Max is nearly 10 months old, bearded collie x, absolutely gorgeous and a bit spoilt I'm afraid.  He chews - when I'm there he chews what I give him - toys, he can destroy even the strongest ones within minutes! He's had a go at the kitchen chairs, so when I go out shopping I now put them in the hall out of harms way. He chews his toy box, not so bad, cos it is his, but now he's starting on his beds.  I have two dogs (mother and son) and they both have a basket each and then a 'day bed', one of those large soft comfy ones.  They both sleep in the kitchen over night and yesterday morning when I got up he had chewed the day bed, I just said 'what's that!' and his ears went down and he skulked off outside and then wouldn't come to me when I called him (he's usually very good on recall), anyway after a couple of minutes he did come back in and looked very sorry for himself. I repaired the bed and he cheered up and we had a lovely day going for a walk in the woods which they adore. Last night I played with him for an hour before bed time and he settled down after his busy day.  This morning - same again - bed chewed, but worse this time.  Again, I said (oh Max, what's that!) and this time he sulked for a good couple of hours, looking really sorry for himself, ears flat to his head and not coming anywhere near me. How should I react to this behaviour, I want to fuss him to see him happy again but don't want to condone the chewing - what do you think please?

Unless you actually catch your dog chewing telling him off even the the way you are doing it is pointless. He will be showing the submissive behaviour not because he knows he has done something wrong, but because of your body language, tone of voice & stance.. All he will be aware of is that you are annoyed, he won't know why

He will have a reason for chewing possibly still cutting his back teeth or boredom so he needs something to occupy him, like a stuffed kong(I doubt he could destroy a giant black kong in minutes) or a recreational bone(unless he & his mum have problems with bones).

Just a thought how do you know it is him ?  I used to have beardies & I knew which one was chewing bevause I saw her doing it. however when I went into them & said Daz(her G son)what have you done he reacted even though he had done nothing(he had been asleep !)I did it to show a friend that dogs show guilt are you presuming because it is his bed he is chewing it or have you seen bits of it in his poos etc ? You can try some bitter apple spray on the bed to stop the chewing & in the meanwhile do not react at all, but if he hasn't chewed anything male a big fuss of him

Thanks Moonmaiden, I know it's Max because like you say, evidence in the poo - he's also sick when he's eaten things like that!  Took him on the golf course this afternoon, and sure enough, he threw up! I've got two of those treat balls that you put food in and he's not managed to break through those yet so tonight when I go to bed I'll make sure there's some food in them, then in the morning, if the beds are in one piece I'll praise them (incidentally, I do fuss and praise them in the mornings anyway for being clean I've had to house train both of them as Mum was a rescue dog and I'd only had her 2 weeks before she had the pups and they both havae been great with that and learnt really quickly).  Pleased you said not to react unless I catch him at it 'cos I think it upsets me as much as him when we fall out!

why not ditch the soft beds for now and use a crate for his bed .
One of my beardies was a chewer for the first few months ..not her bed she liked to chew the paper of the wall in one area of the kitchen so we had it tiled.
Beardies do hate to be on thier own and can be very destructive when left alone they like to be active  to use thier brain ...kongs are good but I would also join a training class and have a go at agility they are excellent at it plus it mentally tires them ....then they sleep rather than chew!!
Saying that they do mature at a later stage usually around 2yrs compared to say a terrier ...but its well worth the wait so hang in thier I know yours are Beardie X but anything with beardie in it is good enough for me!

Roni

Hi Starryeyes, you are right, they hate being on their own.  I would let them sleep with me, but I have an 18 year old cat that doesn't appreciate Max being so boistrous! and I think it only fair to let her sleep where she always has - on the bottom of my bed! I work from home 3 days a week, but the other two days I have to go into the office and a friend visits them for me at lunch time and lets them play outside for half an hour and then again at 3.30pm. They are usually Ok in the morning, I leave them training balls with food in and nyla bones coated in melted cheese but by the afternoon they obviously get really bored and Max usually has a go at something!  I hate leaving them but I have to work. I would love to go to training with them as they are really intelligent and love learning but I need to find an evening or week-end one. Molly is brilliant, she, being a rescue dog is grateful for the love and attention I think and is so very well behaved, Max is just a pup (albeit a rather large one!) but I forgive him everything - I love them to bits.