How on earth do you get a dog to stop chewing?

[steppy104]

It's like some kind of freakin addiction or something. We've had him for 8 months now, and he still gets in trouble for chewing on things.

He just ruined the controller to my boyfriends ps2 in fact.

He's gotten under our motor home and chewed on god knows what under the front.

The cords connecting a trailor to a truck to make the lights work...Yeah, he got those too. Ruined it.

This dog is costing us quite a bit of money, and if he doesn't stop, he will be either given to the pound or put to sleep.

So, how the heck do we fix him?

I really like him, and I'd hate for us to have to get rid of him....

 

[GSD]

its not as simple as how to 'fix' him
what type of dog is he?
you need to find the cause of the problem.

are his puppy teeth still coming through?
is he left alone alot?
does he have alot of toys to play with

it could be a number of things including attention seeking and bordem
i suggest you contact a dog beehaviourist
do NOT put him to sleep because if you are not prepared to help or pay money for a pet such as a dog or cat you shouldnt of got it in the 1st place

 

[steppy104]

its not as simple as how to 'fix' him
what type of dog is he?
We were told he's an Australian shepherd German shepherd mix...But he looks to have some hound in him.

you need to find the cause of the problem.

are his puppy teeth still coming through?
Nope. Done got those in a few months ago.

is he left alone alot?
Nope. My dads retired, so he's home all the time. He's hardly ever alone.

does he have alot of toys to play with?
He's got his own toy corner. It's meant for my nephews and nieces when they come over, but in the mean time, it's all his.

it could be a number of things including attention seeking and bordem
He gets attention by attacking my mom. (playfully). And if we aren't playing with him, he plays with our older dog.

i suggest you contact a dog beehaviourist
I'm not going to even explain what my dad thinks about that, but lets just say it's out of the question.

 

[Angel Lady]

If he has hound in him then that is most of your problem. I have found that if you sprinkle pepper around in your house and things this could break him. He will start to think that everything he chews on will make him sneeze and he should stop that way. I have had good luck with this method. I am not saying go out side with a box of pepper or nothing like that. I am nearly saying ( in your house like table legs and stuff that he chews on all the time).

 

[GSD]

yeah he does sound cute

you should erally try and see a behaviourist or mabe take him to dog training classes.

You can also buy a spray to put on furniture which should out him off chewing it for a while.

 

[steppy104]

Hmm...Pepper/spray idea sounds good...didn't think of that.

He doesn't chew on furniture at all...We broke him of that within the first week we got him. It's just random things laying around he likes to chew on. We never really know what he's going to go after next.

Actually, not long after I posted on here he was gettin ready to strike again!

My boyfriend had set his bottle of mt dew on a ledge in the other room, and I'm sittin on the computer when I see Blue walk by with the bottle in his mouth.

All I had to do was say "BLUE! thats not yours!", and he dropped it and walked away. lol.

He knows he's not supposed to chew...When we catch him doing it, he pouts and gets the guilty look. So I don't get, if he knows chewing gets him in trouble, why on earth would he do it!?

I'd say to buy him chew toys, but my dad says that doing that teaches him that he can chew on things...I can see how that is though. I mean, if we let him chew on something won't he think 'oh hey, I can chew on things now!' and chew what he wants?

-sigh- He's the stupidest smart dog I've seen.

Ya know....I think his problem might be mental....You'd think so too though if you seen how many things he ran into, and how hard he ran into them when we first got him!

 

[tttnjfttt]

Does he have any toys that he can chew really hard on? We get my dog the largest Kong avaliable (she is maybe 65 pounds) and other hard rubber toys, and she loves the, and destroys them. Basically, make sure he has lots of toys he can chew on and chew the c*** out of. It can get expensive, but its cheaper than all the stuff you are replacing and fixing.

Also, does this dog have somewhere that he can go out and RUN like crazy to wear himself out? How much attention does your dad give him durring the day? If you dad is ignoring him, he could be chewing for revenge.

 

[steppy104]

Not really. o_0 just stuffed animals and a couple of squeaking balls.

We have a big back yard...But going on crazy running sprees doesn't seem to wear him out....Just gets him in a huge playing mood.

I'm not sure how much attention my dad gives him when I'm not around. But he can't exactly play with him...He can just pet him n stuff.

He's actually playing with himself right now. lol. He's taking a stuffed monkey and tossing it in the air to himself. XD

But yeah, he gets more attention that our attention-loving mutt, and she hasn't chewed anything up in years.

 

[laurasmithuk]

im discusted u mention puttin him down..... if a dog is acting in this way then there is root to the problem! would you consider putting a child down if it did not act in the same way?

 

[Angel Lady]

Some dogs can't get enough attention. And chewing up things is the only way they know how to get it. I still say the pepper would work. I have had good luck sprinkling the pepper around. They will start to think everything they chew on will make them sneeze and they will stop. But I am afraid if he is seeking attention he will try to get it another way if the pepper makes him quit chewing, he will start using the bathroom in the house or something to that effect..Good luck with him what ever you decide to do.

 

[black angel]

Looks like he is chewing the harder things to help his teeth. I would get him some really hard toys to chew on.

 

[Bloo]

It sounds like he's just a young dog needing a lot of attention. Even if there are people around, they can still get bored. Do you have any other dogs ? Having more than one dog (the canine companionship) often helps to alleviate this problem.
Buy some chews of different types and sizes - specific dog chews. Or go to a butcher's and buy the largest knuckle stripped of any meat.
Not just little toys to play with.

Good luck !

 

[steppy104]

"im discusted u mention puttin him down..... if a dog is acting in this way then there is root to the problem! would you consider putting a child down if it did not act in the same way?"

Gee thanks for helping me try to fix the problem. (not) That really doesn't help anything. o_0

ANYWAY to the people actually posting something useful-

As to the bathroom thing-
We make sure to close our doors. He's gotten into plenty of things in our rooms.

Something to chew on-
If my bf gets home in time, I'll see if he'll take me to petsmart for a nice hard chew toy. I can't buy him a bone or anything food-like though, cause both dogs tend to fight over things that are edible.

Attention-
How young is young? I think he's about a year old by now. Not sure. The person we got him from told us all kinds of ages. When we first thought of getting him, my dad wanted a young dog, so they're like 'oh yeah, he's only this many months old'...And on our way down to kentucky it seemed that number of months just kept going up and up.

But yeah, he does have another doggy companion. My old doggy Sadie. I don't think she likes him too much cause she's an old-fat-fart. But he just loves her.

 

[steppy104]

Seriously my dads an idiot that thinks he knows it all.

'i've raised 50 dogs in my life time, those people you're talking to online are just idiots, they're the kind of people who waste hundreds of dollars on 'dog phsyciatrists' and all that other bull ****'

Don't think I'm the bad one here...Its all my dad and he's just a freakin idiot that doesn't know how to take advice, GOD FORBID HE'S WRONG!!@

God I'm just soo ticked off right now at him. We just got in a nice little arguement over the whole thing, and I just couldn't listen to him anymore, I stuck my fingers so far down my ears they're hurting right now.

He says the dog just has a chewing habbit. He says that the dog gets more attention than anyone he knows. They should be treated like dogs. all this other bull.

I'm sick of him.

 

[Bloo]

Depending on breed, a young dog is anything up to 3 years old really - and a year old is still most definitely a youngster. Something like an early teens teenager really. The chewing will get less over time, but I'm afraid you're going to have to deal with it a while longer until he mostly outgrows it.

You said

I can't buy him a bone or anything food-like though, cause both dogs tend to fight over things that are edible.

- well the solution would be to buy 3 knuckles. One for each dog and one spare. That should almost certainly work.

Remember we all give our individual advice but none of us really know your dog - so it's really quite hard to give you "the right advice" and your dad might very well have some validation in whatever he's saying.

The only thing I can suggest that might very well help is getting those chews - and a variety of them.

Below are a few articles you might find of help as well and apply some of the information and tips in there - good luck !

http/www.arkanimals.com/ark/dg_pet_destr...ve_chewing.html

http/sd.essortment.com/howdoistopch_rrff.htm

http/www.canineconcepts.co.uk/ccp51/cc/d...r/chewing.shtml