We have a 3 year old golden doodle who is awesome but a little hyper in a very friendly way. BUT she has a bad habit that I haven’t been able to break: Chewing. Everything. Up.
Shoes, glasses, purses, leashes, table legs, remote controls, baseball caps, electrical cords (did she never get a shock to learn a lesson??), a cell phone, her dog bowl, her bed, you name it, she chews it up. BTW she has dozens of dog toys–chew toys, balls, pigs ears, rawhide, kongs, etc & she also rips all of them to shreds but I replace them so she’ll have things to chew that aren’t my prized possessions. However, not only does she chew her toys up, but also preys upon my things.
Will she ever outgrow this? What else can I do? I love my dog, but she is so destructive!!!
I initially read that this behavior is because she is bored or teething. Teething is over & I walk her for 1 hr in the morning & 45 min in the evening & have hired a dog walker to walk her for 1 hour during the day. We have kids who get home after school & play with her too. So she’s getting exercise but still keep chewing :(. Can anyone help?
ETA: Another common solution is to get her a friend. But the thought of cleaning up after another dog just exhausts me…
Perhaps combined with rubbing the more dangerous items on the list with some deterrent, like fresh chilli? But then, I don’t know her preferences. Maybe she likes her electrical cord with sriracha?
There is a product called grannicks bitter apple. Our dog hates it. He would chew on everything. Once sprayed with the bitter apple spray, he would leave it alone.
That and training. You have to work with the dog. If you haven’t had puppy training, you need to find an obedience class, preferably one that teaches YOU how to train the dog to behave. It takes time, but dogs love their masters and every second you spend with the dog will be returned 1000-fold. Not only that, but you get a dog that behaves, as well.
Thanks for the tips. We did 2 courses of obedience training-one was boot camp where she went for a week & the second was a dog whisperer type trainer who came to the house to train us. She’s actually an obedient dog when we’re around, but gets into mischief when she’s home alone. I know I could crate her, but neighbors reported (back when she was younger) that she barked non-stop in the crate, so we stopped putting her in there (we’re in southern california, so neighbors are very close by).
What HAS worked is doggy daycare as Grrr! suggested, but that is too expensive to do every day. I’m actually considering another dog for her to play with because the trainer we used thinks it’s due to boredom. He also thought she would mellow with age, but that hasn’t happened yet.
And Lumpy I will try cowhoofs as she definitely likes to chew up hard things (and soft things too…). She does have antlers (deer I think) which friends have told me last forever with their dogs, but she destroys them in a few days.
If it matters, she is very remorseful when I call her over to scold her about the household items she destroys—she knows she did something wrong & she never does it in our presence. I’ll try some of the tips in this thread & see if anything works.
I was able to break my Jack Russell Terrier puppy of chewing in about a week using a squirt bottle filled with water. He hated being squirted, but he now loves to go swimming, go figure. We provided him with an overabundance of permissible chew toys and only squirted him when he chewed on something verboten. YMMV.
How long did you try? You might try getting her more comfortable with the crate while you are home. Most dogs will eventually relent to the crate over time.
I would not be confident that two dogs will behave better than one.
I finally put a bark collar on my girl and it worked fine, but she’s a short hair. I got an expensive one that responded to a combination of noise and vibration.
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Looks like more opinions and advice than facts. Off to IMHO.
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Agreed: The Kong at my mom’s house has seen four dogs from puppyhood through old age, all of them heavy chewers, and it’s only just now showing slight signs of wear around the edges. I didn’t think it was physically possible for anything to shred them.
I have a golden doodle and he stayed a puppy for several years it seemed !
He did a bit of chewing, almost entirely of shoes, briefly the first year. Mine doesn’t bark like that though.
If he barks make him stop, every time. Or you’ll always have a dog who barks. Largely dogs do what you let them. Don’t let him bark. Ever. Get a muzzle if necessary, you’ll only use it a week or ten days, he’ll get the idea quickly. When he barks scold him once, second bark, crate him. If he barks more, muzzle him for twenty minutes. Then let him out and start fresh. You just have to be zero tolerance for a couple of weeks.
With the chewing up of things, when you find it, make him look, scold him, then put him in his crate for twenty minutes. Again, if you do this consistently for a couple of weeks this should resolve.
They’re great dogs I adore mine. But my dogs have never been barkers, I kinda don’t let them go there!
There are different strength Kongs for different kinds of chewers. I think Black is for the strongest chewers, and Red is one step below. Black Kongs are virtually indestructible. Nylabones last a long time. 7" cow femur bones last a long time. For some variety, wedge a Nylabone into the Kong. Your dog will enjoy having two toys in one.
I actually find it easier to have a 2nd dog. With one dog, I can’t get any work done because he’s always wanting to play with me. With a 2nd dog, they hang out together and seem to be happier.
If you decide on a 2nd dog, contact the various foster groups in your area. Since you have such a specific purpose in mind, the foster group will be able to point you at specific dogs they think would be a good match. If you just get a random dog, there’s no telling if their personalities will match. From what you describe, you probably need another high-energy dog who likes to play (sorry!) so that they occupy each other. There’d be no sense in getting a quiet dog who keeps to himself, as neither would be happy with that situation.
Most dog people think crates should not be used as punishment, and dogs do interpret time outs (times out?) as punishment. And it is difficult to make the dog stop barking when one isn’t there.
But I’m not sure I agree dogs chew because they are bored, after puppyhood; I think they do it when they are feeling insecure because the alpha isn’t there. Why else would they always go after shoes?
Trying to remember the time frames, but we used to put her in the crate at night when she was a puppy. I think we kept that up until she was 1. During the day, I only put her in the crate when I left the house, so maybe I should have put her in when we were home. I still have it so I think I’ll give it another try.
This is where I am very weak as a dog owner. The trainer we had recommended a shock collar, because she is so obstinate. He was also a zero tolerance kind of guy & said she was a ‘give her an inch & she’ll take a mile’ type dog. Our previous dog was so timid-you looked at her wrong & she showed remorse. This one is as strong willed as they come, but not aggressive, just overbearing.
Ignorance fought! I never realized there was a difference in kong strength/colors, nor had I ever seen a black one. But I just looked it up and you are right. The one she chewed up was pink & small-about the size of an avocado, but still unscrewed in the middle so you could put treats in it. She’s had this one since puppyhood & I recently discovered chunks of it in her poop. She has 2 bigger red ones (one medium/one large) and while those are heavily scratched with bite marks, they are still intact. I think they’d be too big for her to chew through. I never realized the black ones are the strongest, but I’ll get her one of those.
On a positive note, she is very smart & has not had an accident since 4 months of age. And her annoying habit of jumping up on people & annoying company is mostly under control. We addressed this by putting a pronged collar on her when company comes (I used to think those were cruel until this dog came along) & stepping on the leash when she approached people-you actually have to use a lot of force with her to get her attention. Her innate personality style is very friendly and in your face-no boundaries, which might be ok if she were a small do but she is large. Someone else recommended bones with marrow from the butcher. I got her some of those today & she’s gnawing away on it now.
This was our trainers philosophy too, but her energy is boundless. The vet recommended a drug called Concerta (given to humans for ADHD), but the cost was ridiculous. It would be cheaper to put her in doggy day care every day, which is also cost prohibitive, plus we kept thinking she’d mellow out after we got past the puppy phase. I know this is controversial, but we’re considering THC dog treats to mellow her out.
Seriously? That is far outside modern views on dog training. I really suggest you get her enrolled in ongoing obedience training. Going to a dog club is valuable for her, she gets to see all her “friends” and training is an ongoing process, not something that can be achieved in a ‘short course’ scenario.
Dogs don’t do “remorse”. They react to us growling/yelling at them, but they have no clue why UNLESS they are doing the thing that you don’t want them to do right that minute/second. She has no idea of the difference between her own chewables and your fancy new “whatever”, to her they are all the same.
You have to set her up to “fail” then tell her “no”, then get her to do what you do want. For example, let her loose, she goes for your stuff. You go “no” and swap it over for her teddy or bone or kong. When she’s chewing on the permissible stuff, you reward with a treat and/or a pat and lots of encouragement and “what a good dog! Playing with her own toys! You are wonderful!” verbal praise and lot’s of “where’s your kong?” “where’s your teddy?” “where’s your (permissible chewee”?). You need to train her to go for her own stuff and you do that by reinforcing that choosing her Kong will get her a treat. There’s no reward for chewing other things. You will practise “leave it” at training, where you can walk her past anything and she’ll ignore it.
Other things you can try to keep her occupied is to make iceblocks in an icecream container, with a hunk of meat or a toy or a kong with more stuff inside in the middle, she’ll lick/chew to get at it. Also, have you tried whole marrowbones? That should keep her busy for a while. Can you confine her otherwise than in a crate where she’s got a more room? A room of her own, or in a baby play pen (will she jump out?). Again, it’s a matter of training. The crate/playpen/her room is a good place where treats rain from the sky just because you are there. Every treat is given in the “magic place”. They want to be there because they learn it’s a good place to be. Yes, use the crate when you are there. When you’ve trained her, she’ll just hang out there because it’s her spot and good things happen there. Same process, get her to do what you want, reward and praise, praise praise.