im going mad....
boscoe is nearly 6 months old and has had a chew of most things in the house.we have tried spray's,lemon juice pepper etc on the item's he chew's worst.i came home today after 2 hour's to find he has chewed nearly through the cross bar of the dining chair and the leg is nearly right through.he has plenty of toys like a kong,treat ball etc and has our other dog for company.boscoe loves food so i dont want to put out too much food for him,when the treat ball is empty he will bark at it,and i dont want to upset the neighbours with this.can any one suggest something to help i dont want to crate him really
mel:)

crate him - before you have a house like mine. willis chews everything, its now a habit. i caught him chewing the bottle of anti-chew spray the other day :rolleyes:. I had a crate for Willis when he was smaller, but he grew out of it, while he fitted it though it was brilliant :)

I would crate him.It is possible he will feel more secure in his own 'den' when left alone as well as being unable to destroy things.My boys love their crate and although none of them are shut in it I can't bring myself to put it away-its their own personal space.
I had a GSD who started with chewing shoes,furniture etc..He ended up eating(to mention a few) plaster out of walls(to expose the wooden struts behind it),floorboards(after he'd finished off the carpet),BT connection box,door frames and the final straw was the seal at the back of the 2nd floor toilet hence flooding the kitchen!!!Never again.
Archer

Yep - I'd crate him too. Mine would chew if only left for a few minutes - we'd have had no kitchen left at all if she hadn't been in the crate at night and most times during the day when she wasn't supervised :)

Daisy

Yip, I'd go for the crate too. Honestly, there's nothing wrong with them, and the dogs do love them, as their own little cosy den. Wish I'd known about them 5 years ago, when my GSD chewed right through the chairs on my brand new dining suite. :(
Have had 2 puppies since Dylan, and they both love their crate's. They're not cruel, but are an absolute godsend.
Good luck.

If your Boscoe is nearly 6 months old he is still growing. The growth might cause his cheeks and teeth to hurt very much. If so, almost every dog begins to chew on things. I gave my dogs special chewing bones to chew on and I crated them. They have never actually destroyed my furniture.

thank you all for replying,
we have had zak for nearly a year now and at first he would chew,but mainly paper he is now a very well behaved little man and i never used a crate for him,i tried 1 night but couldnt cope with the screaming.both dogs are confined to the kitchen on a night or when we are out,so at least it is only 1 room,but im worried incase boscoe starts on the units as its my parents house we rent.i have put the crate in the kitchen tonight and zak ran in and went straight to sleep boscoe has now gone in and i have shut the door.so far no noise "HOORAY!" i am hopeing this will last at least untill all boscoes teeth are in,i just dont want this to be a long term thing.i will be using the crate for taking boscoe to shows so he had to get used to it.im worried it may be a bit too small for them both as i only bought it for boscoe,it is 21"x31"x24"high they both have enough room curled up sleeping and they have a bolt on water bowl.do you think this is ok for them?
will keep you all informed how we go
mel:)

i feel that the crate method is working
i always said i wouldn't put them in a crate,but it is saving my furniture,and it is only until the teething stage is over.so now i know i dont need to put the chairs up on a night time,and i might even get a new back door mat :)
mel:)

hi

no you don't want to have to put the chairs up and my god he's chewed a door mat deffernantly stick him in a cage that a cure it , two dogs in one cage with enough room to curl up in and you ask is that ok!!!

shaunie

i didnt ask for rude replies,
i wanted to be sure what i was doing was right for my dogs and everyone else seems to think that it is.if you look further up you will see that i never wanted to crate them,but that i also cant cope with losing any more wooden furniture and if you check the icon the door mat was a joke as i know that i wont beable to get another one really.
if my dogs ever seemed distressed then they would be straight out,they only go in on a night time,its not like they are in all day.
if you would be happy with wonky chairs and nearly only 3 legs on your dining table then fine but im not
if you cant give constuctive help then i would rather you didnt bother with me,you dont have to post you know.i dont mind opinions at all.infact i welcome them when they are of use
mel:)

only at night well thats only for about 8 hours then,curled up,well you obviously only want replies from people who agree with what you do,and your certainly get that from the crate brigade! if you don't like a mixture of replies then don't ask the question,this is a forum and every member is entitled to give an opinion whether its what you want to hear or not, I DO NOT AGREE WITH CAGING A DOG FOR AN ENTIRE NIGHT cos you don't want to have to put your chairs up for a few months until your dog stops chewing

shaunie

if you read correctly you will see that i do want opinions,i would just prefer for them to be written in an adult manner and not with sarcasm or childish response.
and as i have previously said i dont really want to crate them,and the reason 2 are in the cage/crate is bacause they like to be together,my dogs well being is more important than the furniture,but i felt my dog needed to get out of this habit as he knew what he was doing was wrong,as soon as i looked at the mess he would cower,he is never hit or punished for this behaviour,so i was looking at something to prevent him chewing so he wouldnt be responding the way he is. now maybe you would feel it would be better if i hit him to teach him not to do it,he is praised lavishly when there has been no "accidents" to try to help the process.
i know dogs chew that is why my boys have plenty of strong chew toys and mental stimulation to try to accomadate this need
i asked for opinions on what would help the situation,you havent offered me any advice you have just shot me down.if you have any constructive advice then i am more than willing to listen.i know what the board is for and i intend to post questions to help me and my boys have a good life together i expect responses both positive and negative and will accept both of these as long as they are written in a polite manner
mel:)

how dare you suggest i would prefer you to hit him ,no way would i agree with hitting a dog ,so why does he cower, my dog never cowers from me no matter what shes done. for goodness sake if your going to have a dog make sure you can hack it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

shaunie

if i couldnt "hack it" i wouldnt have dogs,
once again you still havent helped all i want is some advice.if you are intending on replying
could you please offer some assistance,
do you know of any way to help prevent him chewing?it isnt caused through seperation anxiety as he sometimes does it when i am standing next to him.
i honestly dont know why he cowers as my other boy doesnt,maybe he doesnt like being found out or doesnt like being told no
maybe you have had this problem yourself and could offer some assistance
i never intended a slanging match,and i didnt mean about hitting the way it must have come accross my apologies,i am just looking for some help with my little man
mel:)

i dont have much experience with puppys but i have a 6month old lab called toby, i will not cage my puppy, i give him cardboard boxs and lots of toys, and so far he has been great, and done very little damage, i personally think its cruel to cage

thankyou someone who agrees with me at last,look its not your fault you asked the question and people gave you the wrong advice to cage him,he obviously a very bad instinct to chew and i really do sympathise with you but it really is not the answer to cage all night with another dog,like the previous post says give him cardboard boxes to tear apart, plastic flower pots is another good one ,fill a kong with food ,as soon as he starts on a piece of furniture smear some vics vapour rub on it they hate it , he will move on to something else but do the same thing again,until he realises the things you give him taste good

shaunie

thank you at last,this is all i was waiting for,
i have tried:mustard,lemon juice and black pepper,vicks,karvol oil and that spray that is supposed to deter them,non work infact he seems to revel in the new tastes :(
i have tried the kongs but he barks like mad when they are empty and he is big foodie anyway so i dont really want to encourage him to eat more.what else could i put in a kong that he wont beable to get out straight away?
mel:)

Don't encourage a dog to chew plastic flower-pots! They are very sharp when they shatter, and swallowed pieces could be the death of your dog.

Stuffed kongs are good, as are the interactive food balls, which release a little bit of the dog's daily ration of food as it gets rolled around. Of course with stuffed kongs as well you have to reduce the amount of food the dog gets at mealtimes to compensate for the extra food at other times, or you'll end up with a blob!

Otherwise it's a case of putting the dog somewhere safe while you're out - you can get puppy panels that link together to make a playpen so the dog is limited to a smaller area of the room. Outside kennels are very risky because of the huge increase in the number of dogs stolen from them.

jeangeanie- i meant the soft flexible flower pots!

shaunie

I've never come across soft, flexible plastic flower-pots! Where do you get them from? I've only ever seen the ones in garden centres, which are sharp when they split - I'm not talking about the terracotta ones!
:)

i feel that by giving him things to chew like boxes etc it may make him worse in believing that he is allowed to chew things other than his toys etc
mel:)

hi

it won't make him worse by the sounds of things thats not possible!,try neat washing up liquid , chillie powder,keep trying your find something he doesnt like the taste of in the end ,what about a smaller kong so he can't get the food out so easily, smear cream cheese or peanut butter around the inside top to bottom,you could give him more than one kong at a timethey come in all different shapes and sizes ,what about squeaky toys

shaunie

squeaky toys would be destroyed in 10 seconds flat,and then there is that risk of swallowing plastic etc.the problem with treat related foods is that my other boy doesnt get a look in,as boz is so greedy.i will try the cheese etc maybe it will keep him occupied for a bit longer if he can smell it but it isnt dropping out.those rolly balls are no good because when the food has gone he attacks it hoping it will give more food.he also thinks it is ok to bark at the kids to make them drop their food as you can see he is a foodie:D
mel:)

oh well , he'll grow out of it into a nice behaved boy in the end these ones usually have quite a charactor ,but the next few months will be tough but it will soon past. i had a dog who liked to scratch the plaster out of the walls but it was always in the same spot we put a sheet of plastic over the spot in the end and then she stopped'

shaunie

well i will keep you informed as to how he progresses
hopefully he will be better in the show ring than he is in the kitchen:D
mel:)

Mel

I'd keep on as you are :) Our pup would chew anything wooden in the kitchen, so if I had used the chilli etc I'd have to have covered ALL the skirting boards, door frames, chair legs, cupboards etc :D The cage was the only thing that worked - she didn't spend any more than she had to in there and eventually grew out of the chewing (apart from two days this week when she regressed - but she seems to have stopped again) and we stopped using the cage. There is nothing cruel about keeping a puppy in a cage as long as it gets good quality exercise for both mind and body.

Some people seem to have so much money that they don't mind their furniture etc being ruined :D Would they let their children do similar damage and just stand back and let them ?

Daisy

i find if i give toby big cardboard boxes, and cut out windows and doors, and put a blanket inside he loves it and makes alterations to the doors and windows, he prefers french doors instead of the little doors i put in, but he leaves our home alone

If it's any consolation, when my last pups finished teething (teeth finally settled at about a year old) they stopped chewing. I redecorated the kitchen (replaced the plaster from the wall under the table, the architrave around the door, and the wooden knobs on the drawers of the kitchen table) and it's been fine ever since.
:)