Hi ,as some of you know i do have a 'strange newf' , :D , but today i come in from work (only been left 3 hours at most) she has chewed or grinded her teeth throught the  kitchen walls ,she has left really deep groove marks!!!!!!!! I'm not bothered about the walls.I'm worried about her more , she's in good health,un-neutered,not in pup and half way through her 2nd season any help or suggestions!?????? :)  mand x

Don't worry about the health of your dog - there is something in the taste of plaster that attracts them I think, but doesn't seem to do any harm.   I have had two dogs now who have eaten down to the brickwork on corners of walls.  One was a bitch and one a dog, so it isn't confined to one sex. I remedied my first dog by smearing a little mustard paste onto the corner.  The dog seems to have lost interest on his own. She sounds as if she is bored and this is one of those things that dogs do when they have nothing better.  Do you leave her plenty to entertain her mind whilst you are out?  I recently discovered a playball that acts like a Kong in that you can put food inside, but then you can reduce the size of the hole to suit the size of treats inside, so that its just big enough to get them out.  It can be hours of fun for them trying to extract the food whilst the ball rolls around making it interesting and more difficult.  It is a football size, so would be suitable for a larger dog - just a thought.

The type of ball you describe sounds super. I have a germans shepherd and she has no problem emptying her Kong in no time atall. She is crate trained so the Kong is only to keep her amused and happy to be in the crate. She does not get it on any other occasion. The beauty of the crate is that no damage is done to your property when your out. It was the breeder that advised me to use one and I was shocked to think of my baby shut up in a cage. I conceeded that the breeder knew best and gave it a try. She cried all night every night for a week and I was at the pont of giving the crate away and then to my supprise the next night absolute silence. She now loves her den and I wonder how I ever managed with past dogs, without a crate.

When we had my daughters ceilings plastered my Jas nearly ate all the plaster.  There is an ingrediant in plaster that dog do find very attractive.  The men told me that on one job they left the plaster in a bucket and while they were preparing the walls the owners dog ate all the plaster!!

A couple of my staffords enjoy a chew on plaster every now and then it never seems to do them any harm. Not sure if plaster contains salt but they seem to lick it like cows do a salt block. All the best gwen

is there anything in cement? we had some old bricks in the garden and the pup keeps bringing in chunks of the cement type stuff. obviously we take it straight of him as they arent supposed 2 have stones, but hes not the only one when we've had other dogs to visit they all bring in any pits of the cement they can find

My sister told me that one of her Yorkies (donkeys years ago) kept licking the brick wall at the time so they researched and found out whatever mineral it was in the brick that she was clearing lacking, added it to her diet and the licking stopped.

Not sure what evidence there is of this being a plausible cause (and conclusion), it may have just been a fluke in my sister's case!

Plaster contains lime which is Calcium Carbonate or Dolomite? I believe.  Aren't both of these ingredients put into dog food?

Possibly, but obviously not enough in the case of my sister's Yorkie! :-D

Don't get me wrong, I wasn't saying that as a solution or a reason, just joining in really <insert embarrased face emoticon here!>

Thanks for the replys :) . I was a bit concerned just incase she was lacking some kind of vitamin or mineral,today she has decided to do a bit of digging,so i left her as she was happy :D  She has come in with a piece of cement the size of a brick and started grinding her teeth on it...! On looking to see where she has got this from i was shocked to find a hole about 3 ft deep and 2 ft wide right against the side of the house  :D :D  I'm sure its part of the footings to the house......... mand x

You might also want to check there is no mouse activity going on in that wall......... Also that her teeth are OK ('especially if she's only doing it on one side of her mouth - you can sometimes tell by the position of the damage on the wall)

I have a six month old lab puppy who has also developed a liking for plaster.  He has chewed the wall a number of times whilst we are out despite having two kongs and a treat ball!  We have replastered the wall twice and after coming home yesterday to yet another hole we have covered the wall in thin MDF.  Hopefully he will lose interest now and when he has grown out of it we can take it down and have our wall back!!

We've had the same problem with our Cairn licking and chewing plaster he is rarely left on his own but it seemed almost like an addiction and the minute we turned our backs he returned to the same bit of wall(?). A friend recommended putting a little chilli sauce on the area. He sneezed a few times but has not touched it since.