Dog gnawing the life out of the arms of my Dds sofa now

[Deleted User]

Hi all, apart from removing my DDs dogs teeth any idea how to stop the little minx from gnawing the arms of the sofa.She has already had a good chew on one armchair now has started to eat the sofa.She is a little Jack Russell aged 3 and the bigger dog who is companion has never chewed anything but the little one will gnaw at almost anything she can get her gnashers into.She's no aggressive at all in fact she's rather timid.I have been trying to think of something that may put her off turning DDs rather battered sofa (she has four boys) into her lunch :)

pretz_2

has she tried getting the dog to gnaw on a chew toy i know this sounds obvious but if she is offered and toy and praised when she chews on it she will eventually put her attentions into it

elsien

Try posting this in the pet bit of the forum. You can get deterrent sprays, but I'm told the ralgex/deep heat type sprays is quite effective on the anti chew front.

If you're trying to find things to distract her with a stuffed kong works pretty well. Depends why she's doing it, a bit - attention, anxiety, boredom, habit, any number of possible reasons - is it when there's someone around or when there's no-one home?

mrsmortenharket

Jackie, if she's doing it when noones home, she will need to be caged. You can buy quite large cages. It isn't as cruel as it sounds! My friend did it with her dog. He quite likes it!
x

calicocat

Not a huge fan of cages myself unless extreme measures needed...especially later in life and they are often misused and the dog thinks of them as punishment(as that is what they can be used for) and therefore doesn't learn quickly how to behave amongst the 'pack' and what the human (pack leader)wants.

Does the little git do it all the time? When you are in...or out? any pattern to the behavior?...(possibly not being a JR!).

Possible to lock him away from you guys in a kitchen or utility when displaying this behavior then let him in when calm?

Dogs love us, so the worst thing you can do to one is isolate for a while (short bursts) until they get the message.

Dunroamin

mrsmortenharket wrote: »

Jackie, if she's doing it when noones home, she will need to be caged. You can buy quite large cages. It isn't as cruel as it sounds! My friend did it with her dog. He quite likes it!
x

Or simply shut her out of the room.

skivenov

Orange spray.

floss2

Jackie, a colleague has an 18m Lab who chews for England - he's had the knobs off the washer & dishwasher in the utility when he was shut behind a baby gate, he started on the walls so they had to tile, he has chewed the coffee table & destroyed numerous cushions, letters& magazines. The only thing that has stopped him is a cage, bought a month ago, and he loves it, going in happily & settling down.

They tried him with chew sticks - didn't stop.
They tried citrus spray - didn't work.
He is not left alone all day as colleagues parents live next door & he gets a mid-morning walk & spends time with them during the day.

dragonette

Please try everything else before a cage, for some (note, I said some) dogs, they can be terribly distressing.

Constant reinforcement of the desired behaviour using the tips provided should be enough. If done with authority. Wishy washy teaches the dog to do whatever they like (and some always keep trying)

LameWolf

JackieO, this article might be of interest/help.

http://www.dogbehaviour.com/articles/dogs/chewing.htm