Phantom Chewer

CFC

Hi all, I am need of some advice. My beloved little doggie monster is a phantom chewer. Some time will go by and I will just start to think that I will trust him in the house while I am out and then BAM he starts on his ways again. I wouldn't mind if it was just the staple of books etc, and I know he's a paper handkerchief 'crack addict' who will never be trusted near paper - I can live with that - it's the mental things he chews that are causing me a problem. He has tried batteries in the past (and been in the vets for 24 hours) and gnawed through a power cable that luckily was not plugged in.

Just today he had sidled into the bathroom, opened the bin, and I found him under the bed chewing a disposable razor.:eek:

This has to stop and I simply do not know what to do. He is 24 months old and has plenty of legitimate, tasty chews provided to him. He is a Westie/Bichon cross. Suggestions please, I need help!

sarabe

Management.

All bins should be inaccessible to the dog.

Deny him access to anything you don't want chewed.

Having dogs means a tidy, clutter-free house for me.

If you had a two year old child you wouldn't put a razor blade in the bathroom bin.

If he has lots of chew toys then everything will be a chew toy to him.

Consider making his chew toys more valuable by giving him just one. If he has a crate then he goes in the crate to chew so that you can get on with chores knowing that he is only chewing the right thing.

Perhaps when you go out he could have something extra special like a raw meaty bone or a stuffed kong. Again, in the crate to start with and when you come in it gets picked up.

If he only gets it when you are out then he's going to get stuck in before you come in and remove it.

If he is chewing excessively it will be out of boredom or a lot of excess energy that he doesn't know what to do with so check that his diet and his exercise are appropriate.

I would ideally want my dog to just sleep when I was out.

CFC

Thanks Sarabe, I gave him a lot of chews in the hope that he would realise he had legitimate sources of chewing pleasure, I will try removing them so he only has one at a time. I think the problem really is that most of the time we do manage his access to everything, but I've never had an inveterate chewer before - my old dog could be trusted in the house while I was out and wouldn't dream of getting at power cables to have a sly chew....!

He gets plenty of exercise, entertainment is a problem though as he simply will not play with people, he prefers to play on his own. I've put a lot of time into trying to get him to play as I think it would be helpful, not sure if he was simply too old when I got him to learn these skills though.

sarabe

CFC wrote: »

He gets plenty of exercise, entertainment is a problem though as he simply will not play with people, he prefers to play on his own. I've put a lot of time into trying to get him to play as I think it would be helpful, not sure if he was simply too old when I got him to learn these skills though.

That's part of the problem.

A dog that makes his own entertainment means that you are not supervising what he plays with and when.

I've yet to meet a dog that won't play with people and I've met a few. It may take a while but it is possible.

Pick up all of his toys and leave him with a chew toy or two. Get or make a new toy that you are certain he will like, (don't let him see it) and put it in a drawer.

Then choose a time when he gets excited, e.g. mealtime, walk time, visitors, you coming in.... and go to the drawer and have a silly, excited conversation with the toy for a few seconds without removing it.

Do this several times and he will be interested in what is in the drawer. Next stage, take it out let him see it but put it away again. Then when the time is right accidently drop it on the floor but grab it quick before he gets it. Do this a few times and then let him get it but fight him for it. Before you know it you'll be playing with the toy together.

You may not need to go to that extreme. Make his favourite toys available only when you want to play. Tie string to them so that you can animate them and make them really exciting.

Once you have him playing with you then gradually play less indoors and more outside until eventually all games happen outside and inside is for relaxing and sleeping only.

CFC

Thanks Sarabe, I'll give it a go. The maximum interactive play time I have had from him till now is approximately 2 minutes so I'm not hopeful, but it's worth a shot. Animating the toys seems to make him a bit nervous and he doesn't want to go near them, this despite him wanting to chase every rabbit he sees! Same with tug, as soon as there's a pull on it he lets go. We did have one toy that I thought I was getting somewhere with, sadly he ripped it up so that was the end of tug as he has never liked another toy enough to persevere with it. How I wish you could just sit down and have a proper talk with a dog!