# Sucking on blanket



## Mrs. Ashley (May 4, 2012)

My GSD/English Mastiff mix, Kaylee, sucks on blankets before she goes to sleep as though she is trying to nurse. She isn't chewing on the blanket like she's trying to destroy it, she just sucks on it while kneading her paws or holds it in her mouth. She has done this since we got her at 8 weeks old, she is now 14 weeks. 

I've browsed the internet and this seems like a behavior that is more common in other breeds of dogs, especially dobermans. It was also suggested that it could be a result of being separated from the mother too soon, which I believe is what happened with her. I don't believe she was really 8 weeks old when we got her. She was so little and could barely walk. 

Most articles I've read said that this isn't a behavior that can really be stopped. Once they start, they do it into adulthood. She sucks on the comforter, blanket, and a little stuffed bunny. She only does it right before she goes to sleep, like a baby with a pacifier. 

Does anyone have any experience with this? Does it seem like something she might outgrow? I don't discourage her from doing it, but I try to redirect her from sucking on the blanket by giving her the "binky bunny". I figure if I can just get her to suck on that, maybe my throw pillows won't end up covered in dog slobber.


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## Discoetheque (Nov 2, 2011)

My youngest, Discoe, does it only with one particular toy at a time. When she was a puppy, it was a stuffed pig that had a fluffy head and a flat, stuffingless body. When that toy finally had to go about a year and a half ago, we replaced it with a Tuff frog. Now that the frog is getting pretty worn, We'll be retiring him (to the trash) and she'll get an alligator from the same company (I really like how these particular toys hold up. She does also play with them).
I'm not entirely sure when it started. I know it wasn't something she did when I first brought her home. It was something that made itself apparent much later on. She came home with me at 8 weeks old and was with her mother and siblings until that point, but it's something she still does. I just make a point to wash that toy a bit more often so saliva and bacteria don't build up, but past that, I don't think too much of it. It stays at home and doesn't accompany us on trips or anything, and she doesn't seem to feel any distress if she doesn't have it, nor will she substitute anything else like the blankets in her crate or clothing or pillows or other bedding material or even a different stuffed toy. It's almost as if it's no big deal and she does it as if it's just a way to kill time.


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## IrishRose (May 8, 2012)

When I was a 13 years old, we got a Blue Heeler from a litter where the mom died. He was only 5 weeks old and very small. He started sucking a blanket too. He bunched it up between his paws and sucked it while kneading it with his paws. He did that for all of his life. You are probably right about Kaylee being younger than 8 weeks when you got her.


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## juliejujubean (May 4, 2011)

Mrs. Ashley said:


> she just sucks on it while kneading her paws or holds it in her mouth. She has done this since we got her at 8 weeks old, she is now 14 weeks.


Sure she is not part cat? 

i have never had a dog with this behavior, but so far you are doing fine with all of your research. Good luck!


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## Mrs. Ashley (May 4, 2012)

I think it's cute and just another part of her personality that makes her our "special girl." She's doing pretty good on just using her little stuffed bunny. Its gonna be funny to see her as a 90-100 lb dog sucking on a tiny stuffed bunny toy.


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## Mrs. Ashley (May 4, 2012)

Hope this works. I got a Video of her doing it this morning.


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## jetscarbie (Feb 29, 2008)

awww,^^^^^in that video. What a cutie pie with her floppy ears. She is beautiful.

I have a cat that is 8. He still does that.


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## IrishRose (May 8, 2012)

She is doing the exact thing Rondo did. I would say she was weaned too soon/removed from other too soon. As I said in my previous post, Rondo was only 5 weeks old when my parents took him home.


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