[tunguska]

We got our dog Saffron from the animal shelter in June, and she is a lovely dog. She is not that old, probably having been born in April. However, we are unable to leave her loose in the house while we go out because she will chew up something--a book that she actually pulls off the bookshelf, a basket filled with magazines, even the baseboard around the walls. The latter is what disturbs us the most, partly because we don't want our house destroyed, and partly because of the dangers of wood splinters to the dog.

We have been crating her for a day or two, which she hates, and then trying again to let her loose in the house. It doesn't work. Nor is crating her entirely successful, since she also chews up anything put into the crate with her, including towels or blankets. We are worried she is going to choke to death one day while we are at work.

My wife and I both work, and we can't afford daycare for the dog. My goal is to be able to leave her free in the house while we are gone and not have her go crazy with anxiety and chew up the furniture, walls, and our possessions. She was the easiest dog I have ever had to housebreak, so we are not worried about her soiling the carpet while we are gone. It's the chewing we want to stop, but how does one do that when one isn't physically there to stop her?

[Elana55]

I never leave my dog loose in the house days. NEVER. Many people do but I do not. I don't want to have anything destroyed and the includes the furniture. Someone here posted a photo of a couch that their two dogs destroyed one day. NOT recoverable! If a dog starts to get "into" something like that he or she can do huge amounts of damage as the tearing and ripping becomes self reinforcing. A dog can go for years being no problem and then do something. The risk is not worth it to me.

I use a crate. I had a problem with Atka chewing up bedding in her crate so I stopped puitting bedding in the crate. End of problem.

I do put a peanut butter stuffed Kong Toy in her crate and I also put a hollow shank bone with peanut butter (or liverwurst) in that.. and I mean WAY inside it so she has to puzzle to get it out. I have a second Kong I put liverwurst or peanut butter in with kibble or dog biscuits. She has a hoof to chew as well. She also has water in her crate.

After our morning walk I fill the toys with liverwurst, peanut butter, treats.. what ever I can that is dog friendly and hard for the dog to remove. I put those in her crate. Atka BEGS for her crate when we get done with our morning walk and b4 I go to work because she cannot wait to get at thos toys and treats!

You will probably need to do some crate training with your dog to get her used to the crate and to want to go in it. There is a book you can get called "Crate Games."

I have a crate upstairs and one downstairs for days. The day crate is larger so she has more room to deal with her peanut butter and liverwurst laced toys. The one upstairs is for nights. Lately I have placed a dog bed down and nights she has been sleeping there (next to her crate). I am home when she is on her bed and the crate is open so she has a choice.

[tunguska]

We probably are going to crate-train her as an immediate solution to the problem, but I still want to train her out of this chewing behavior. She only chews when we leave her, which suggests some sort of separation anxiety or perhaps boredom or fear that we won't return.

We tried a rubber toy with peanut butter in the center for when she is crated and she chewed the whole thing up and was pooping red rubber for days.

[harrise]

Heh. I was the one with the pic. It took me about 4 months, 360 miles, three pairs of shoes, tons of achey shins, a few bandaids, one crate (which was destroyed, welds were literally ripped apart from quarter inch wire.), two pairs of gloves, 120 hours of sleep, 40 pounds of body fat... Get the idea? I had to actually run it out of him. He would be walking around the house and just sink his canines into the arms of furniture, right in front of me!!! After doing the treadmill for twenty minutes while I got ready at 4:45 in the morning, we ran/jogged 3-4 miles a day. It was a month before I saw any improvement. Then when he was showing signs of calming, I had to ease him out of his torn up crate by leaving, driving the car away, and walking back to the house and peering in the windows. BAM! Instant sit when I opened the door. We had to put the crate in the hallway with no room on the sides, put the treadmill up against it, piece of plywood with weights (50lbs) on top, and he still squirmed out of that once. All I'm saying is that it IS possible to do what you say is your goal, you just better commit once you start.


It was him getting out of the cornered crate that made me work on getting him out of it, I had visions of him impaling himself on the wires.

[bjg1205]

I could use a little help myself. I have a cane corso, almost 2 years old. He was a very aggressive and dominant dog from day one. He has been fixed. It has taken ALOT of hard work but is becoming a very good dog. I've taken care of the aggression and dominance but a severe case of separation aniexty has reared it's ugly face. He's damn near a perfect dog when I'm home. Great with the family, past the puppy madness, walks on the leash very well, fetches, off leash is not perfected but the recall is pretty good, etc... The only problem I'm having with him is when I leave for work(I have a 9 to 5 job), I keep him in my bedroom as I live with my parents and they don't want him out when no one is there. He was fine for a while, then the destruction began. Breaking apart and out of multiple cages, tearing up the carpet/bed sheets, a whole in the wall etc... How can I get him to stop this? I dont want to get rid of him but I'm moving into an apartment or house in april and need a solution. Please help.....

[harrise]

The only help I can give is just plain ol exercise. 90% of my problems were solved by running them, and myself ragged. If you had a three day stretch where you could "leave" and come back to watch what he does... I wasted a whole Labor day weekend doing that. Gradually increasing the times between returning, but only to look in the window. If he was doing something he shouldn't be, the surprise of me being there on a moments notice was enough to put him belly up. The hard part with those big mastiff types is, when you have an ancy one, a three mile run is just a warm up. Until I could afford to stay home with them, my shedule was:
4:30 a.m. - Awake, put Malamute on treadmill
5:00 a.m. - Out the door with dogs
6:00-6:30 a.m. - Back from run
7:45 a.m. - Leave for work
3:00 p.m. - Wife home
9:00 p.m. - Home from work

After a year I was able to scale back the runs a little. That's just the way I went about it. I'm sure there are countless ways to deal with separation anxieties. Hopefully someone else can chime in with some ideas...

[briteday]

A tired dog is a good dog. My little 10-pounders get a 2-mile walk before and after work. And they also get at least 30-45 minutes of hard play with fetch, laser tag, tug, or just rough housing. And they are just small dogs. But if they don't get this mental and physical stimulation they ae almost impossible to live with. They also have a 1/2 acre pasture to roam at will, chasing animals and just playing in the brush.

But there is nothing like coming home to three sleeping dogs in their crates.

I never leave anything in the crate other than a kong.

[Dookie]

my pup just chewed off our door trim this weekend.

[4dogs3cats]

Your dog sounds like a puppy. A bored puppy. Chance is a year old and I still dont trust him alone as he ate my couch as well. (Not as bad though, I consider myself lucky now)

Crate crate crate. There is no need for your dog to be out when youre not home. They like their crate, they just sleep.

[matthewa]

in my opinion there is no need for a dog to chew furniture / walls etc. Really its the owners fault for not paying attention to do the dog and letting it do it. Possibly also boredom is a factor and also it has too much energy.

We have been crating her for a day or two, which she hates

you set the rules . after all it is your house, you need to establish a routine and let the dog know who is boss. You should have established rules regarding the crate when you got the dog, once it knows to go in the crate it will get used to it and eventually it will associate crate with sleep

if the dog barks / whines and then you remove it from the crate, its going to think.. when i bark i can roam free again, so i'll bark, whereas if he barks and you leave him in there, eventually he will work out his barking does nothing, so he will then goto sleep as theres not much else to do in such a small space

[poodleholic]

We have been crating her for a day or two, which she hates, and then trying again to let her loose in the house. It doesn't work. Nor is crating her entirely successful, since she also chews up anything put into the crate with her, including towels or blankets. We are worried she is going to choke to death one day while we are at work.

Instead of leaving towels or blankets in her crate for her to lay on, get her a crate bed. There are crate beds with cover material that discourages chewing or ripping it up, as it doesn't bunch up under teeth or paws.

Dogs pretty much just sleep while their people are away from home, so don't feel bad about crating her. My two are 6 yrs. old and have earned freedom of the house years and years ago (my female at 6 mo.). Both choose to go into their crates whenever I'm not home, because they feel secure in their crates. I left their crates up simply to keep them comforatable about being in a crate, because they will be crated at the vet's, should anything happen (God Forbid). The stress of illness or injury is bad enough, so I don't want the stress of being crated when not used to it to make matters worse.

Heh. I was the one with the pic. It took me about 4 months, 360 miles, three pairs of shoes, tons of achey shins, a few bandaids, one crate (which was destroyed, welds were literally ripped apart from quarter inch wire.), two pairs of gloves, 120 hours of sleep, 40 pounds of body fat... Get the idea? I had to actually run it out of him. He would be walking around the house and just sink his canines into the arms of furniture, right in front of me!!! After doing the treadmill for twenty minutes while I got ready at 4:45 in the morning, we ran/jogged 3-4 miles a day. It was a month before I saw any improvement.

OMG! You poor thing! Well, I certainly admire your committment. Not many who would endure and undergo what you have done. Kudos to you! BTW, should you decide to get another puppy of this breed, there are STEEL crates that will hold up! LOL

[CrazyDog]

Originally Posted by tunguska

We probably are going to crate-train her as an immediate solution to the problem, but I still want to train her out of this chewing behavior. She only chews when we leave her, which suggests some sort of separation anxiety or perhaps boredom or fear that we won't return..

This problem does NOT sound like separation anxiety. It sounds more like boredom and to much pent up energy to me. A bored dog = a destructive dog. Like others have mentioned LOTS and LOTS and LOTS of excercise will help with this problem. A tired dog = a good dog. By the way, if you don't mind what kind of dog is it? Some dogs require lots more excercise then others.

Also, the dog NEEDS to be crate trained. matthewa has great advise. You need to set the rules. Two days in the crate is not going to change anything. Your dog will get used to being in the crate but it may take a few weeks to a few months with consistency. Most dogs do just fine staying in a crate. I would never leave my dog unattended in the house to roam free while I'm gone. There are too much things for her to get into. Plus she loves her crate. It is her personal space.

If you are having problems with your pup chewing blankets/towels up while in the crate just don't put any in there. Alot of people don't put blankets in the dogs crate and most dogs don't even care either way.

Originally Posted by tunguska

We tried a rubber toy with peanut butter in the center for when she is crated and she chewed the whole thing up and was pooping red rubber for days.

Was it KONG brand? I found that all the other knock off brands don't hold up as well as the KONG brand, especailly the black kongs (for hard chewers). I would try the black kongs or like mentioned a hollow shank bone or a puzzle toy.

Also I find the more toys dogs have to play with/tear up the less of your stuff they will chew on.

GOOD LUCK!

[Aisha's Mom]

I don't have much advice but my story is similar! We have a chewer too! She's eaten the coffee tables edges (wood) and the bottom of the couch and two cushions....since we're gone probably 9-10 hours, we don't crate her, but we lock her in the kitchen with tons of toys and her pillow...this helps a ton! She has tried to eat the baseboarding and woodtriming around the doors, but a little spray of FOOEY worked well for that (but don't get it on hands it won't come off for days!) At night she always gets a special rawhide to keep her busy until she falls asleep...so far we've had a casualty of a book one of the kids left out and i didn't see when i picked up, but she's been better when we move stuff out her reach.
She may grow out of most of it...but crating and keeping her from having the opportunity to chew things are the best options... i tell the kids at night "pick up your toys or aisha may eat them..." because you never know.