I realize that you are probably up to your ears in unwanted and redundant dog advice, but training can reduce unwanted chewing. Chewing is frequently a sign of anxiety. A good trainer should be able to help you figure out the root cause and give you exercises to work on at home. Some dogs need to go back to training classes on a regular basis to reduce the unwanted behaviors.

Whenever I've sick with a cold/flu bug, eating lots of indian food always makes me feel better.

Personally, I'm a fan of organic echinacea and/or chamomile tea. I also find that real ginger ale (especially Reed's Extra Ginger) can be really nice. If the weather & pollution are mild enough where you are, fresh air is probably a good idea too.

Avoiding comfort drugs in general usually speeds my recovery. An important exception to this though is that, in the event you're so miserable that you're not sleeping, NyQuil definitely does more good than harm.

This is going to sound crazy/gross but I swear it works for me and my wife:

Crush up some garlic (if you have it pre-crushed or in a paste that's ok too), get 2 pairs of old sweat socks and 2 plastic baggies big enough to hold your foot. You put the garlic in between and under your toes, you put one pair of sweat socks on over it, you put the baggies over the sweat socks and you put the other pair of sweat socks over the baggies to hold them on. Wear it as long as you can, and refresh the garlic every 12 hours.

We swear by this (especially sleeping over night) and it wacks out any cold/flu you've got brewing. The rough principle is the natural antibiotic and immune system boosting chemicals in the garlic are absorbed better into the bloodstream through the thin skin of your toes than when you digest it and the sweating inside the baggies (aside from keeping sweaty garlic off your floors and/or sheets) helps activiate the process

PS - I've been lurking for months and find it personally amusing that the first post I feel comfortable making is about cold/flu remedies ;-)

Sweating. Excercise is tough to do sick, but it can also work wonders.

I prefer Clariton (however it's spelled) over Sudafed, because I'm super sensitive to cold meds and the like. Clariton is the only one that doesn't make me feel like ass.

I can't touch Benadryl because it pretty much makes me hallucinate as I sleep. It's awful. NyQuil isn't much better.

Other than that: 100% orange juice and water. Lots of both! And hot tea.

And, really, instead of NyQuil I prefer a "hot tottie" -- tea, whiskey, and honey. Not enough to get you drunk, of course. :)

Take a break! Health always comes first.

Hey NthnBrazil,

I'm curious; after sleeping with the garlic/socks/plastic bag combo, is any effort required to get rid of the smell/stickiness beyond a single shower for the user and a single laundry cycle for the socks & sheets?

Oh no the shoes! My dog went through a shoe chewing stage as a puppy which is thankfully over now. I lost my two favorite pairs of shoes. I couldn't even stand to throw them out - I had to have my husband do it for me! It looks like, however, you might be able to repair some of those shoes. I was able to restore 2 pair of chewed shoes to near perfect condition.

As for the cold, I hear ya! I am home sick today too. If you have congestion, one of my favorite treatments (aside from a hot shower) is HOT black tea with a half a shot of amaretto.

So sorry about the shoes- my dog learns everything by putting it in his mouth- my perfect red espadrilles most recently...sadness.

Try eating boatloads of oranges and drinking LOTS of green tea as hot as you can stand it. Might be a placebo effect, but I swear it never fails for me. Feel better!

That doesn't make sense! There's no way garlic goes into your blood better through your toes. There's a lot of skin there, and fat, and muscle, and basically layers and layers of tissue whose job it is to keep things that you step on out of your bloodstream. Your GI tract on the other hand has a direct link in; its job is to get the nutrients you eat efficiently into your blood and to the rest of your body. Maybe keeping it there for hours and hours is the key. It's like a constant garlic infusion.

Unicron - for the clothes one cycle is fine. For the individual, the shower handles the surface stuff, but I find that any heavy intake of garlic (either eaten or on the skin) causes your sweat to smell vaguely of garlic for a few hours afterwards, even with a shower.

Rhian - It is the sweat and the constant contact that helps, but the problem with the GI tract is that the alicin and other compunds in garlic are broken down a bit in the digestion process and changed chemically. Think of the toes thing as the same principle as sub-lingual medication you put under your tongue to be absorbed through the skin where the blood-vessels are so close to the surface they are visible (which now that I mention it probably works with the garlic as well if you can stand sucking on raw garlic). The skin under and between your toes has blood vessels very close to the surface as well. Not talking about the sole of your foot here or even the pads of your toes, but between and under them. The skin is very thin and there is no muscle or fat there.

Wait 'till he starts chewing the crotch out of your panties - that's when the real fun starts. I can't decide what to mourn more: the loss of amazing vintage shoes or the loss of expensive, beautiful underpants.

And my dog wasn't cute enough for it to be worth it.

Rhian - a helpful link that helps explain why the toes thing works better than eating fresh garlic:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allicin

TheSoyMilkConspiracy - LOL!
I've lost many panties as well, and a hundred dollar retainer..

My cat has a nasty habit of knocking over cups of water onto expensive and irreplaceable things, like sketchbooks with art in it and my ipod player. I share your pain.

Oh yes, the retainers! That damn dog also ate at least 3 of mine. The best was the day we caught her gnawing on one of my many pieces of orthodontia just in time to keep it from getting seriously mauled...but then my mom tried to sterilize the retainer via boiling, and melted it to the bottom of the pan. Headslap.

Eat lots of potassium--apricots, dark green veggies, avocado, raisins and figs are great sources. And drink lots of water.

Your body is probably dehydrated and you need the water to replenish and the potassium to minimize that "body ache" exhausted feeling.

Hope you feel better soon!

I was fostering a Boxer Mix since February(he was just adopted on Saturday - Happy Mother's Day to me) and he was still very puppy. He and one of my boxers (she turned into a puppy by osmosis even though she's 6) started chewing my shoes! I had just read It's a Jungle Out There and there's a hilarious chapter about shoes. Interestingly they ate ALL of my heals and dressy shoes. I decided they were trying to help me be a better feminist. Haha.

Shit! Looks like shoe genocide! I'm happy I've got cats - they just shred your hands.

Ok, so I know this sounds crazy... but OREGANO OIL!!!

I swear it works... according to my online research, you have to find the kind with the right amounts of concentrations of certain things... i think its important that you get one with less than 5% thyme because thyme doesnt really work. also, if u get pure oregano oil u have to dilute it somehow. the kind i get is by a brand called "oreganol" and it comes already diluted. it tastes like CRAP but if u put a few drops in a small cup of water & take it like a shot its not so bad. i swear its the best... i started taking it last year and i havent had a cold since about july (i usually get them constantly). feel better!

*DISCLAIMER: i take it when i feel a cold coming on.. i make no guarantees for the flu.. but it cant hurt (it supposedly boosts your immune system and fights bacteria)