How do I deal with dog chewing?

Quinny_2

This isn't a thread about eating dogs,but do read on........

Wifey came home today,after some crimbo shopping,and upon entering the living room,discovered that our 7 month old x-mongrel,Stella,pictured left, (Yes.Another woman in the house. :whistle: ) had chewed a perfect 5x3 inch hole into the carpet.Not only that,but she had gone through the underlay as well,and managed to get down to the floorboards. :mad:

I don't know if she was trying to emulate the Great Escape,or if she just fancied flossing her teeth with carpet strands,but it is a perfectly rectangular hole,and you would think she'd used a ruler to measure it out.

As luck would have it,it looks like we are covered under our house insurance,and what we may well do,is if they agree after assessment to the damage,is put down a wooden floor of some type,in order that it will at least stop her destroying the living room.

In the meantime,what can we use to stop her taking it further?

And before anyone says,pull her teeth out,or take away her scissors,don't think we haven't already thought of that.We were thinking lotions,potions and anything else that I can't make rhyme with those 2 words.

wirehair

Same thing has just happened to me with my two little wirehaired dac,s Pupps. they would not leave it alone , untill I spinkled pepper all over the area . My insurance does not cover damage by pets and as its a new carpet I cut an offcut to shape and stuck it in the hole with glue , hardley shows .

Paparika

Do you leave chews for the dog / dogs to have whilst your out? perhaps if you don't this maybe what is needed

Errata

As a quick fix you can buy spray stuff which dogs hate the taste off - erm, spray the carpet, not the dog ! It's made to use on surgery wounds to stop dogs removing their own stitches or licking the wound.

My dog clipper swears by lemon juice, but it didn't work for my hound.

ymakesmile

It could be seperation anxiety, boredom or simply because its a 7 month old pup. We have an 8 month old staffy who suddenly started destroying all manner of things at 7 months including, carpet, door frames, kitchen lino and wallpaper. Do you leave the dog in just one room, for example the kitchen when you go out? Or possibly like what we are doing, is get her used to a crate so she can be safely left in that with kongs etc, although I wouldnt recommend that for too many hours. Sometimes spraying the area with something can help put them off but I find they will just turn to something else to destroy and its really something you need to find out the cause of why she is doing it in the first place. Of course too much energy can contribute to this kind of behaviour so tiring your dog out before you leave them can also help...;)

elsien

Definitely find her something else to chew - Kongs are always good, or nylabones. There are other thread on this forum for ideas to stuff kongs with to make them more interesting.
Was there anything on the carpet that smelt food-like - mine has the occasional nibble if I've spilt something and not cleaned it up as well as I could (or at all, if I'm feeling lazy.)
Otherwise there's always gaffer tape, as suggested by mother after mine worked her way through the dining room chairs. (Joke, before I get jumped on by the pc brigade.)

Milford_Cubicle

Most dogs go through a manic chewing phase aged 7-18 months (depends on the breed and when their adolescence kicks in) where chewing releases endorphines making them feel good. Hence chewing anything and everything!

As already mentioned Kongs and nylabones are excellent, especially if you stuff the Kong with something extra yummy, freeze it and then they've really got to work to get it out.

You could try the bitter apple spray which you can get on ebay and vet-uk amongst other sites. Rotate her toys as well, leave her with three or four and hide the rest, then regularly put one away and get another out.

Quinny_2

Thanks for the suggestions guys.

I think the Kongs might be the way to go.She has more toys than Hamleys,so she's not short of them.

She basically has about 4 rooms to wander around in during the day when we are at work,and the wife comes home at lunchtime to take her out for her midday walkies,and there are always neighbours out with their dogs at the same time,so she gets to run around plenty.Then once the wife goes back to work,circa 1pm,the youngest daughter come home from school about 3.45pm,and takes her out again,so she's well exercised.

We'll see what happens.

Milford_Cubicle

Quinny wrote: »

(Yes.Another woman in the house. :whistle:

You might want to have a chat with my OH then...

There's me, my daughter, our female Lab pup and our female kittencat

aspinallkate

nearly the same thing happened to us, our dog chewed through the carpet on the bottom step of the stairs, through the carpet, underlay and wood. we got the chew stop spray from pets at home, very good and it lasts ages.

http://www.petsathome.com/find/keyword-is-chew+stop/category-is-2+Dog/product-is-14726/pgs-is-30