How do I deal with dog chewing?

mary43

My friends dog, well puppy really, has started chewing the furniture.....so far the sofa, stair rail, skirting boards and 4 pairs of shoes.
What can she do to stop this -if anything ?
She works full time and there's never a problem when she's at home. She's bought chewy toys for the puppy but it seems to prefer the furniture

linda.b_4

If the puppy cant be supervised, it should be confined to either one room, where it cant get up to mischief, or crated. I've got an 8 month old pug and she has never chewed anyting that isnt her own toy. My puppy is only ever left for a few hours at a time in a crate with 3 kong toys which occupy her when I'm out. Leaving it all day while working full time is a long time to leave a pup on its own. My opinion only.

mary43

Thanks linda - I should have said........my friend isn't away all day - she is always home at lunchtimes and her husband pops home mid morning and mid afternoon..........the damage seems to be done in between those times. They do have another dog who was 18 months old when they had him and hes lovely and the two dogs get on very well. The younger one is more lively, obviously. Both are confined to one room but there isn't a room in the house where there isn't any furniture. Luckily its an old sofa........they made a point of not getting a new one just in case this sort of thing happened. They've got a stair gate fitted to prevent either dog going upstairs so now at least the bannisters are safe.
Maybe when the puppy is older the chewing will stop - hopefully.

anna42hmr

there are some sprays that you can get from the pet shop that are non toxic and do not cause damage to furniture that you can spray on the furniture which puts the dog off chewing then

cluuuuur

I'm all for crate training. Both of mine go in their crates, which means that the only things that can ever be destroyed is their bedding, or their kongs. Minimises stress for the dogs (as they just go to sleep whilst we're out) and they can't get to anything to do any damage.

Has your friend tried stuffing Kongs (a little peanut butter and some biscuits works well) as a distraction for the dog? Mine will go at theirs for hours - perhaps some food-based redirection of chewing might work for her.

addictedtolush

Another pro crate here. I have a golden retriever puppy (10 months now). She was a !!!!!! for chewing, ripped up the stairs carpet, shredded mail and put a huge hole in the wall by eating the plaster. I always thought crates were cruel but I was soooo wrong. When I am not home or even when I go upstairs for a while I crate her. She loves it and has been a settled dog since, she takes herself into it as I leave the door open when I am home. Would highly reccomend it and am gutted I didnt get one sooner.

craftyfox

we have had 2 samoyads and they loved to chew one passed away 3 years ago at the age of 11 and the other is still going at 13 and we tried everything sprays toys leaving the radio on my old sweater and the best we found was to smear tabasco sauce on what ever they were not supposed to chew - they managed to chomp their way through a solid wood kitchen amounst other things but they loved plastic :eek:

foreign_correspondent

someone told me clove oil wiped on the things they like to chew puts them off! I dont know if this is true but it might be worth a try.

Errata

anna42hmr wrote: »

there are some sprays that you can get from the pet shop that are non toxic and do not cause damage to furniture that you can spray on the furniture which puts the dog off chewing then

They worked for my four legged demolition expert ! The dog groomer told me that lemon juice also works.

mary43

Thanks all for your help. I'll pass this on to my friend .............must admit I'd not heard about using a crate before.........

smileypigface

Our springer puppy is crated - he loves his crate, it's his den and quiet haven. We have one in the car too so he's nice and safe on car journeys and if we are away from home he settles immediately in his familiar safe place.

Occasionally he has shown interest in chewing furniture and we have found a wipe over of the chair/skirting board/door frame etc with a few drops of olbas oil on a piece of kitchen roll keeps him away - keeps all our 'tubes' clear too!