Ok as much as I want to believe that my little Shelbie is perfect, she has a massive chewing problem. She has succesfully peeled the laminent off our kitchen cubbord, eaten our back deck and all my sisters plants and chewed the paint off our table and chairs like it was corn on the cob! She chews and chews while we are away but NEVER does while we are at home so we cant catch her in the act and correct her or re-direct her attention to a chew toy that is acceptable. She is in our kitchen during the day kept in with a baby gate... the kitchen is a very good size so it isn't like she is going crazy AND she is SURROUNDED by toys because she is very spoiled and I though if she had more toys she would chew them instead. I was wrong. So we put her in the backyard and she eats the fence, the bark off the tree, flowers, grass and anything else she can get her teeth on. I have tried bitteryuck spray and it doesn't seem to help at all. PLEASE HELP, my husband is getting very upset and I don't know what else to do about it.
She is 8 months old. I haven't ever crated her and I am nervous too because our neighboor crated his dog for chewing and he hurt himself so bad chewing threw the crate they had to put him down
It sounds like Shelby is still a very young pup. Deffinately under a year correct. All pups chew. If you are not home and able to control her chewing through change of interest, then you must crate train her. Otherwise you will become one of the statistics with looking for a new home for Shelby, due to frustration and lack of time to correct the problem. I have a three month old Kiara, who is the same way. She chews on anything and everything she can get her mouth on. This is how they discover things, just as babies do . Everything in the mouth to check it out. I am home all day so I can distract her from chewing on inappropriate things. Good luck with Shelby please give her time and a crate, when she must be left unsuppervised. I see you are nervous about crating get her a plastic crate of fabric one. The Fabric one has thick mesh port windows, has a zipper front and top. Fabrick is like that of a tent. Made by Woolrich, distributed by target and Ocean State Job Lot.
I think that I would get a crate and start getting her adjusted to staying in the crate during the day. I don't think that it is to late to start her in a crate. It will give her a sense of her own space and it will keep your kitchen intact. All 3 of my girls go in their crates during the day while we are gone. One of them is a chewer when she is bored and that is why she is crated. I giver her a rope tug to chew on during the day and she is fine. She has never tried to chew through the crate. If you get a big enough crate she won't feel trapped and like I said before, start of with small amounts of time in the crate. She's a puppy still - puppies chew unfortunately!
I agree with everyone here who has recommended the crate for Shelbie. However, I'd get her a metal/steel crate. If she's a dedicated chewer, she may try to chew through plastic or fabric and could be successful at getting enough of it off to ingest. There are a number of good metal crates available online reasonably priced...the best website for supplies is www.PetEdge.com. It's a site for retailers who will also sell to individuals. If you order before 1 p.m. you will have your order the next day. If you're concerned about confining Shelbie, get her a slightly bigger size, but not one so big it has large spaces in the bars where she could get something stuck.
I've had six Shelties and every one has decimated some piece of the house or furnishings. Elaine is right, it's not unusual and you can expect chewing until she's about 2. It will diminish some once she's through teething though. A good thing to leave for these puppies also is pressed rawhide...it's hard and they can't get through it as quickly as the softer rawhide. Good luck and let us know what happens! Hang in there She WILL grow out of this!
Thanks everyone for the advice and don't worry, I would NEVER become a statistic of re-homing my dog. Shelbie is a child to me, I searched long and hard and saved up for months for her and she is perfect minus the chewing : ) My husband minds that more than me, I am passive, he is impatient but we would never consider getting rid of her. I will look into crate training her for sure Thanks and if you have any other suggestions let me know : )
Here I go again, Back to the Monks! The Art of Raising a Puppy by the Monks of New Skete is a great book on raising a puppy. But you'll find that just a bout every reputable source agrees that crate training is the best, most efficient, and kindest way to work with a young dog. Older dogs, too, like rescues, respond well to crate training. We just rescued a 9 month old Chow/Golden from a kill pound, and we crate him. After one frantic day of whining, he came to accept that this is the way things are in the happy home. He also learned that his rules may be different from the Shelties' rules. Dogs don't have a sense of justice, just an awareness of consistency in how you treat them as an individual.
I don't know what happened with your neighbor or what kind of dog it was, but a doog fiberglass crate, like the kind you ship dogs in, is excellent and chew-proof. You'll be doing yourself and your puppy AND your home a favor!
That was the type of crate I was tring to Think of. The Airline approved Crate. I have one of those for my larger dog . It's called a Pet Porter. I don't use that one on Kia ,she is too tiny. When Kia goes in her crate she has her teddy bear and a Chew toy usually Rawhide, or tug rope.
Amanda, the type of crate that Ann is speaking about kind of grows with your dog. There is usually a partion that can make the crate various sizes to adjust with growth of the dog. Good luck on your crate training. It's fairly easy it's just a matter of a day or so and they learn to enjoy the crate and actually go into it themselves when they want down time.
I had almost the exact same problem with my Cali. I would baby gate her in my kitchen during the day and she would destroy something new every week. I finally had to break down and start crating her which killed me because I could hear her crying as I went out the door for work. She got used to it very fast and now sees her crate as her "house". When she is tired she will go in it and lay down and when we come in from playing outside that is were she chills out. At first I would just leave her with a toy or two incase she had an accident, but now that we are on a good schedule I leave her favorite blanket it in and she is fine all day long. Chewing was for the most part because she was bored during the day. Make sure that as soon as you come in the door after work or school or whatever you play with her! Wear her out as much as you can before she goes to bed and although it may take a while for her to get used to it, it does work! I never thought I would ever crate train a dog, but for very curious pups like shelties its almost a definate until they are perfectly trained!
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I am home all day so I can distract her from chewing on inappropriate things. Good luck with Shelby please give her time and a crate, when she must be left unsuppervised. 
I see you are nervous about crating get her a plastic crate of fabric one. The Fabric one has thick mesh port windows, has a zipper front and top. Fabrick is like that of a tent. Made by Woolrich, distributed by target and Ocean State Job Lot.
She WILL grow out of this!
but we would never consider getting rid of her. 
I will look into crate training her for sure 
I don't use that one on Kia ,she is too tiny. When Kia goes in her crate she has her teddy bear and a Chew toy usually Rawhide, or tug rope.