them under the couch, so now she can't 'lose' her ball under there anymore...

 

[debannib]

Good luck breaking her from it. Maggie is three and still loves to do that....then bark like crazy until somebody comes to rescue the ball, bone or toy.

I will say, it doesn't happen as often as when she was a pup

 

[don&ernie]

Ruby does this ALL THE TIME. It gets annoying sometimes when we're tying to watch TV. I wind up putting the offending toy away, and she moves on to something else to obsess over! (Usually my feet!)

I agree that the best remedy is to find toys that won't easily find their way under the furniture. That's also what we do for many of Ruby's toys. If she obsesses over a lost toy, we'll sometimes just substitute it for a bigger one.

I sometimes wonder if she turns it into a game, too! We just got a throw rug in our hardwood floor living room, so that's helped a bit with coffee table roll-unders.

Good luck, and try not to let it frustrate you too much. I know it can be a challenge sometimes!

 

[brandypup]

lol no clue, happeneds here also.

 

[Kath]

The worst for us was under the couch. My husband built a wooden frame that fits under the couch and goes all the way around the inside underneath the couch. Lily used to go under then when she was small enough and scratch the underside of the couch but we left it under there to keep her from knocking toys under it..we've forgotten it's even there anymore.

 

[Kath]

Oh these are handy too so that you don't have to move things..

Amazon.com: Medline 31" Reacher: Health & Personal Care

 

[rayone]

I try distracting Mixer with another toy so she forgets about the one under the couch or TV and then I can get it out when I have time.