My dog ate my elk ivories...
Elk
We're doing a partial remodel one room at a time, so everything is in disarray. I had a hinged wooden box inside an open cardboard box, in which there were about 80 ivories. Lot of memories in that box, plus a rare triple ivory set. My wife was designing a Native American style display for them all, until now.
So my two year old - going on 6 months - yellow lab found them while we were out on an errand, and SHE ATE THEM. Crunched them up like dog treats. Eight got away from her and were scattered around. Otherwise it was just a few shards.
Wondering if anyone else has lost a rack, mounted bird, or other trophy to a dog you love too much to strangle.
Nice looking lab ! We never had chewers thankfully. You may find a few more in the morning.
Jaq,
How can you fault a face like that? Beautiful lab!
LOL. I'm lucky to have a great lab that would leave a prime rib on a coffee table if she knows she's not supposed to have it. Amazes me every time.
Early CO shed hunt......................Better follow that dog around for the next few days and look for any bone in the piles.
Maybe she will poop you out some pendants and a couple ear rings, you can tell the lady they are a belated valentines gift. :)
Another case of corner crossing, I say innocent until proven guilty…
Nice looking pup!
At least it was cheaper than buying her some antler chews! ;-)
Had a friend that bowkilled a huge black bear in Wisconsin, about 20 years ago. Green scored well over 21”. He had cleaned the skull all up & had it setting on his workbench, just waiting for the 60 days, so he could get it officially scored. His daughter left the door to the shop open one day, and their mongrel hound jumped up and got ahold of it and chewed on it a bit. When Mark found it, the dog had completely chewed off both cheek bones. He said that dog was lucky that there wasn’t a gun close by.
Had a bear vertebrae with my broadhead imbedded in it sitting on a shelf in the living room for years. Walked in the door one day and the broadhead was sitting in the middle of the room on the floor. Luckily my lab didn't get hurt during the crime.
Friends golden ate about 20" off my caribou rack we stripped velvet off and had hanging too low drying in his garage.
Had a number of turkey beards my beagle took a liking to. Looked like he got into a porcupine.
"... my two year old - going on 6 months..."
haha...ain't THAT the truth!
I had a dog eat an entire foot from a bear rug
Folks are right, who could get mad at that "it's not my face look". Our 4 yr old charcoal lab, Cinder, was an aggressive chewer until recently. She'd go through a heavy duty KONG Toy in a matter of days or hours in some cases. She tore up a couple beds in her crate but never anything significant like ivories.
We found a brand of chew toy by GOUGH NUTS, they're hard rubber and virtually indestructible. They multi-layered cwith an inner "warning lsyer" olored. We bought the large size "green" rings and noticed (about a year in) some chew damage (red inner layer) beginning to show which meant it's time to replace.
Dogs pulled my coyote pelt off wall and chewed nose and foot off.have a custom knife that my wife's dog got to the handle and sheath.surprisingly I still like dogs.
Sorry you lost the ivories. Take the hound ice fishing. It’s difficult to harbor resentment while holding a trout with a dog by your side.
Sorry to hear about the elk ivories Lou. Hard to be mad at such a beautiful pup!
This reminds me of the Cheech and Chong movie when Chong asks Cheech about the weed they are smoking and he tells him it's Maui Wowie and Labrador and then proceeds to tell him about his dog eating his "stash" and following him around for a week to recover it.
ugh, had that happen.. My dog chewed a piece of my baseboard molding one time, and pulled down 4 tanned pelts that were hanging on the wall... after her punishment, she never looked at anything again that was not hers...
Well at least you have a beautiful criminal ;)
As one who love the labs and breeds them, we have never lost an animal trophy.
However! Couches, shoes, rugs, carpet, and so many other items to list.
The best one was during our first ever litter. My mom was over visiting the pups and all of a sudden says, “wheres my earring!!”? Needless to say I was on patrol constantly looking for diamonds. Fortunately for us it all came out in the end with no harm done.
I feel your pain! We have a golden doodle and she chews and eats everything she can find. Her favorites are the kids socks. We almost had to do surgery once because she ate one of those huge thin dish towels. It was stuck somewhere in her intestines for about 4-5 days. Minutes away from surgery and she pooped it out at the Vet’s.
Oh that hurts. Hurts bad.
Bad girl...but, a pretty girl !
Had a Springer Spaniel years ago. Was working crazy hours at the time so dog was not getting much attention. I had just mounted a nice mallard for a client for a Christmas present to himself. Set the bird on a table in the living room to dry so I would see it often and attend to it as needed as it dried. Working night shift, woke up mid day and head to the bathroom, pass the living room archway. Half asleep but something was off as I head down the hall. Stop, reverse course and walk into the living room. Bird was laying on floor in middle of room. Perfect circle of feathers around the piece but no skin anywhere. Even the skin on the head was gone. Went back to bed. Took the dog out to a pheasant farm I hunted for years and hunted the dog one more time and asked the old guy who ran the place if he would like the dog. Done! He , the dog , hunted till his life was done. Lots of attention too.
Well, I guess it's small consolation that others have had dogs with similar slip-ups. She's a good dog, not a chewer of stuff shes not supposed to chew (any more), just found something that smelled interesting and took advantage of it. I haven't killed her yet.
Glunt, a few weeks ago I had a similar situation with a bear vertebrate with the embedded broadhead. She found it in a box in a different room where the contractor had accidentally left the door open. Fortunately she paraded it in front of me, showing off, and no damage was done to her or the souvenir.
if she didnt crunch them, there is still hope. Be warned, they will lose a bit of their luster
Not me DAD, it was the cat. Dumb cat.
Lost half a caribou skull to my sweet little shit
One of our mutts has a strange attraction to my worn and stinky socks. They are the only thing she chews on.
Lou, I know it wouldn't be the same, but I have a bag of 32 ivories that you're welcome to have. I'll probably never do anything with them, and it would make me feel good to see them displayed somewhere,
Matt
Wow Lou, I’ve heard of guys putting ivories in coffee grounds to color them up, but running them through a dog for that purpose is a little extreme:-)
Luckily haven't had one get ahold of any mounts. My old lab did chew through a few doors in his day. If he had the whole house he was good, try to close part of it off to him and total destruction was coming to the door holding him back.
Now you have a reason to elk hunt even more to replace the pieces for the artwork
Sorry about your ivories.
My cousin I went to my uncle's camp in our teenage years with a beagle and a Irish setter, both house dogs. My uncle's rule was the dog's had to stay in the mud room. Well we figured if we vacuumed the floor he would never know. So we shut them in the bedroom, the room with least amount of stuff for them to get into. When we returned from bowhunting they greeted us at the mud room door-not good. They chewed the door molding off until they could work on the bedroom door and proceeded to make it a doggie door. Uncle had a heart of gold but he sure was upset with us.
Smtn10PT,
Why did you decide to eat elk ivories? :)
I can relate!!!
But then again, my sofa buddy of 13 years went to dog heaven in August, and right now I'd trade ALL the "trophies" I've collected to have her back with us. Getting old I guess.....
NOT GUILTY! Jac: Just one look at her cute innocent little face is enough to convince me you fabricated a story just to explain away your negligence. You need to apologize to your dog and feed her a nice big treat. Anyway, I am sorry you lost your ivories. I know that has to hurt.
Jaquomo, I guess that I learned something new today. I would have assumed that ivory is approximately the same hardness as enamel. It surprises me that the dog was able to crush them......by chance, did you check to see if the dog chipped any teeth?
First black bear I ever shot - about 25 years ago. Had a full body mount. The base was almost completely covered in leaves and tall grass clumps (not anymore). I had noticed over months and months the leaves would fall off on the floor or broken missing grass. Thought maybe due to age of mount. I had never seen my dog so much as sniff it when I was around. Then one day I heard a noise, went to investigate. Apparently he’s been taking that bear to pound town for quite some time. Have caught him half dozen times since. I think I even got a pic of him in the act.
Bowfreak, Ive always heard the saying "This too, shall pass" and wanted to test it out.
Jake, my bag of ivories has definitely become more brittle over the years, especially the older ones, and they have lost a lot of their color. I doubt Lou's dog chipped any teeth. It was probably similar to chewing on crunchy dog treats to him.
Matt
Lou, it appears he has no regrets! LOL.
"So my two year old - going on 6 months "
Nope, two year olds being two. They are without a doubt the worst. Six month olds don't know better. Two year olds know they are right and don't care for another opinion.
I had to laugh at this story only because it eases the pain caused by two year olds in my past.
Sorry to hear Lou. A friend’s German shorthair got in my game bag once on the way home from a dove hunt and ate 8 out of a limit of 15. I happened to look in the back of the truck and witnessed the last one going down her throat, whole. She shit feathers for 3-4 days after that:)
When I was little my dad lost his mountain lion rug to a shih tzu, chewed it’s ears completely off
Know the feeling as I have had the muzzle of a fresh elk cape and a different time the muzzle of a fresh mule deer cape chewed off by different dogs belonging to my son. These incidents happened in just a few minutes away from the garage. Regarding the elk incident, my wife returned home from shopping and asked if someone had died from the look on my face. Different son's dog pulled a bobcat rug off the wall and chewed part of it. No dogs were injured as l guess dogs will be dogs and we humans have to be extra careful.
I had an oryx Euro skull leaning in the corner of our living room for years. Then one day out of the blue our small dog decided to chew on it a bit. None the worse for wear with a little super glue, but made me rethink how/where to display trophies.
Woodguy65- too funny!!!! LOL
Had several pm’s to see pic of story above. He’s a character…lol
With a handle like "Woodguy65", I gotta ask....what is the dog's name....Woody?!! Absolutely hilarious story AND photo! Made my day!!
I gave my parents a lemur mount that I took a Best of Professional Division Award at the World Taxidermy Championships. One of my nieces or nephews dogs at the ear off of it. I don't compete often and the dang dog ate it.
In fall of 1988, I got a call from my taxidermist that my fish mount was done. It was a "school mount" with 3 big yellow perch and some drift wood. I took it home and hung it up on the wall. The next day, I got a call from my roommate and he told me that our 7 month old yellow lab puppy had destroyed the mount. Evidently, he had jumped from the couch, knocked the mount from the wall, ate 2 of the freeze dried fish and was caught in the act of eating fish #3!
I never even got a picture of that mount!
That dog lived until late October 2001 and I loved him dearly, but I sure didn't like him much the day he got my only fish mount.
Nice pup !
I have had 3 labradors now . Each so different personalities . The first was an alpha male . Was a grazer when he ate. The second was a hippie who would only eat with you . He would actually carry a mouthful of food at a time into the living room to eat with you if you were dining and watching TV, just to be with you . He would wait till you ate.
These two you could leave them alone with anything and they would not touch it .
First two were hunting machines.
The 3rd we have now . Lives to eat . And no interest in hunting . Not sure if we can trust him with stuff that has a smell to it .
All great dogs . Hopefully you get some more ivories . I have a selfbow with an ivory as the arrow shelf .
Good luck .
On a side note, there is a vet who works at a zoo , says antlers can chip your dogs teeth , if you use them as chewables.
lab, you let her eat them by not putti them up. I have a 5 month old Belguim Shepard Turv). When I am awake he is fine. When I take a nap on the couch he turns evil. I lock every room
Don't worry,he will surely shat them out.
She's fine, no sign of remnants so we suspect she crunched them up like other bones.
Elkpacker, she isn't normally a vandal, except for an occasional unattended sock that she likes to show off as a trophy. If I had a clue she would eat teeth, I sure would have put them in a locked room. As it was, this happened to be the top box in several stacks of cardboard boxes of stuff from the room being remodeled, and they were inside another wooden box, under some other stuff in the cardboard box. So not like they were just sitting out. But she sniffed them out anyway.
When my wife and I were first married we lived in an apartment in a college town while she finished her degree. We had a complete a**hole yellow lab. Hardest headed dog I ever met. But he finally got to where we trusted him out on his own.
My wife had just got a steal on a shirt at a sale and was really proud of it. Typical youngsters, not much money at the time. So sales were a big deal. She placed it in the bag on top of the kitchen island.
I came downstairs and that turd lab had walked by 4 shirts that were drying on the back of the table chairs, and had somehow gotten that new shirt down and was chewing on it. I just gasped, and he looked real guilty, and walked over and kenneled himself :)
I still miss that dog sometimes. He disappeared a few years later (got out of his e-fence and disappeared)
When my yellow lab was a pup about 6 months old he dug under my bed and found a takedown recurve in a fleece case and chewed through the fleece to get to the bow and chewed on the limb tips. I can still shoot that bow, lucky for him. He was on my shit list for a while after that. No idea why he wanted that one so bad. There were at leaset half a dozen others strung laying around he could have gotten to but didn't. Weird!
My brother-and-law and family visited with their two young children and Great Dane puppy. I thought the kids would be the home wreckers. Boy, was I wrong! The puppy proceeded to pee on our carpet, ate my bobcat skull (whole), then proceeded to puke it up on the same carpet. The pup did clean up by eating his bone-crushed vomit back-up. This all occurred in about two-minutes time! I guess it could have been worse but damn I liked that bobcat.
If elk teeth only swallowed whole,= X-Lax
Have lost an antelope skull, deer skull and elk ivories. 3 different dogs. None of which are still owned by me. :-)
Honestly it fell off the coat rack
Woodguy65: That pic of your dog with yogi was a hoot! Boys will be boys! And just to show that the object of their affections doesn't even need to wear fur, here's a pic of Bullwinkle loving up to a bronze pronghorn in our town park.
If you had reacted quickly enough, 3% hydrogen peroxide poured down their throat with a funnel will get them vomiting within 5 minutes. Then you get the fun of fishing for the remains.
How do I know this? My Boykin has swallowed my hearing aids twice. Once they were fine but the second time she crunched one.
0.5 to 1 mililitre per pound
Too late for the peroxide when we got home, but from the evidence on the scene and afterwards..) she crunched them up like kibble. Never found a whole one in her poop.
Mine just ate my brand-new red wings that I haven't even got to wear.
Cheech's dog at his stash, man. He had to follow for 3 days to get it back!!! Dogs seem to know what you value and chew it up for some kind of vengance.
My daughter's golden doodle has a thing for TV remotes. He has eaten two of them so far.
I also discovered that in the rampage she ate a grizzly tooth I found in North Park CO, at least 100 years after the last known grizz was in that area.. :-(
