Our 2 1/2-year-old JRT is a great dog in almost all ways, but he has one odd habit: on occasion, he chews out the crotch of my daughter’s or my pants or underpants. This never happens with the clothing of my husband or son. What on earth? He stayed with friends over the holidays, and the same thing happened – he chewed up two pairs of their daughter’s underwear, and ignored their son’s things.
Why does he only destroy girls’ unmentionables (and pants) and not boys’?
I’m no vet or anything, but assuming your dog is male it’s probably just enjoying the taste/smell of the hormones/pheromones contained within said unmentionables. 2 of the 3 dogs my parents had growing up did this also if they had access to said female unmentionables. (and both dogs were neutered)
In the grand scheme of things, it’s an easy problem to fix. Get a clothes hamper or move your laundry high enough the dog can’t reach it (ok, with a great dane, maybe that isn’t too easy of a fix.) 
2 1/2 dog years = 15-20 in human years. The dog’s basically a horny teenager, and unless there’s a huge teddy bear or a female dane around, he’s gotta get his jollies somewhere. 
Ah! Thank you, that was a bit of information I had intended to include in the OP – he’s neutered, and is indeed male.
We have a tall laundry hamper (and no Great Dane!), so the main issue has been reminding my daughter to put her clothes in the hamper each and every time. I learned quickly not to drop my clothes on the floor after he chewed big holes in my favorite pair of black denim capris … I’m still grieving.
Heck, you don’t even need the hormones and pheromones. . . it just smells interesting and chewable (to a dog’s nose).
For dogs, chewing is a pleasurable experience on it’s own. Bonus if the chewables have a fun smell!
Nah chewing panties is just kinky, he’s not a full blown perve till he raids the bathroom wastebasket 
Been there, done that, caused me to wonder what the hell could possibly be so enticing about used Q-tips! 
Ah, this brings back a fond memory from my childhood . . . our dog running around with a used tampon in his mouth, and my mother frantically trying to catch him. 
I have an underpants-chewing dog too, but mine’s female (spayed).
I also think it’s just interesting smell/taste, smells like me (eww), chewing is a comfort activity.
I like having all the new underwear, I just wish I hadn’t been FORCED to buy it.
Same here. I don’t leave underwear within paw’s reach. Teaches me to put it in the hamper.
Female, spayed, and she still humps her teddybear like Ron Jeremy!
Same here. Mine will actually sift through the laundry basket to get at them. She’s really starting to get on my nerves. Gone through 12 pairs this month alone. Probably time to get a basket with a lid.
It’s a little more than that. The old 7 dog years = 1 human year isn’t very accurate. This chart is a bit more accurate. (The site seems to be down so I had to use a cache.) He’s effectively in his early 20’s.
My dog does the same thing with my husband’s socks. He does a lot of physical labor in his job (he works in construction), and his socks can get pretty ripe. Fortunately she doesn’t destroy them. She just gnaws and drools on them untill we take them away from her.
High time this mooch got a job to pay us back for the unmentionables deficit!
My spayed female beagle would do this, but I’m really careful about keeping my underoos in the closet with the door firmly closed. My husband isn’t so concerned, so I occasionally see her relishing the crotch of his boxers.
The male beagle just looks at her with an “ooh, you’re going to be in trouble” look on his face.
I used to think my dog chewing used Q-tips from the bathroom trash was gross… Until she acquired a taste for used feminine pads. :eek:
I’ve come to the conclusion that my dog simply likes to destroy things we don’t want her to, regardless of how gross or disgusting the thing may be.
Are we missing something obvious? Dogs are carnivores which are attracted to the smell of blood - and their sense of smell is much stronger than ours. Even out of the laundry, he probably still smells traces of blood. See Cecil’s column on grizzlies attacking women hikers
My neutered 1 year old 36lbs. JRT mix like to hump my 6lbs male cat. Freaky.
Ha - this one might be TMI, but our female black lab (spayed) used to like licking the towel we used for cleanup after a bit of Horizontal Samba. Used to drive me crazy waking up in the middle of the night to “slurp slurp slurp”
Dogs clean their rear ends by licking.They will clean other animals ears in the same way.The scents associated with these areas initiates their response.
Most women’s and girl’s undies have more bodily fluids on them than guy’s do. Your dog is likely attrected to that like some dogs and cats are attracted to the used Q-tips, tissues, sanitary pads and tampons in the bathroom trash, funky socks, spoojed towels, etc.