How to get a dog to stop chewing?
 

My dog has given me a huge scare. She chewed the end of a power cord. Wires were exposed and it was crackling. She could've been electrocuted or started a fire. We crate her when we aren't home but now I'm concerned that I will always have to keep a close eye on her and always crate her when not home.

How can I stop her from chewing?

Dogs chew for many reasons, primarily if they are puppies and teething, or if they are older, simply due to boredom. In both instances you should give your puppy some toys of her own, and make sure they get plenty of exercise (walks around the neighborhood at a purposeful pace) and just plain tossing the ball/stick/toy, etc. in the yard or park. If you tire a dog out, they seem to get into less mischief. How old is your pup?

multilple differ ways!!!! first if your dog is a puppy, definately provide with great chew toys. such as kong toys filled with cream cheese or peanutbutter (some dogs do have allergies to pb). or you can even cap both open ends and fill with water and dog food ad freeze it. Then as the dog chews it slowly melts. also provide with appropriate chew items. Next you can try bitter apple/orange spray (some dog's love it and don't shy away with it). You can also try a spray of 1:10 mix of water and tabasco sauce to try and detere chewing. Also, are you giving your dog significant amount of exercise and play. Many dog's chew because of boredom.
also what breed is she. Some breeds are more prone to chewing. Another thing to help keep your dog from getting bored and not chewing on things is to get a food dispenser toy. Essentially you put your dog's food in the ball, and the dog rolls it around and food is dispensed (you can feed him/her this way). But biggies are Plenty of play that stimulate the dog. Unfortunately this may be 10-15 min 3-4 times a day depending on the animal. Play is important. Now if your dog is a puppy and we are teething...chewing is normal...and what i tell people (aka i am a vet who like behavior medicine) is that if you can't watch your puppy and are at home but afraid of him getting into stuff then put him someplace safe until you can watch him. Also, you can put a 6 or 8 food lead on him and put it around your waist while on the computer/working etc..and when they end up at the end of the lead, ensure they aren't eating things. So give these a try. But i really do recommend things to wear the dog out if the dog is older and if younger...give the puppy plenty of things to chew on. Remember if a dog is bored and has too much energy to burn he/she will find a way to keep himself occupied. Good luck!

My dog is about 18 months old, she is most likely a beagle/corgi mix. We give her tons of toys and we walk her for 30 minutes, 2-3 times per day. We do usually take her to the dog park at least once a week but its been raining. Beyond walking, we also usually play with her throughout the day.

I do the Kong with PB trick when she is crated but I hadn't thought about doing it when she isn't. She loves her rawhides and other toys and is usually busy chewing those but for the past week, she has been targeting other items. Even the items that she chewed, she was chewing amongst some of her favorite chew toys.

I have heard about the ball with food and hadn't thought about that. She does love to chew though so I make sure she has plenty of items to chew.

The only thing that is different this week is it has been raining so no dog park and we got a new cat last week which seems to make her a bit more excited this week even though the cat has chosen to stay far away from her.

Try bitter apple, Nelie. It does work for some dogs.

Hello! We were taught that when a dog is caught chewing something it shouldn't be, you're supposed to scold them with a "NO!!!!!!" and then immediately replace it with something they can chew on and with a positive "GOOD DOG!" so they know the difference of what they can and can't chew on.

Have you tried obedience training? When we adopted our most recent Golden from a rescue, we took him and even though we knew there was a good dog in there, and even better dog emerged!!

I sympathize as I am all too familiar with the "chewing". We keep a basket of bones available for them (although I haven't figured out how to teach them to put them away! LOL!) and they're other toys are in another place as well.

I know what you're going through. Our oldest Golden used to eat the drywall paper! She'd dig a hole and rip the paper off gently. They will out-grow this but it's hard for you right now. :hug:

I hope this helps!

Just wanted to share an amusing story. I once had a roommate with who had a dog with a chewing problem. My roommate sprayed the whole house practically with this stuff in a spray can called "No-Chew." When we returned from work at the end of that day, there was a totally chewed up spray can of "No-Chew" in the middle of the living room!
:D
But the encouraging part of the story is that the dog did grow out of that super-chew stage. Your dog is still young, it may take a little longer for her. Good Luck!

p.s. I've heard about using Bitter Apple and also about using Tabasco sauce. I don't think I'd recommend "No-Chew."

actually you shouldn't tell your dog no...no if vague and unspecific. you need to give it a command...like no chew...just like if you tell your dog no all the time...it has no clue who no is LOL. But yes you should give it something to chew in return. But it really sounds like your dog is having some pent up energy if she normally gets to the dog park. I would try the treat ball dispenser and try new games to stimulater her...corgi and corgi mixes are hearding dogs..they usually do things in life to keep them occupied...such as hearding cattle LOL. So try games...such as hide a treat and have her find it. (ie under a towel) or try to play a bunch of games with her in the house if the rain is prevnting you guys from going outside. keep the dog stimulated..by whatever means..and it will help. But i love the treat dispenser..really does make a difference

Gator-- No actually works in those situations. We have different commands for different things. We use no just for that. Sorry, I should've elaborated about that! Actually, it's more the inflection and tone of the voice that works. They do know the difference b/t a good tone and a disappointed one.

We've used a pen laser pointer for fun, too. We hide treats and they have fun finding the treats with the laser, but that's only every so often. The treat dispensers are fun as well. I've put dog food in there too.

But, with all the lost shoes, paper, cookbooks, dry wall patching that has occurred from chewing puppies/young dogs, you can never replace those big, loving eyes and wagging tails! ;)

I just say "Eh!" and re-direct their attention to an appropriate chew toy. Most likely your pup has energy to burn from not getting out due to the weather. I get marrow bones from the butcher and freeze them and then give them to the dogs and they really get a work out chewing on them.

becareful with marrow bones. I've seen dogs that have gotten them stuck on their jaws (you wouldn't think that was possilbe). I had one dog i had to saw off the bone because it was so tight. Also, for a lot of dogs, it may cause diarrhea...not really a fun thing to clean up in the house.

Marrow bones are "supervision only" at my house and while I have heard of those things happen...so far so good here. I am very vigilant so perhaps that makes a difference. Labs have cast iron tummies for the most part in my experience ;) so no gastric upset from the marrow. My friend's beagle has issues with the marrow and she digs most of the marrow out before giving them to her dogs.

Hey GATORDEAR ~ not looking for "free" vet advice here...but what about rawhide and the bully sticks? I usually give Reba and Rylee the bullysticks a few times a month...really limit the rawhide because we here "mixed" things about it. We give them the nyla bones that last forEVER!

I also tie up old t-shirts into knots and let them tug of war, with each other, and chew until they start shredding the shirts ~ how much cotten should one dog eat in their lifetime? wink

Although Reba would much rather have our shoes and socks to chew on...Rylee brushes everynight with the nyla bones.

I forgot ~ TORISTER I love the new avatar! Good luck tonight sleeping in REDSOX NATION!...could be loud...very loud!!

AYMSTER I can't use the laser light..one of my dogs..Reba...the shoe and sock thief....is obsessed with lights and shadows..those things drive her crazy! She will hunt the Laser light for hours after it's been put up...we had to get rid of it when she was a puppy. It sure was fun though...she still chases every shadow through the blinds...car lights when cars pass our house...the reflection off our glasses when we sit under the diningroom light and read the paper....plenty more!

Reba is the dog on the left in the picture.

gary...rawhides aren't the total enemy...here's how i look at it...if your dogs can be civil (unlike you LMAO) and gnaw them into small pieces...than it is fine. If you are worried about them digesting...then only use highly digestable ones such as CET chews (vets sell them...have an enzymatic cleaner for the teeth....i LOVE them and give my dog one daily) or greenies. But if your dog does get regular chews into small pieces..they will pass. The problem is if they swallow large pieces...they may get blocked...so it just depends. As for cotton..well obviously, your dog's are doing fine LOL. Small pieces will pass.

torist...most of the time large dogs don't have a problem with it...but i just threw it out there because i've seen it..the one case i saw was actually supervised..the dog just figured out a way to get it stuck...so i wanted to warn her since i know her dog is a bit smaller. And also wanted to warn about the marrow..i've seen many dogs develop pancreatitis due to rich marrow. Sorry, but its the vet in me. Trying to save people $$$$$ in vet bills LMAO...oh wait..maybe i shouldn't warn people..i need the busness LMAO

I agree--bitter apple on the things you don't want chewed and then give her LOTS of acceptable chew things. I've done the bully sticks, but they don't last very long. My dogs love rawhide but you hear a lot of pros and cons with that (I've never had a problem but I only give them rawhide when I'm around to supervise). I did have a dog that got a marrow bone stuck on her jaw--very funny until I had to take her to the vet to get it off! My dogs have about 10 nylabones in various stages of chewed-up-ness (if that makes sense!). My Chico also adores stuffed animals--his goal is to unstuff them as quickly as possible! It's not so fun picking up all the stuffing but it sure makes him happy.

No worries. I understood why you were putting it out there.

Will you be my vet? ;) I wish mine would save me $$$$$$$...oh well, the dogs are well worth the $$$ spent!! No question about that!

Those CET chews smell so horrid! But my dogs love them. I only let them have them when I'm cooking something that will mask the smell (LOL!).

I usually get the "retriever rolls" in rawhide rather than the flips. I did have my Golden once get bored with the chewing and tried to swallow a large piece. She came to me and I noticed she was a bit more drooley than usual and I forced her mouth open and could just barely see the end of the rawhide flip so I pulled it out and threw it away.

LOL at ali...never really noticed the smell..or at least that it was that bad. But i guess people are bothered by different things LOL.