Exactly, thanks. And to compound the problem, we have kids & they don’t always follow the dog rules-e.g. I’ll go in their rooms & the dog will be up on their beds, which is not allowed. So there’s some inconsistency there too.
As I’m learning in my Nextdoor thread, shock collars are very controversial. Some people swear by them & others think you’re a monster for even considering them. And yes, she has a very shaggy coat, so I think I’d need to shave her neck for it to work, which would make her look weird.
Where I went wrong with the bitter spray is this: I’ve sprayed everything with it, then months would go by with no chewing of table legs, cabinets, etc, then we’d rejoice “yay she’s over her destructive phase”. Then I;d notice something else she chewed…I’m sure the stuff wears off over time, so I just need to keep on spraying.
Agree with this completely. My dog sounds like a pain in the ass in this thread, and she can be. But she is really the heart of our family with her wild & crazy antics & unconditional love. Plus she’s seriously cute.
From the Kong website:
Apparently there are some dogs who even destroy the black ones :eek:. I can’t imagine that my dog could even destroy the red ones…at least not the medium & larger that won’t fit entirely in her mouth. So I guess things could be worse
A power chewer will eventually chew through anything, but the key is to get stuff that will fail slowly enough for you to have time to rotate it out. Something that wears down over months is what you need versus something that breaks in a few minutes.
Kong also makes some super tough squeaky balls. My dogs destroy most traditional squeaky toys within a day, but these ones from Kong are pretty much undamaged. They make a bunch of toys with that kind of rubber and they’re all really durable.
A few of the Nerf toys are durable, like this football, but they’re not at the level of Kong.
Another good toy is a hard plastic ball that’s a little bigger than will fit in their mouth. Dogs sometimes enjoy rolling it around and trying to bite it. But since it’s too big for their mouth, they can’t chew it up. A fun thing to do is to put the ball in a kiddie pool, either dry or with water.
2 things to consider here. I once asked my local shelter for their feelings on shock collars to stop barking. They said that noise issues were high on the list for why owners surrendered their dogs. Proper collar use can help stop these problems and allow dogs to stay with their families. The shelter supported their use for this reason.
You don’t need to shave her neck. If you get a good brand (not from PetCo or a big store), you can get longer contact points that are designed for dogs with thicker coats.
Yes, it does wear off. Spray is not always the best way to apply the yucky taste. They also sell creams, for example. I also find that doing it while she isn’t around works better. It just tastes yucky! How odd… Keep applying frequently. You can also look into other flavors if bitter apple doesn’t work.
Yes, there are. Our rottweiler would regularly destroy them. Of course, her favorite outdoor toy was a keg that we used for home brewing. At some point, she decided it was her keg. She would drag it from one side of our yard to the other side, yipping in sheer glee the whole time. :smack:
Sure, as a last resort, people would try anything rather than lose a pet, but in the OP’s circumstances, a trainer recommending one for such a young dog who isn’t a barker seems way out of line, IMO. The dog was barking when crated all day. I don’t blame her, such a confined space would have me squawking about it, too. There’s no way I’d punish a dog (and getting zapped is a type of punishment) if the dog has a “legitimate grievance”.
The OP has lots of things to try before being at any “last resort” stage. Training, more interactive toys (have you looked at the “home alone” bungee toys?) and things to keep doggie occupied during the day, tuckering her out more, fixing up an outdoor shady area so she is away from “good stuff” when she’s alone, all of the suggestions which have been made, including the dog just growing up out of the “insane puppy” phase mean that she’s in no way needing to be zapped to prevent her having to be rehomed. IMO.
A couple of people have mentioned socks. Socks are really very dangerous for dogs to chew or play with. Please get a good hamper and make sure the socks go straight in there when you take them off. A dog who swallows a sock is in for some extreme pain and a very expensive surgery. You do not want to go there, especially for something so easy to prevent.
Enola Gay seems to be saying that the shock collar idea was only because the dog barked when left in the crate all day. There is no need for it now as I understand it. Locking the dog in a box all day with a shock collar attacking her anytime she calls for help is just pure evil.
I had forgotten about the bitter apple spray. That was one of the tools we used with Celtdog and it worked very well.
