Heavy Chewer

R

robertllr

Forums Regular
We love our 8-month old Rona; she is friendly, playful, affectionate, smart (and, amazingly, soft-spoken too!) And she has the most amusing, engaging, and delightful character one could want. But she also has some disruptive behavior issues as well: a few which we have managed to address, a few not. Right now she is driving us crazy with her chewing.

So I searched this forum for what owners had to say about excessive and destructive chewing behavior, and there were many issues and many different suggestions.

So the way I want to put my query is this:

If your sheltie puppy was an unregenerate and destructive chewer--shoes, furniture, books, anything she could get at with her mouth, etc; and if attempts to alter her behavior (discipline, distraction, etc) were to little effect; then:

Did your dog ever grow out of it , and, if so, how long did it take?!

(I keep telling my exasperated wife that Rona will grow out of it. Am I lying?)
 
Welcome to the Forums, Robert! Ah, the chewing puppy problem...yes, this too shall pass. That's the good news. The bad news is that it could take until Rona is 2, when puppyhood really ends and chewing tapers off for most.

Some dogs are chewers for life, but if you channel their chewing with dog-appropriate chews, you can hopefully train her to leave your furniture and shoes alone. I use good-quality, made in USA rawhides, and only under supervision because some dogs will swallow chews whole -- a choking hazard. I have one of those chewers. Others here may have different suggestions too.

There are also sprays you can buy that will deter her from chewing on things she shouldn't. They work with only some degree of success, in my experience.

The bottom line is that the only way to really prevent Rona's chewing until she outgrows it is to use a puppy playpen or ex-pen set up in the house for her when you can't watch her. They give the dog space to move around but not access to things she shouldn't have. It gives you peace of mind, and keeps the puppy safe too. I use them until puppies are a year old or more, depending on the puppy. You can put toys, a bed and bowls in it so it's really a puppy room. Good luck, and tell your wife to hang in there!
 
Thanks Anne. The reason I wanted to know if and when shelties tend to grow out of "chew-it-all" behavior is that (as I tried to suggest in my OP) we we already do all those preventive things--except the puppy pen. We finally gave up on "fencing" solutions when Rona started scrambling over the 4-foot baby gate between rooms. She's big, and she's strong, and barriers are no barriers to her!

BTW, our previous sheltie (an angel now) never did anything at all bad, and we just thought all shelties were like that!
 
Well, first of all ... welcome!
Second of all, I FEEL your PAIN!

I can only speak to the three shelties I have own since puppyhood... all the others I have owned were rescues.

My first female was an angel and NEVER was a destructive chewer.
My second a male was bad but after a year or so grew out of the behavior.
My third and is just terrible! He is 14 months old and chews furniture, rugs, towels, etc.

I agree with Ann's comments. Would like to add this video to the mix...
Dog Toys - the 4 Types and How to Use Them Right

Wish I had known this before I gave soft toys and rope toys to chew... made my boy worse!

The thing is... NEVER leave them alone if they can not be supervised at an early age you are teaching them it is OK to chew on things...
I should take my own advice... every time I thought he was over it and gave him an opportunity... he took advantage of it!

Good luck... let us know how it goes...
 
I use the frozen Kong idea shown on the video....Cooper loves it so much that I bought a second so I always have one at the ready. He is either in a crate or our converted laundry safe for him, but a bit bigger for a longer stay. He started chewing as a young pup (6 months next weeks) on baseboards near doors which we sprayed with the bitter apple, but that seems to only last so long. Touch wood he hasn’t done it for awhile, but we all know...never say never! lol. Good luck Robert and Rona! :)
 
Faith came to us at two years of age and was a super-chewer. She particularly liked flip flops. I did not trust her alone in the house until about age 5! Eli is also a big chewer, he came at age one and is now two. He is still crated when I have to go out because of this. Luckily not one of my 6 lifetime Shelties had chewed furniture or walls!! We give them chew toys and they love to deconstruct toilet paper rolls.

My first four girls were not big chewers.

Frozen Kongs are great, also. We use a thin smear of peanut butter in ours. Rona will grow out of this, but you may have to crate her (if she can escape a play-pen setup) when you go out.
 
Oh I forgot to add a biggie - crate mats/beds. Elijah had destroyed EIGHT different types of crate bedding, from carpet samples (bound on edges) to regular nice plush mats, to a really tough outdoor mat made with Sunbrella fabric - I thought that might get the better of him, but NO. :devil: So, as much as it pains me, he has to sleep on the hard plastic overnight.
 
LOL! Rona does not chew her crate bed, but she does scratch at it and crawl under it! Carpet, though, is fair game!

Many have mentioned Kongs. For some reason, Rona does not get how to use a Kong. We have several types. But she doesn't realize that if you chew on them, the goodies will come out. Instead, she just tries to lick or nibble out the stuff inside.

I think she only likes to chew things that will tear to pieces or otherwise come apart. She won't chew any of her non-destructible rubber toys--including the Kongs.

Also, she does not chew on her stuffed toys. She is happy to play fetch or tug with them, but while she happily chews the stuffing out of the couch, she won't chew the stuffing out of her toys!
 
Sharon7 said:
Oh I forgot to add a biggie - crate mats/beds. Elijah had destroyed EIGHT different types of crate bedding, from carpet samples (bound on edges) to regular nice plush mats, to a really tough outdoor mat made with Sunbrella fabric - I thought that might get the better of him, but NO. :devil: So, as much as it pains me, he has to sleep on the hard plastic overnight.
Click to expand...
Better safe than an emergency visit to the vet with a blockage!
 
Brodie is a chewer but has gotten better in the last months - I have a few walls and some floor molding that he has marked. I decided to wait till he is a year old to fix. I have put just a small, teeny, tiny dab of Vicks 44 on whatever he is chewing on that he is not supposed to chew on. He isn't fizzed by the bitter apple sprays, but does not like the odor of Vicks and won't go near. As far as the greasy substance on the wall, well he already chewed the wall so what is a dab of grease! He has chewed on shoes but is more of a licker at this stage. He likes smelly feet and body lotions for some reason, so slip on shoes are heaven for him. I have gotten him to licking not chewing them for the most part but we don't leave shoes around. He doesn't care for crocs so that is what we use for out to potty shoes.

Brodie is not a Kong fan and unfortunately, with Kooper our small standard doxie around, we can't do them unless one dog is either in their crate or out on the deck. You can't let the small stature of the doxie mislead you - they have extremely powerful hound jaws and can do an immense amount of danger and they are food aggressive animals. We started with Kongs, but will not use any more.

I buy US sourced bully sticks. I like the 6 inch length, thicker, sometimes the twisted if I can find them. They are not cheap but the dogs love them, will keep them busy for hours, torment each other with them "look what I got and you can't have it!". My husband who is sensitive to smells does NOT like them so I use them with the two dogs in the morning, or out of the deck, and then put them away or only allow older ones that have been chewed a bit and were outside for a few days to be in the house. Oh, and I always have 3 of those out to help cut down on aggression - if one dog steals a chew from the other, there is a third to go after. Someone here also recommended The Honest Kitchen Beams Ocean Chews. They are 100% an outdoor chew only! Oh the odor!!!! I double bag them in the house and hide the bag because if Brodie sees even a corner of the bag, he will sit and cry for a chew. I also use the chicken twisted Smart Sticks which are a rawhide replacement - but I only give 1 or 2 of those a week as I don't trust them quite as much. Brodie still likes the baby pacifier chew that I got when he was a puppy - he did not like it them but likes it now. Any of the non-food type chews are looked down on by him but the food type chews can result in looser stools if given in quantity. The bully sticks last the longest and keep them occupied the longest - I wish they smelled better but they aren't anywhere near as bad as the Beam chews which the dogs both LOVE.
 
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