It took me a while to figure it out with Sampson.  He was always such a good boy and very rarely chewed anything (well except for that footrest on the breakfast bar but we didn’t like it anyway.)  Chet and I have a fairly quiet life and Sampson was raised in that lifestyle and he is probably one of the most mellow dogs you will ever meet. 

But I noticed one time after we had a house full of people, that Sampson had taken one of his toys and ripped a hole in it and pulled all the “fluff” out.  I thought for a moment and realized he always did that after we had a larger than normal crowd (such as what gathers for the holidays.)  Then it dawned on me that because of our normally quiet lifestyle a crowd with the noise and commotion that goes along with it, could be somewhat stressful for him.  Rather than locking him away from the crowd, we make sure he has plenty of inexpensive toys that he can pull the stuffing out of.  Sometimes I even pick the stuffing up and shove it back inside so he can pull it out again!

Delilah loves to pull the stuffing out too, but not in the same way Sampson does.  You can tell when he wants your help too, because he brings the toy to you and he tugs on it, when he hears the first ripping sound he pulls all the harder.  They both love to find the little squeaker and “disable” it; then they play with the plastic bubble and will actually toss it up in the air.

I don't know what happened; it came like that. Honest.

 I love the way he is looking at this out of the corner of his eye, as if to say, “I didn’t do it.”

Whoo, that relieved some stress and now I can sleep.

It never fails, as soon as I put the vacuum away they tear up a toy!

Mmmm that was one tasty toy!

As I said, Delilah even likes to get in on it; although I think she might be prone to eat the fluff!

So don’t get angry when your little bundle of fur if he/she tears something up, there may be something that is stressing them out or maybe they are bored; try to encourage them to chew their own toys and provide them with lots of inexpensive toys that they can tear up.