have a dog. year old. had since she was 2 month. Lives with two
other dogs. Never had a problem till now. but she will chew computer
cables, belts, books, wallets, cell phones. It's not like she doesnt
always have raw hide bones to chew on. she is sneaky too. only does
it when noone is around. I cant afford to keep her on. what if I put
a muzzle on her when she is left with the other dogs?. either that or
she has to be caged. Im not talking 8 hours a day. some days she may
by by herself for 2 or 3 hours. generally she may be left for an hour
or two. but she will not stop chewing. I'm sorry for my dog, but for
the first time I have lost it with her. I scolded her out of total
frustration and whacked her. I know I know, its the wrong thing to
do. but will someone give me an idea on how to stop this chewing ?
she is an inside dog. couch animal. like the rest of them. but
either this chewing stops or she goes. I catn afford to replace cell
phones and belts for my pants.

"k9nick" wrote in message
ups.com...
have a dog. year old. had since she was 2 month. Lives with two
other dogs. Never had a problem till now. but she will chew computer
cables, belts, books, wallets, cell phones. It's not like she doesnt
always have raw hide bones to chew on. she is sneaky too. only does
it when noone is around. I cant afford to keep her on. what if I put
a muzzle on her when she is left with the other dogs?. either that or
she has to be caged. Im not talking 8 hours a day. some days she may
by by herself for 2 or 3 hours. generally she may be left for an hour
or two. but she will not stop chewing. I'm sorry for my dog, but for
the first time I have lost it with her. I scolded her out of total
frustration and whacked her. I know I know, its the wrong thing to
do. but will someone give me an idea on how to stop this chewing ?
she is an inside dog. couch animal. like the rest of them. but
either this chewing stops or she goes. I catn afford to replace cell
phones and belts for my pants.



Its also dangerous as heck to chew cords and cables - so its something that
needs to be resolved. First thing is management. Belts, cell phones and
wallets need to be put up somewhere she can't get them. Books on the bottom
shelves can be blocked off (we actually put doors on our bookshelves when
Kavik was a pup). We basically doggie proofed a single room and kept him in
it when we couldn't supervise.

Its interesting that shes started at a year old and that she only does it
when you are home.Its not sneakiness, I think - it may be separation
anxiety and she may feel safer and more confident kenneled while you are
gone, ESPECIALLY if you aren't leaving her all day long.

On Oct 24, 5:25 pm, "Beth In Alaska"
wrote:
"k9nick" wrote in message

ups.com...



have a dog. year old. had since she was 2 month. Lives with two
other dogs. Never had a problem till now. but she will chew computer
cables, belts, books, wallets, cell phones. It's not like she doesnt
always have raw hide bones to chew on. she is sneaky too. only does
it when noone is around. I cant afford to keep her on. what if I put
a muzzle on her when she is left with the other dogs?. either that or
she has to be caged. Im not talking 8 hours a day. some days she may
by by herself for 2 or 3 hours. generally she may be left for an hour
or two. but she will not stop chewing. I'm sorry for my dog, but for
the first time I have lost it with her. I scolded her out of total
frustration and whacked her. I know I know, its the wrong thing to
do. but will someone give me an idea on how to stop this chewing ?
she is an inside dog. couch animal. like the rest of them. but
either this chewing stops or she goes. I catn afford to replace cell
phones and belts for my pants.

Its also dangerous as heck to chew cords and cables - so its something that
needs to be resolved. First thing is management. Belts, cell phones and
wallets need to be put up somewhere she can't get them. Books on the bottom
shelves can be blocked off (we actually put doors on our bookshelves when
Kavik was a pup). We basically doggie proofed a single room and kept him in
it when we couldn't supervise.

Its interesting that shes started at a year old and that she only does it
when you are home.Its not sneakiness, I think - it may be separation
anxiety and she may feel safer and more confident kenneled while you are
gone, ESPECIALLY if you aren't leaving her all day long.

she didnt start at a year old. shes always done it. chewed that
is.

and she only does it when we are not at home


we have purchased a nylon soft muzzle. she appears to accepts wearing
it. so when I go out tomorrow for a couple of hours she will be
wearing her soft muzzle. she can drink, she can pant if she needs
too. and she wont need too so she will be fine

In article .com,
k9nick wrote:


we dont have a crate. and last I checked, they cost around 300 new
zealand dollars. thats a lot of cash.

I bet it's cheaper than vet bills for injury from chewing on things, and
replacement cost of the items.

There are a lot of reasons dogs chew:

habit from puppyhood
boredom
lack of adequate exercise
lack of training
too much freedom too soon
nutritional insufficiencies

the list goes on.

right now, I'd be employing several things:

training
focused exercise
use of bad taste stuff on common objects
confinement while all of this is being worked on - a crate, in a certain
area with gates or doors, whatever works.

--
Janet Boss
www.bestfriendsdogobedience.com

"k9nick" wrote in message
ups.com...
have a dog. year old. had since she was 2 month. Lives with two
other dogs. Never had a problem till now. but she will chew computer
cables, belts, books, wallets, cell phones. It's not like she doesnt
always have raw hide bones to chew on. she is sneaky too. only does
it when noone is around. I cant afford to keep her on. what if I put
a muzzle on her when she is left with the other dogs?. either that or
she has to be caged. Im not talking 8 hours a day. some days she may
by by herself for 2 or 3 hours. generally she may be left for an hour
or two. but she will not stop chewing. I'm sorry for my dog, but for
the first time I have lost it with her. I scolded her out of total
frustration and whacked her. I know I know, its the wrong thing to
do. but will someone give me an idea on how to stop this chewing ?
she is an inside dog. couch animal. like the rest of them. but
either this chewing stops or she goes. I catn afford to replace cell
phones and belts for my pants.
=========
The dog could be bored and frustrated. The few suggestions, that I would
try out would be the following:
Make sure you walk your dog twice a day every day and play with the dog
fetch type games. A tired dog does not get into as much mischief as an over
energized dog. If the dog does not receive any stimulation the dog will
become bored and get into trouble.
Hang up all leather items, i.e, belts and leashes, cell phone covers, etc.
out of reach from the dog, as they like to chew leather.
Try to barricade your cables from the dog's access.
When you leave your house, put the dog with a dog bed, water and chewie or
treat in a gated off room or look for a crate for the dog on Craig's list,
local recycle group on line or a yard sale, and put the dog in the crate
with a treat when you leave the house.
I would never leave the dog alone with a muzzle on; forget about the muzzle.

On Oct 25, 3:04 am, "pfoley" wrote:
"k9nick" wrote in message

ups.com... have a dog. year old. had since she was 2 month. Lives with two
other dogs. Never had a problem till now. but she will chew computer
cables, belts, books, wallets, cell phones. It's not like she doesnt
always have raw hide bones to chew on. she is sneaky too. only does
it when noone is around. I cant afford to keep her on. what if I put
a muzzle on her when she is left with the other dogs?. either that or
she has to be caged. Im not talking 8 hours a day. some days she may
by by herself for 2 or 3 hours. generally she may be left for an hour
or two. but she will not stop chewing. I'm sorry for my dog, but for
the first time I have lost it with her. I scolded her out of total
frustration and whacked her. I know I know, its the wrong thing to
do. but will someone give me an idea on how to stop this chewing ?
she is an inside dog. couch animal. like the rest of them. but
either this chewing stops or she goes. I catn afford to replace cell
phones and belts for my pants.

=========
The dog could be bored and frustrated. The few suggestions, that I would
try out would be the following:
Make sure you walk your dog twice a day every day and play with the dog
fetch type games. A tired dog does not get into as much mischief as an over
energized dog. If the dog does not receive any stimulation the dog will
become bored and get into trouble.
Hang up all leather items, i.e, belts and leashes, cell phone covers, etc.
out of reach from the dog, as they like to chew leather.
Try to barricade your cables from the dog's access.
When you leave your house, put the dog with a dog bed, water and chewie or
treat in a gated off room or look for a crate for the dog on Craig's list,
local recycle group on line or a yard sale, and put the dog in the crate
with a treat when you leave the house.
I would never leave the dog alone with a muzzle on; forget about the muzzle.

one question. some are saying never leave a dog with muzzle on. Why
not. Its a soft nylon muzzel. The only thing she could do is chew
the strap if she got hold of it. she wont be hungry. she can drink
if she needs too, not that going without food or drink for two hours
should be of harm to the dog. So why no muzzle ?

In article om,
k9nick wrote:


one question. some are saying never leave a dog with muzzle on. Why
not. Its a soft nylon muzzel. The only thing she could do is chew
the strap if she got hold of it. she wont be hungry. she can drink
if she needs too, not that going without food or drink for two hours
should be of harm to the dog. So why no muzzle ?

She can't defend herself if needed, she can't breathe as well, it can
get caught and twisted, and basically, it's a huge copout to boot! In
other words - just don't do it.

--
Janet Boss
www.bestfriendsdogobedience.com

"k9nick" wrote in message
ps.com...
On Oct 25, 3:04 am, "pfoley" wrote:
"k9nick" wrote in message

ups.com... So why no
muzzle ?

snip
====================
This link might be helpful to you in some ways.

http://www.spca.bc.ca/Animalbehaviour/anxiety.asp

"Beth In Alaska" wrote in message
...

Its also dangerous as heck to chew cords and cables - so its something
that needs to be resolved. First thing is management. Belts, cell phones
and wallets need to be put up somewhere she can't get them. Books on the
bottom shelves can be blocked off (we actually put doors on our
bookshelves when Kavik was a pup). We basically doggie proofed a single
room and kept him in it when we couldn't supervise.




Oh I can soooo agree with this. We had an incident in August with our pup.
I knew he was in the pup chewing stage, so had gone around and made sure
that cords were out of his reach (he chewed through a harmless phone cord
once and that was enough). Then, the day after I was in a serious car
accident and not in a condition to move much or quickly, hubby had one of
his co workers come over with his lap top. they left it plugged in on the
kitchen table with the cord dangling and then went out to do something
outside.
Fortunately I had hobbled into the kitchen for something or other when I
heard a very frantic yelp and scrabling. I nearly died when I looked over
and saw Gobo with that cord in his mouth, just thrashing around on the floor
as the electricity surged through him. I moved as fast as I could to get to
him (which seemed to take forever, but was probablly a lot faster then I
should have been moving). I yanked that cord out of the wall and just held
the poor little guy... He just wanted to run off and hide for a while..
Thankfully he didn't have any long term after affects, though he's never
touched a cord or cable since then..
Oh that was a very very scary experience...

then not long ago, she started chewing on a piece of furniture... So I
invested in a bottle of Bitter Apple spray.. it's an anti-chew solution that
makes things taste really bad to naughty little pups.

I would definately suggest that you go around looking at your pup's
environment from his level (ie, get down on the ground) and see what
"trouble" they can get into, and then do everything you can to prevent it
before it starts.. move things, block things off, use bitter apple or other
solutions, and make sure she has lots and lots of toys to keep her busy.
Keep her mouth and her mind occupied. And she should grow out of the
chewing stage soon. Once all her teeth have come in, it should stop..
though you might also want to have your vet check her teeth. If she has a
bad tooth or other problems, that could cause an increase in her chewing,
too.. as her only means of soothing the ache. (we had a 3 yr old with that
problem, she still had impacted milk teeth when we got her, caused one of
her adult teeth to come in as a snaggletooth, and we had to go in and have
it removed. She chewed on all sorts of things she wouldn't normally have
chewed on because of that... soon as the tooth was pulled, all the chewing
stopped.)

Good luck

(oh, and the muzzle, it's ok if you are there to supervise, but any sort of
un necessary cords or collars or muzzles can be a safety hazzard when
they're not supervised.. what happens if she gets caught on something.. she
could struggle against it and strangle herself. might not be something that
happens every day, but it's a statistic you can avoid being on either side
of.)


Davina

Since "teething" is a normal and natural behavior,..it's something you
cannot avoit...but you can help it by redirecting the behavior towards
a toy or something he is allowed to chew.
Everytime the dog is chewing your stuff...ask him to stop...and as
soon as it leaves it...say: Good Boy! and reward with a treat or a toy
to chew.
This is called re-directing....you can see a ncie little article in my
blog: http://goodpuppy.blogspot.com/

I hope this helps!

rei.