Destructive chewing

kolina27 · 10-28-2009, 03:56 PM

OK, My sheltie is going to be 7 months on the 14th of November. He chews EVERYTHING! He's chewed carpets, paper, cardboard, the wood molding, cords, and even ceramics around the house. The thing is, he won't touch this stuff when we're home, only when we're away (I like to let him free roam downstairs). I've tried the Kong idea and that works off an on. He has rawhides and several other toys laying around the house. I don't know what else to do. I can't tell him not to chew something when I am not around. I've tried 'Bitter Barrier' and that stuff apparently tastes wonderful to him. I am getting to the end of my rope here with him. Any other ideas or suggestions? Is theres omething else I can try putting ons ords and other things to keep him from chewing?

TxRider · 10-28-2009, 03:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kolina27

OK, My sheltie is going to be 7 months on the 14th of November. He chews EVERYTHING! He's chewed carpets, paper, cardboard, the wood molding, cords, and even ceramics around the house. The thing is, he won't touch this stuff when we're home, only when we're away (I like to let him free roam downstairs). I've tried the Kong idea and that works off an on. He has rawhides and several other toys laying around the house. I don't know what else to do. I can't tell him not to chew something when I am not around. I've tried 'Bitter Barrier' and that stuff apparently tastes wonderful to him. I am getting to the end of my rope here with him. Any other ideas or suggestions? Is theres omething else I can try putting ons ords and other things to keep him from chewing?

Sounds like a good candidate for crate training.

kolina27 · 10-28-2009, 04:08 PM

I know nothing about crate training. My last sheltie, who passed away about 5 years ago now, never had any of these issues so we never crated him. How long does it usually take for a dog to get use to a crate? I can get one this week and do some training with it, but like I said I am not exactly sure what I should do. Is there a good site I can look at or a book?

yom · 10-28-2009, 05:27 PM

I agree with the crate training suggestion. Our dog Chesdin destroys everything when he chews - we can only get him nyla bones and black kongs. Of course he doesnt touch a thing when we are home like your pup so we cant correct him. We tried different approaches but he always managed to get to stuff so we have been crating him and its great. We just say the word "kennel" and he walks right in.

RedyreRottweilers · 10-28-2009, 05:31 PM

There are HUNDREDS of posts addressing this issue on this and probably any other forum you will go to.

Use the search feature!

kolina27 · 10-28-2009, 06:41 PM

Alright. I'll do my research. Thankfully my uncle just informed me that he might have a crate for me that they never used for their lab. He said they bought it when she was younger so it should be the right size for my sheltie if not a bit bigger. Having a bigger kennel wouldn't be a problem though would it?