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Chewing & destructivenes... Help!

2K views 21 replies 17 participants last post by  skylielover 
#1 ·
Hey Everyone, :wave:
I haven't been on as much as I used too.. School is getting so hard.. I have to study now more than I ever had, ugh :bowl: . . hope I didn't miss too much..

Skylie is about 7 months has been out of control with the chewing. I used to keep her in the kitchen with a baby gate, but now since she is potty trained I moved her in our bedroom while we are gone. I was so proud of her for not going potty all day; however I found out she has been chewing up the baseboards by the door. She even chewed on the door! All the the wood is shredded! (There goes my apartment deposit:doh:) I can't scold her, because I'm not there to catch her in the act.

She has also been very destructive with her toys. Anything that is not hard plastic, she will rip up and eat it. I had to throw away all her favorite stuff animals and most of her toys now.. :(

I thought the chewing was worse during teething, but do they go through a worse phase at this age?

She has a kong and Nylabone, but she doesn't care about them..

I don't have a crate and she is not crate trained, so I can't crate her.

I did leave her out to roam apartment today for the first time, and she did great! She didn't tear up anything. I wanted to see if maybe she would do better not shut in a room and she did. However, this was just one day, and I feel like the issue is not resolved. I'm waiting to come home tomorrow to more shredded wood..

Any advice/suggestions before having to boot her back to the kitchen? It's a very small space for her now . . .

Thank you!
 
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#3 ·
My first thought was the same as Release the Hounds. But at 7 months starting crate training may be difficult. If you are up for it I would give Skylie a few more tries at free range puppy. Be sure to take a really good look around and make sure you are totally puppy proofed. Maybe add a few raw marrow bones to keep him occupied during the day. Sometimes leaving the TV or radio on will help. Good luck and please let us know what works.
 
#5 ·
Hey Everyone, :wave:
I haven't been on as much as I used too.. School is getting so hard.. I have to study now more than I ever had, ugh :bowl: . . hope I didn't miss too much..

Skylie is about 7 months has been out of control with the chewing. I used to keep her in the kitchen with a baby gate, but now since she is potty trained I moved her in our bedroom while we are gone. I was so proud of her for not going potty all day; however I found out she has been chewing up the baseboards by the door. She even chewed on the door! All the the wood is shredded! (There goes my apartment deposit:doh:) I can't scold her, because I'm not there to catch her in the act.

She has also been very destructive with her toys. Anything that is not hard plastic, she will rip up and eat it. I had to throw away all her favorite stuff animals and most of her toys now.. :(

I thought the chewing was worse during teething, but do they go through a worse phase at this age?

She has a kong and Nylabone, but she doesn't care about them..

I don't have a crate and she is not crate trained, so I can't crate her.

I did leave her out to roam apartment today for the first time, and she did great! She didn't tear up anything. I wanted to see if maybe she would do better not shut in a room and she did. However, this was just one day, and I feel like the issue is not resolved. I'm waiting to come home tomorrow to more shredded wood..

Any advice/suggestions before having to boot her back to the kitchen? It's a very small space for her now . . .

Thank you!
I think she is bored, try to get some new chew toys that keep her busy for a while, antlers, stuffed frozen Kong's work great. Good Luck!
 
#6 ·
I too think she is bored with you gone. I too would try a stuffed Kong with treats or peanut butter, or Klondike likes the stuffed sterilized white bones. I think too, that if you have given her more space now, she may not feel as confined and chew of the wood, etc. so much. Good luck to you, Klondike's thing was the wall around my door...he LOVED that drywall....SIGH.....and he also did some chewing on my wood trim. she will get better!!:)
 
#8 ·
I would also go for the crate, or an x-pen, something to safely contain her when you're not there. Crates are not just for teaching housebreaking.

If that's not possible, then the next thing would be to totally puppy proof a space for her. Get some bitter apple and spray everything she might think about chewing within that space - walls, corners, wood.... remove any cords or items that she could eat, including stuffed animals, pillows (the fiber filling is deadly if they eat it). Start taking her for an hour walk in the morning before you leave her, again in the evening and also look at taking some training classes of some sort to get her busy when you are there.

Lana
 
#9 ·
Once when we first moved into this house, Sam decided he'd chew on the baseboard by the back door while my boyfriend and I were at dinner. We came home, and saw the little toothmarks (luckily he didn't chew it too badly).. so I went and got the bitter apple spray out, sprayed it right in his mouth, then let him watch me spray it on the baseboard. You better believe he never chewed that baseboard again. We are firm believers in bitter apple spray. LOL

As for the other stuff, yea, sounds like she's bored.. and has some energy to burn. If I know I'm gonna be gone for the evening (and my dogs are both adults, and generally lazy bums when I'm gone.. but I still do this) I make sure to give them a ton of exercise during the day. Tired dogs behave so much better than ones with energy to burn.

Sounds like you could also do some serious dog-proofing. When I leave I make sure there is NOTHING around they could possibly get into.. sure, sometimes I miss that random piece of mail on the counter.. and come home to shredded "snow" all over the house. I know it can be tough, but you really have to take everything out of the equation that she could get into, if not for your stuff's safety but hers... my boyfriend had a bad habit of leaving his dirty socks laying around... well 10 socks eaten by Dillon later, and enough lecturing from me about how if one causes a blockage in Dill's intestinal tract I would cause a blockage on bf's face with my fist (joke), he finally got it and we are both diligent about picking up our dirty laundry and really anything the dogs might find appetizing or fun to shred.
 
#10 ·
Secondary teething phase. Chewing increases to set adult teeth in skull.

I have a small apartment kitchen too and use it with a baby gate. It's maybe 4 x 8. Plenty of room for a dog to move around a bit, rest, lie quiet and play with toys, etc. I'd avoid keeping her loose -- to many things she can damage or hurt herself with.
 
#11 ·
She is definitely bored. Dogs become destructive when they have nothing else to do. Crate training is a great tool for preventing this. We also have a 7-month-old pup and he is always crated when we leave the house and can't take him with us.
 
#12 ·
While you are gone add the kongs or marrow bones stuff to keep her busy, but while you ARE there I think she needs more exercise! Does she get chances to really run a lot and stretch her legs or play with other dogs? I know doggie daycares cost a lot, but any of your friends have dogs she can play with? Enclosed baseball parks are a great place to let dogs RUN and fetch and smell new things that will tire her out.

good luck!
 
#13 ·
I had an 'incident' myself last night with Dakota, my 9.5 Y/O, who is well grown out of his chewing stage (except his bones).

I had to leave at 2:30pm for a Dr's appointment, and dummy here forgot to put the trash can in the Laundry Room as is standard practice when I'm not home.

And I use a 39 Gallon can, not one of those wimpy kitchen cans. It was about 2/3 full.

O M G

I leave it to your imagination what I found when I got home at 5:30 :)

And apparently Ronin, the Siamese, decided to partake in the action. He ate some Coffee Grounds.

And boy was he wired!

He was sitting in the middle of the living room floor, flicking his head around in circles like crazy, like he was being attacked by bumblebee's. Running around, taking mad leaps through the air, etc... Basically, he thought he was Super-Cat. All he needed was a cape.

He's fine this morning :)
 
#14 ·
How much exercise is she getting? At that age they are energizer bunnies! :( I would up the exercise... a lot! Buy the rubber chew toys that are made to stuff. Mine love the black rubber bones that you cram stuff into.. I stuff with baby carrots and apples, a few cookies and a tad of peanut butter. We rub a tad of cream cheese or even bacon grease on a new nylabone.. to get them interested. Maybe a Buster Cube.. a toy you can load dog food into and by them pushing it around with their nose a piece will fall out. You can adjust how fast it comes out.. You don't want to much that she has to potty. If she keeps being destructive it will become a habit and will continue.. even after the teething is over with. I would buy an exercise pen.. a wire one. Put it someplace where she can not reach anything on the floor to chew up. You could have it right up againt the base boards and she wouldn't be able to chew them. They will fold up flat when not in use. This too shall pass! :crossfing
 
#15 ·
I think everyone's spot on here to suggest crating, since it's not just your baseboards that are in danger when she goes on a chewing kick. Failing that, go for more exercise and a variety of toys for different kinds of chewing impulses.

One other thing I haven't seen in the thread yet: it might help to work on reducing any potential anxiety, since excessive chewing can be a sign of nervousness. Ignore her for five minutes before you leave and the first five minutes you're back. If you can make your comings and goings totally uneventful, she might be a little more willing to relax and sleep while you're gone.
 
#16 ·
I am personally not a fan of crating - every dog I've had or dogs that Masen plays with that have been crated are always more out of control than the dogs that have been raised out of a crate - that's just my personal experience. Masen is 5 months old and hasn't chewed up a single item in the house (knock on wood) except for his bones (the bag of bones at Petsmart are the only things that masen will chew on, he doesn't care one second for kongs or nylabones, they just lay around the house untouched). Masen has been a "free range" puppy since he was 12 weeks old, no accidents, no torn up items (again, knock on wood)

Masen also gets a good two hours a day of outside play time with other dogs at the park at least five days a week. This is key to him being a calm, sweet dog all the time I think!

Good luck!!
 
#17 ·
I'll agree with the others.
Crate or X-pen. (which removes opportunity)
Exercise. (which saps energy)
Stimulation (which removes incentive)

FWIW, it doesn't seem realistic to expect a pup that age to restrain themselves.
Hank (Ambika GR) has a pup (Oriana?) that got through the preliminaries in obedience at the National Championships at like seven months (pardon if some of the details are a little off.) That's pretty amazing.
He told another poster that even at 12 months he keeps her either supervised or confined because she isn't completely trustworthy around a few temptations. (electrical cords maybe?)
The moral seems to me that it's not mean to confine a dog, it's necessary both for his safety and your sanity.

allen
 
#22 ·
Thank you for all the suggestions. very good advice. :wave:

I don't think it's a good idea to start crate training a rebellious 7 month old (plus the kitchen is set up just like a crate except bigger). That's what we used instead of a crate (we had some reasons for not using one)

Well it's been day 2 of free roaming in the apartment, and she did great! I did not found any base boards or doors chewed up! I'm really wondering what made her go on the chewing rampage in the bedroom though. I agree with a lot of you though - I think it's boredom as well. My husband and I are in college from 7-4, so I'm sure she gets bored. At least in the full apartment she can walk around, lay on the couch or even look out the big window in the living room (which she loves to do!, see attached pic ;))

She gets as much exercise as we can, I know she may need more sometimes though. We walk her in the morning and run her when we get home.

I'm going to search for more chew toy options. I quit using rawhide or any animal skins/parts, because I think they upset her stomach.

Thanks again,

I'm hoping every day will be like this one:crossfing, but who knows what she may feel like chewing on... :eek:
 

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