I was talking to my neighbor the other day about Lucy, our puggle dog and how she is chewing on practically everything these days. Books, shoes, pens, squirrels {ewww}.
We’ve tried bully sticks {as a treat} antlers {to keep her busy}, and still, she chews.
My neighbor suggested that we either get her a new chew toy, like a puppy kong that I can stuff with peanut butter or some sort of treat, stick in the freezer for a bit, and then give to her to keep her busy. But I’ve done that.
He also told me to maybe go with a bigger sized chew, instead of the bully sticks—one that was harder for her to get her mouth over, in hopes it might slow her down. I know for sure I’ve got to give her something, so she doesn’t go off the rails and start chewing on our furniture.
Seriously, I’m desperate, what do you all suggest?
~Mavis
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Maggie White says
I have two beagles (I call them my Demon Dogs), and they will get destructive when they get bored. Most of the time, they are super-duper lazy, but since they are hunting dogs they can get pent up energy. Beagles (and puggles!) are also deviously clever and will find a way to entertain themselves.
I give them free reign over our fenced backyard, but once a day I have to make sure that they play hard and wear themselves out! Otherwise, they get into shenanigans. For example, last week one of them figured out how to push a bench next to the kitchen counter, hop up on it, and steal a 3 lb bag of apples. They thought it was great fun!
As far as chewing, I go to our local meat market and buy them raw beef bones. It’s hours of entertainment for them. Kongs just don’t cut it!
Linda says
I also agree with the beef bones! My Newfie is on a raw meat diet entirely and I just gave him the rib cage of a mule deer a little while ago. I don’t think Newfies chew much though. Or do much of anything really! LOL. But be a wonderful friend! He has elk legs and a whole host of other things to chew though. I did have a chewer…..she was a rescue and had many problems. Her and her sister chewed the bottom of my couch! It still bears the marks. Try bones with some meat on them.
denice says
You also might check with your vet. It is possible that she is lacking something in her diet. Just to be sure….
Andrea says
Our Australian Shepherd mix is one high-strung girl who did chew quite a bit when younger. It helped to wear her out by making her run after a tossed tennis ball, which she also loved to chew. She used to get so anxious when she had too much pent-up energy. Now that she’s older and has hip dysplasia, we actually help her stay calm with essential oils diffused in the house.
Chris says
Everything that I’ve read tells me that dogs get destructive when they get bored. Dogs need a lot of walking and long walks will give the dog the interaction it craves to set those destructive tendencies aside. Yoshi is a tiny pug at 10lbs but I’ve noticed a huge difference in behavior after I take him for a walk. Thus, I’ve started taking him on nightly walks, literally just around the block. And for the last 200ft or so of the walk, I’ll run with him full speed back to the house. As soon as we get in and I take off his harness, he lays down and is out for the night.
Marie says
My puppy puggle is out of control with chewing ang biting. I kno she’s a pup but she’s a Christmas present and after 4 days my 16 yr old daughter is not pleased. We are in LOVE with this little beauty but my daughter just said something about taking her back. Vet said no rawhide or beef bonee because of baby teeth. I bought the Kong, 10 min was it…..HELP!!
annette says
Wow my friend has a puppy and she is 6 months old she bits chews floors furniture and walls
Andrea says
Hi
How old is your little gal? If she’s young u might b in trouble until she is about 2yrs old. Unfortunately the pups like chew until they are bigger. I tried these indestructible toys that are clothe. I got mine at the pet store, they are triple stitched so they stay forever, but they have squeakies inside so the babies love to chew on them. Good luck
Mavis Butterfield says
About 9 months.
Linda says
Lucy is still teething. She will chew unless physically stopped. A lot of the above suggestions were spot on – give her designated things to chew on, keep her exercised, etc. However, probably her mouth hurts. Try giving her ice cubes, frozen carrots, a frozen, wet washcloth (watch her with this one! Don’t let her eat it.) When you can’t supervise her, she needs to be in a chew proof environment, e.g. crate. My dogs are crated until they are two years old when I can’t watch them. I finally learned after having much of my furniture ruined.
kate says
I have an Akita, definitely a completely different type of dog, but they are notorious for chewing destructively! Seriously, she ate the couch, all my cookbooks, you get the idea. I agree with the previous commenter, about boredom. What worked for us was also lots of exercise and play, and making absolutely sure nothing like shoes, pens, books, etc were left out where she would get them. Also, we were taught by our trainer not to give any attention to the chewing or destructive behavior, because dogs often cant differentiate between negative or positive behavior. Scolding is still attention, so they might repeat the behavior seeking attention, even though its not good! Two or three days of us trying it that way, and our dog stopped destroying everything. Maybe that might help!
Mavis Butterfield says
She ate the couch? Oh.My.Word.
Maria says
My dog is 1 and a half and no matter what I do keeps eating my couch we can’t get new one because even after I fix this one the best again and stuff pillowed in the wholes he does it again the next day and I don’t k ow what to do or how much longer this is going to be
christine says
My friend has a lab that when she was a puppy had a bad habit of chewing on electrical cords so to stop this she put oil of cloves on the cords and the shewing stopped. It might be worth a try!!! and its 100% natural.
Christine
Lydia says
I have a 4 month lab also chews on all my electrical cords chargers ect… I will try this…
Kia says
My Boston Terrier Boxer mix also chews on cords…We’ve tried everything to get him to stop. Might have to try this!
Maria Zannini says
I have a rottie mix who destroyed my entire leather living room set. What worked for me is taking him to obedience class and wearing him out. I didn’t let him out of my sight for three months. The instructor at puppy school told me that they grow out of their chewing stage at around 7 months old–give or take a month. Now he’s as good as gold.
Crystal says
She’s still a puppy and will probably grow out of it. Like many others have said boredom is a pretty big factor. She needs exercise. Walks or playing fetch in the back yard. My dog loves to chew on Nylabones. There are sprays out there with cinnamon in them, to spray on furniture and stuff you don’t want her to chew on. Dogs are supposed to dislike the smell, but my dog had no problem with it and chewed away. You can look up recipes to make your own spray out of cinnamon or cayenne. In the end, the only thing that worked for me was consistency. Every single time I saw her chewing on something I didn’t want her chewing on I told her no, took away the object, and gave her a toy to chew on. This meant having toys EVERYWHERE! We kept toys in every single room of the house. Lots of toys. After a couple of weeks she mostly got the hang of it and after two months she rarely chewed on inappropriate things.
akaGaGa says
I had a black lab that chewed off the base of my oak table, and then the kitchen woodwork and then – literally – the wall! She was a pup and I was working full-time, so she was home alone. Not a good place to be.
When I stopped working out of the home, she was a little better. When I started taking her into the backyard and throwing toys for her to fetch until she was exhausted every day, the chewing stopped entirely.
Good luck!
Mary Ann says
We take a three-pring strategy for our spaniel-Aussie mix: first, more exercise; second, substitutes any of those listed above and third, Bitter Apple on furniture and rugs (spot test first). For cushions, which he loves, our trainer suggested Bitter Apple on a cotton ball put inside the cushion close to the surface so his saliva will activate the taste.
darlene says
Lucy will grow out of it, in the meantime stern discipline -swatting in my house, but whatever it looks like in yours :)-will help keep her on track for knowing it’s not acceptable behavior. Wild dogs mouth as a way to get food from older dogs and of course to play, but it can sure become a bad habit in a hurry, so be patient, and consistant.
Darlene
Tasha K says
Kennel her when you are away. It will become her safe space and she can’t chew. We tried EVERYTHING with our dog: sour apple spray, chew toys, a muzzle, confining him to one room… everything! The only thing that worked was putting him in a crate when we left.
Tasha K says
And also, give her things in her kennel that it are ok for her to chew like you’ve been doing.
PattyB says
My Golden did that for 2 yes. Ate all my pots, plastic and clay, then ate my solar lights. Inside he chewed everything but furniture, including a whole roll of stamps! Had to get that bitter spray at Petsmart and put on everything. Eventually it worked or he just stopped. Now he only chews Kong toys and Nylabones, the only things that last more than 10 minutes! They actually last for a couple of years!
Brian says
Couple of years. My 9 month old Rottweiler has destroyed 5 kongs and an entire pack of toilet paper and trees and sticks and anything she can put in her mouth
Lisa says
We keep a spray bottle handy with a water/vinegar mix and spray our dog when he does something that is unnacceptable. The water is harmless and they hate the smell of the vinegar. That has stopped all chewing, herding and food possessiveness in our dog – within just two weeks!
Dorothy says
I used a water gun and it worked fir me also. We also used coins in an empty soda can and when she dud something wrong, we shook it. She hated that can and ran away from wharpt she was doing. Good luck
Melinda says
When they are going through that stage, they never get left alone in my home. Either they are in the crate if I am unable to watch them, on a leash attached to me, or I have a baby gate up where they have to stay in that room for me. The second thing is finding the balance between mental and physical stimulation. It is possible the chewing is partly because she is bored. The third is to change it up with chew toys. One day a bone, the next an antler, then the kong. When/if you catch her chewing don’t punish that wasn’t her fault you weren’t paying attention. Instead replace the item that she isn’t suppose to be chewing with the item she should be. Good luck.
Debbie says
I highly recommend nylabones for Lucy. My golden is 10 yrs old and an avid chewer but only nylabones.
You can get nylabones in a variety of sizes – don’t get the soft ones they don’t last long.
You can find them at Target, Tractor Supply or Drs Foster and Smith.
Erin says
Nylabones are great. We tried all kinds of things to prevent the boredom that apparently causes chewing, but in the end our dog just had to grow out of it. It was the worst up to about one year old and she’s been pretty much over it since she was 2. In the mean time, just don’t leave anything out within her reach or she will chew it up, and it’s probably best to crate her when she’s not supervised. Sour apple spray works, but you can’t cover your whole house in it.
Ricki @ The Questionable Homesteader says
I have a pit cross (very heavy chewer, easily destroys black kongs) and I’ve found that lots of exercise and bitter apple spray works really well for me. She destroyed 2 couch cushions and part of my desk before I discovered the spray. I sprayed everything that I didn’t want her to chew once and she has never touched it again. You can get it at most pet stores, it wont harm them, they could even eat it if they wanted (tastes horrible, I tried it).
susan says
Mavis! You will be so happy! Amazon carries Nylabones!
Good luck,
Susan
debbie says
I have a husky and she loves to chew — but fortunately she has never destroyed anything in the house other than my husband’s slipper (and just one of them). I don’t know if it’s just her, but I think a large part of it is that I have at least 10 different acceptable things she is allowed to chew on available to her at any given time. I found that this Bento chew treat can keep even the largest dog occupied for a few hours. They have a version for smaller dogs. Works like a charm. http://starmarkacademy.com/products/everlasting-bento-ball/
My husky loves to shred and tear things apart – so I also allow her to shred paper that is being recycled or burned – such as the cardboard core of paper towel rolls — and lightweight carboard boxes. That has not increased her probablity to shred paper or boxes she’s not allowed to chew. She doesn’t go after paper or boxes she hasn’t been given as acceptable to shred.
Nylabones worked pretty well when my husky was a puppy – but not so much now — she goes thru them way too fast.
I also always try to make any treat I give her a game — in that she has to work hard to get it. I hide them in an empty bento ball or jam it in the back of a kong or in a treat ball that she has to use her noggin’ in order to figure out how to get at the treat. I find that keeping her stuimulated helps prevent destruction.
Good luck! And keep in mind, she’ll also probably outgrow it 🙂
Tammy E says
That’s so funny. My golden/Irish setter x does the same thing. It’s a special treat for him when the last paper towel is used. I hand him junk mail sometimes too and he runs through the house bucking like a horse and then shreds it finally.
Meredith says
It’s hard, but it’s definitely just a stage. She’s still a young dog, and I feel pretty sure that as she ages this will taper off. I thought I’d go crazy with mine, and now there are no worries about chewing. Of course, I do watch them or kennel them if I can’t, and I try to notice signs of boredom and restlessness so I can break off fresh rawhides for them. They usually stay busy between chewing the rawhides and staring the other dogs down so they can have their bone, then they have a good, long sleep.
Sharon says
I had the same problem with my beagle, and not to be discouraging, but with him, he was still chewing on all my beautiful shoes when he was five years old. One year he discovered he likes drywall so he licked and chewed through the walls as well. My beagle is ten now and occasionally he’ll get the itch to chew again. What’s been working for me is bitter spray for dogs. I don’t think they sell the brand I use anymore but if you google bitter dog spray, a ton of different brands will pop up. Kongs, rawhides, and nylabones are all great (I have them and use them with my dogs too) but they only last so long. Since you shouldn’t give your dogs treats all day long to keep them preoccupied, they will always go back to the shoes, the books (I lost so many books to my beagle), furnitures, etc. The bitter spray which you spray on all the items you don’t want them to chew is a great deterrent and it teaches them not to chew on these things. Be careful not to stand downwind of the spray because it really does taste bitter. Don’t worry, they are natural and safe to ingest. Hopes this works for you! Good luck.
Katie @ Life Lived Intentionally says
I’m not too sure about the problem with chewing, but my little doggy had to have an overnight stay at the vet due to poisoning from chewing on a Sharpie. I just wanted to pass that along when I saw the marker/pen she chewed on. Somebody was taking care of our dog while we were on vacation and he found the marker under a bed! We watch all writing utensils like crazy now. It set us back $1,300. Yikes!
Hope this doesn’t come across condescendingly!
kcb says
She probably will outgrow it. Is she cutting any teeth? Our dog loves a yak bone (Himilayan Dog Chew). I get them at Sophie’s Touch on Harborview. One bone will last about 3-4 months. I don’t let her take it outside as I think the moisture might shorten the life of the bone.
Mavis Butterfield says
Thanks. I’ll have to stop by and get one.
kcb says
There is a spray you can get that tastes bad & is supposed to deter the dog from chewing. We tried it w/our Scotty. She liked to chew the landscape lights. We didn’t have much luck w/it, but it could be worth a try.
Gwenn says
I have a 10 month old destro-dog (boxer/viszla mix) that chews on everything. We found a local butcher that sells smoked (not baked) beef knuckle bones. They are often twice the size of my fist and full of meat, fat, cartilage and other gross stuff that my dog loves and only $2 each which my budget loves. I give her one bone a week. She spends a few hours chewing the meat off and separating the pieces of the joint. Then the rest of the week she spends chewing on the pieces she made. Because they are smoked not baked you don’t have to worry about them splintering like other bones and they are all natural. This butcher uses only locally sourced animals for their products. We’ve trained her to chew the bone on an old sheet so the nasty bone “stuff” doesn’t get on the carpet or other flooring. We talked to our vet about the bones and she’s ok wit them. Added bonus…really clean teeth without us having to brush them and wonderful looking coats!
carol says
Long walks and doggie school were necessary for my labs at that age. Doggie school was great, because dogs love their owners and want to please them. In doggie school, they learn how to respond to commands, so you kind of develop a human/doggie language. When they learn behavior that pleases you, it’s like a light bulb goes off in their doggie brains. They’ll want to repeat those appropriate behaviors.
Tanya says
I have a beagle but never really had to deal with her chewing anything. My lab on the other hand………ATE THE SIDING OFF ALL FOUR CORNERS OF THE HOUSE!!!!! about 3-4 feet up and about 2 feet wide. When he was satisfied with the job he did there….he went after the unattached garage siding. It seemed after one year he just outgrew it all. But, during that first year on top of the sidng debaucle he also pulled all the wiring out for the truck hitch and got bored again and while chasing a cat under the other truck pulled more wires out from that to the tune of 700 bucks in repair. Thank goodness the husband was overseas during this phase cause I think he may have been someone else’s dog today if he knew about it when it happened.
Lots of exercise and lots of attention and him outgrowing it. Trust me, he had EVERY type of chew, toy, treat etc. He (Bruno) was simply just a chewer. Good luck.
Mariah says
I had to laugh at Tanya’s comments about her Lab eating the siding off of her house! I have a 10 month old Golden, my fourth Golden in 22 years. This one chews on everything: furniture, walls, baseboards, stereo knobs, the Weber BBQ, shingles, the wiring on my Jeep used to connect the trailer lights, window sills, wooden deck, dog beds, his bowls, anything and everything of wood,…you name it, he’ll munch on it! I have gone through all of the so-called distractions/deterrents chew bones, toys, treats, exercise, bitter apple, obedience training, dog play “dates”, discipline (various techniques). NOTHING WORKS. His latest is playing with light switches by flipping lights on/off. He uses his mouth to grasp the switch, and instant light show!. He is absolutely crazy. I am hoping that he will outgrow this. On the other hand, he is very affectionate, sweet, and seems to have a gentle side to him in regards to smaller creatures. If anyone has any further suggestions, I am happy to entertain them!
Tami says
I have to laugh reading all these but yet, I have a 13 month pit bull whom has chewed the wiring off the trailer, all of my solar lights, the sprinkler heads, the electrical cords off the pool pump and many more yard things. She runs and plays all evening chasing balls with the Queensland we have and they play all evening as well. I would say it is boredom but she has sticks, balls, bones and chews all over the yard. She is a lizard, frog and gopher/mole hunter as well. I cannot spray an acre of yard to keep her from chewing! Help!!!! She is now living in a Hotwire fenced area because I cannot trust her and cannot afford to leave her in the rest of the yard with the other dogs. But I want her to protect NOT CHEW her entire yard.
Michele says
Mavis, when Lucy chews on something that she’s not supposed to (something that is not hers), simply take it away from her, tell her “no” and give her something that is acceptable for her to chew (something that she knows is hers.) Dogs are perceptive and if you and your family are consistent she will get the idea. This worked with my dogs (and one is a Beagle.) I agree with the other posters, Nylabones are great. Get a hard plastic one, it will last for months, my dogs like the bacon flavored ones. 🙂
kathy f says
We have 2 labs and both chewed a lot! When you catch her chewing , say no , take the item away and immediately replace the item with a rawhide or a chew toy. Until they are about 2 years old you have to watch them very carefully. Our dogs are older now, they don’t chew anything but there toys.
randy says
our lab/collie mix ate a hole in my couch. We finally found bitter apple( most kennels carry this) helped on the items he chewed. We got the small rings of bone that you can buy marrow bones. I cook them for 10 minutes then freeze them. They worked for 9 years. Now his stomach is too sensitive so be are using a Kong stuffed with kibble a bit of peanut butter then frozen. Speaking of frozen, I saw on pinterest a person who froze a dog chew and kibble in chicken boullion in a small tub: popped it out the tub than gave it to their dog out side… May work in season
LG says
My puppy has been going through a similar phase. I’ve noticed that when he is well exercised, he is more obedient and takes direction and training better. If you want to see if this is the issue, I’d try taking Lucy to doggie daycare for the day. I had to take our pup to doggie daycare last week when my husband had surgery. I picked him up 7 hours later and he was litterally laying on the floor eating his dog food with his eyes closed. He was pooped! The next day he was such a good boy! No mischief at all! Now we know that he needs more exercise than we were giving him. It was also great to hear that our puppy was well behaved and playing with the ‘big dogs’. It was worth the $28 we paid for the day.
Candice says
If she is still teething you could have a lot of luck giving her frozen things. Ice, frozen marrow bones (these work wonders and you can get them at a butcher or most pet/feed stores), frozen kongs, anything frozen will cool the gums and will also take her longer to demolish. You can get a special bone from most stores that you soak in liquid and then freeze, and using it as a special treat is helpful. Also make sure she is getting tons of exercise, a bored dog is a destructive dog. It does not even have to be exercise, if you work on training or games (hide and seek with treats) it is great mental stimulation to tire out a destructive pup.
lindsey says
Wow! Reading all the trials and tribulations of you all made me go and hug my dog! Even as a puppy he was never a chewer! Luck of the draw, since it was certainly not something we did raising him. I am afraid I would not have the patience some of you had.
Ann W. Firestone says
Hi Mavis,
As a certified, professional dog trainer I tell my clients that a huge part of living with a puppy is managing the puppy’s environment. You! the one with the opposable thumbs , need to keep all non-chewable items up and out of Lucy’s reach. Teething is a normal part of puppy-hood. She is at the age where she is losing some of her teeth and has new ones coming in, so she needs to chew. If you have a butcher shop near you, or even a grocery store usually carries, big, raw bones. Knuckle bones are best I think. If you get marrow bones, take some of the marrow out the first time so she doesn’t get diarrhea from eating too much of it.
So the next time you see Lucy chewing on something she shouldn’t, get a newspaper and roll it up tightly, then smack yourself on the head three times while repeating, Silly owner, pick things, up!
Stacy says
I’ve raised a lot of puppies that have grown into excellent family dogs and I think chewing things up as puppies, varies with each dog. Some are easy to housebreak, and chew EVERYTHING in sight, while others don’t chew on anything but the chew-bones you give them, and can’t seem to remember that pee and poo belong outside. That said, I know this is going to sound cruel, but I had some success with hot sauce. WHAT?!?! I know, I can hear it from all those positive reinforcement parents out there, but it does work. With one young dog in particular, who was around 7 months old. We had removed all items chewable, except the furniture. He had gnawed on a corner of the couch and I had had enough. He’d been scolded, put in time out in the bathroom, (which was heartbreaking because he kept crying to get back out to us) even spanked on his cute little furry bottom. We’d given him tons of toys to chew on, even fresh bones-NOTHING WORKED, but he was house broken in 1 day!!! Give and Take. Anyway, I dabbed a little Tabasco on the corner of the couch, annnnd… he liked it! Little bugger licked the red right off, and kept chewing! My husband suggested hotter sauce. We tried some sort of Mexican hot sauce, I can’t remember the name, but that did the trick!:) Level in the water bowl was substantially lower, but the couch was safe! However, he’d moved on to the wood trim and drywall!!! Puppies will be puppies. That’s why God made them so cute, to stop us from murdering the little dears!!! I smeared the ‘El Diablo, or whatever it was on the trim and drywall, cussing and shrieking the whole time. The wall was unfortunately stained red but really, the whole wall was going to have to be repaired anyway, what difference was a little red gonna make? I also dabbed it on any corner, or chew-worthy spaces I could think of. Our house smelled like a Mexican restaurant, but It worked! We came home to a pinkish wall, and a craving for Enchiladas, but nothing chewed, except his toys (which was pretty much the only things I left hot sauce free) After about 2 weeks of eating Mexican food every night, I wiped up the hot sauce, and fixed the wall. Our puppy needed a reminder every now and then for a few more months, and when he did, a little dab of Eau de Diablo here and there was enough. He grew into the best dog we ever had, I was a proud mama. Give it a try.
ddr in Beaverton says
We work with a dog trainer for our rescue dog. We purchased Bitter Apple at the pet store and gave a squirt in our dog’s mouth. Then when she’s got something in her mouth we don’t want her to chew, we take it and spray it, then let her smell it. We spray shoes, furniture and anything she’s determined to bite on that we don’t want her to bite on, including our hands. Now we just need to bring out the bottle and she’s quick to release whatever she’s got in her mouth. Once the item is dropped, there’s big praise for her. Chewings items we don’t want chewed has virtually stopped. Our dog is also crate trained. It’s a very safe place for dogs.
Arlene Johnson says
Mavis, we had two 9 month old pups who were chewing on the legs of coffee table, dining room set, etc. I tried everything, then I decided to try hot sauce. Went to the store and picked the hottest hot sauce I could find, painted it on the legs of furniture. They stopped chewing!!!
Holly Gardner says
Our puppy, Kenton, is a 7 month old lab, mastiff, shepherd, husky mix and was very chewy when his “big dog” teeth were coming in. We went to TJ Maxx and got so many dog toys it was ridiculous (they’re cheaper there) and gave him a new one every few days. It seemed to help a little with the boredom issue. We also got him an antler to chew that was way too big for him, but at 70 pounds he’s grown into it nicely. The antler’s really hard and helped him loose those baby teeth (at one point he had 4 lower canines at the same time). The last thing that helped were big round, cow joint bones. We put them into the freezer and pulled them out every so often as a pupsicle treat. I always waited 20-30 minutes after pulling them out of the freezer to give them to Kenton to avoid what I imagined to be the “tongue on the frozen pole” effect. Once the teething slowed, so did the annoying chewing so there is hope out there – now we’ve moved on to 70 pound bullet train running though the house at 30 miles per hour knocking over tables (and me). Gotta love those pups.
Alyssa says
Careful with the antlers! I’ve heard they can crack canine teeth! Ouch!
Alyssa says
We have a 7.5 month old lab puppy and boy does she like to get into trouble! The best thing we’ve found is crating her while we’re gone (also don’t have to worry about coming home to any “messes” around the house too because they don’t want to soil their crate), running her around till exhaustion at the dog park (she learns good socialization skills there, too) and generally puppy-proofing the house while we are here. That means no tv remotes at puppy level, no books or magazines on low shelves, and most of the doors to the rooms down the hallway stay closed so she can’t find shoes and clothes to chew on. Whenever people ask what we do with her when we are at work, we mention crating her and soooo many people say they wish they would have done that with their dogs to save furniture, shoes, literally everything in their house that got chewed! We always make sure she has toys in the crate to keep her entertained, although most of the time when we come home, she is just waking up from a nap! Lazy dog!
Monica says
You could try the baby teething tablets from Hylands. They work great on babies and homeopathy is safe for dogs as well!!
Tammy E says
Beagles are notorious chewers. Plus she’s basically in her adolescent/teenager phase where they are extra jerky. Mine is half beags (as my son says) and half pointer and she chews through things faster than her 93 pound golden/Irish setter brother. We keep lots of hard things for her to chew and she is outside running and sniffing a lot (remmeber beagles are hunterz/workers) and then has her big brother to rough house with. Maybe you need a sibling for her? 🙂
Lydia is 3 now and only chews on her things but she has lots to keep her busy and active. She’s also well supervised and crate trained. I don’t want to scare you but my lab died 3 years ago because she chewed up a plastic cup and the plastic damaged her stomach and intestines irreparably. (She had surgery to remove and repair and died the next day) supervision and crate training are wonderful tools
Cynthia says
I have a year old husky who I can’t leave at home for too long with out him tearing up my couch/carpets, I leave the back yard open he has a bin of toys, bones, he gets atleast 2x a day walks for 20 or more minutes. I sprayed my couch with no bite spray,. I don’t know what to do. Please help this is my second couch that got demolished in 18 months.
Kathy H says
I have a 9 mo old 100 lbs Rottweiler pup. He has never chewed my furniture before and I got him at 8 wks old. Suddenly although he has chew bones…rawhides, and antlers ect…to play with he has suddenly turned on my beautiful full leather couch as I was sleeping. Before that, 2 nights ago he chewed my recliner. I have punished him but he not dumb…he knows when he did wrong and tried to avoid the “hot zone” near the sofa and made me call him in from outside. he has a doggie door. How he can be so smart and so stupid at same time is curious to me. I love my rottie so much and have wire cage here in living room. But I hate putting him in it. Ive had 2 previous Rotties and although they tried me they didnt push me like this one. I have a rottie to keep and my house safe. He cant do that from inside a crate. Any ideas?
Amanda says
Anyone who reply’s by saying that the dog will grow out of it or even worse a new toy or treat is absolutely wrong. I have a 7 month old Beabull, I’ve raised English Billdog in the past. I also have 3 young children which is very relevant. Understand that all living things experiment boredom,anxiety,general need for attention and ultimately the need for a ” pack leader” or parent to instill boundaries for them to make the, feel safe and secure when they are feel g internally chaotic you’ll need to protect them from taking it out on the external environment. Dogs (&kids);-) respond to immediate neg/pos feedback following a stimulant or circumstance..its Classic condition/Pavlov. I would recommend the spray bottle idea and also to crate train always allow your dog to retreat to his/her crate for safety bc they feel safe there. When they have done something wrong you must catch the, in the act and only then use the spray bottle and then guide the, to the crate so the make the proper association that what the are doing is wrong in the crate you provide the toys that your pug should be chewing on. Your little guy/gal will get the hint..They say you can’t teach an old dog new tricks, I’d am end that. I know several old stubborn dogs, but we’re never too old to learn how to make life better by learning something new. Good luck!