How do I deal with dog chewing?

CaroLondon

sarabe wrote: »

Dogs are amoral. They have no concept of right or wrong.

I totally agree with the rest of your post but.....................have you never seen a dog look guilty? :shocked:

My William always knew when he had done something he shouldn't of, usually he would hide behind the sofa, with his little guilty face poking out, moving further out until he thought it was safe, I don’t know where he got this from, I never hit him or shouted (well once, when I found my 4 month old sofa in a trillions bits all over the house but that would have been enough to make a saint lose it :mad:).

If whatever he had done wasn't blindingly obvious he used to be extremely over affectionate when he saw me, but still had a guilty look in his eye which made me search the house until I found out what it was :rotfl:

Bubby

Hughesy84 wrote: »

Just discipline him - tell him no, give him a little tap on the nose or shout when he does it....make him know that its wrong!

The dog will only ignore you if he doesnt think you will do anything about it..

Please tell me that was said in jest:eek:

You should never train a dog by making it fearful of you

sarabe

CaroLondon wrote: »

I totally agree with the rest of your post but.....................have you never seen a dog look guilty? :shocked:

My William always knew when he had done something he shouldn't of, usually he would hide behind the sofa, with his little guilty face poking out, moving further out until he thought it was safe, I don’t know where he got this from, I never hit him or shouted (well once, when I found my 4 month old sofa in a trillions bits all over the house but that would have been enough to make a saint lose it :mad:).

If whatever he had done wasn't blindingly obvious he used to be extremely over affectionate when he saw me, but still had a guilty look in his eye which made me search the house until I found out what it was :rotfl:

The dog is responding to your reaction. It will be appeasement, not guilt.

Try this experiment. Take a tennis ball or your dog's favourite toy, walk into the room, put it on the floor and then point to it whilst looking at your dog and asking "DID YOU DO THAT?"

You will see that guilty look.

Now do this every day for a week. If you then walked into the room and the tennis ball was on the floor already but you didn't get angry, or didn't even notice the ball in fact, your dog would still look 'guilty' because he is expecting you to. The association is with the presence of the tennis ball - or the chewed furniture or the poo on the carpet or whatever else you once got cross about.

elsien

Must be the body language for me - mutt's just chewed her way through my front door frame again. I tried really hard not to show I was upset because it wasn't her fault (bad tum and trying to get outside while I was out), but she's still skulking around the other side of the table, and I'm still extremely miffed.

OP - I'd go with keeping your pup away from the area if possible, while you break the habit.

And to whoever said about telling the dog off, there's not many of us who'd stop up all night waiting for the dog to start chewing......

BubblyMumbles

Hughesy84 wrote: »

Just discipline him - tell him no, give him a little tap on the nose or shout when he does it....make him know that its wrong!

The dog will only ignore you if he doesnt think you will do anything about it..

Please don't do this! :eek:

I would definitely recommend a crate. It's the best thing we ever did. My boy liked to chew wires, very dangerous indeed! He loves his crate and has done since he got it almost a year ago. He's 17 months now and I wouldn't part with it. He's happy, we know he's safe and he's not destroying anything.

Please do not tap him on the nose. This is not a good way to build a relationship with your dog. Fear is generally the cause of aggression, which might not show till later. Always, always use positive methods to train.

Good luck!

Hughesy84

Bubby wrote: »

Please tell me that was said in jest:eek:

You should never train a dog by making it fearful of you

It was, but never mind! :rotfl:

kymbo82

thank you for your replies, she had a crate from when she was first here @ 8 wks but OH couldnt bear leaving her in it all night (you know how pups cry at night at first) and we decided to let her sleep in the hallway, which is a bigger space, both doors closed and a stair gate up..but it has to go on the 2nd step as thats where the bannister is.

I never thought about only having one chew toy..she helps herself to the kids toys aswell out of the toy box to chew on!

She does sleep through from 8pm but wakes at about 5am and thats when the chewing starts, I can hear her sometimes.

I will suggest a late light walk perhaps as at the moment she goes in the morning and when OH gets in at 6pm

supermezzo

Blimey - 8 pm is early if thats when she really settles down for a sleep. She needs a walk later as well as at teatime imho.

downshifter

My horrible hound seems to have taken a great liking to chewing seat-belts, and I know she isn't the only one, someone on tv also mentioned that theirs does it too. I only need to pop to pay for petrol and come back to find another soggy frayed seat-belt. Luckily I don't carry passengers in the back, but does anyone have any innovative ideas for keeping her off them? I wondered about something that tastes foul, like that anti-nail-bite stuff you can get - I tried seat-belt covers but she just chews round them! I can't keep her separate because of the layout of the car, even behind a grille at the back she can reach the belts as they go right over to the back.She used to have a dog seatbelt but chewed through that at yet another petrol station stop. I've stopped taking her out now as if I have to leave her in the car, even just for 2 minutes, I'll come back to no seatbelts at all!

Also can anyone recommend any firms that do replacement webbing? Last time I used a company in London but it's a bit of a trek down there. MOT is due soon help!!

Thanks

DS

moomin5

you can get bitter apple spray which is supposed to deter them from chewing stuff although the anti-chew spray we bought from the pet shop didn't seem to be that effective. I guess another option is to physically stop her by crating or muzzling. I'm not sure how you can correct her if she only does it while left alone, but there are some good training people on here that can probably help.