If you have experience with puppies chewing up everything....

[krazyboutWDW]

I need your advice!! We have a 9 month old lab mix (lab and border collie). She is adorable and we love her but she chews on things and is beginning to cause some damage (to a rug and recliner). She has PLENTY of chew toys. We have gone through all the advice we've read - telling her no, moving her, giving her the chew toys and then praising her when she plays with them, etc... She is not too bad yet but I'm afraid it is going to get worse. She also chewed through the cord of a lamp with thankfully was not plugged in!!

Do puppies outgrow this behavior or is it something some dogs do and they never stop? Has anyone used a product that you spray on things (I believe it is called Bitter Apple?) to stop dogs from chewing? Is it effective? Does it damage the furniture if you use this spray??

You guys are always so good at helping out with these types of questions. Any advice and ideas would be greatly appreciated!!

 

[Poohbear123]

I have 2 3 month old Dachshunds and have been going thru the same thing....

 

[grinningghost]

Our "puppy" is now 6 years old, but I can relate - she was a horrible chewer as a baby. After trying everything in all the guidebooks, we realized that only time and alot of very loud, forceful scolding was going to work. Best advice on the electrical cord thing is to keep the puppy in a crate when you can't watch it. That will keep the puppy and your house safe.

You might want to try putting coins in an empty plastic soda bottle. When you catch the puppy chewing something, lightly throw the bottle at him. It's supposed to startle them and stop the bad behavior. It didn't work for us, but we have a friend who swears by it.

When our dog (golden retriever) turned about 2 years old, she started to calm down. Now she'll pick up shoes, but she just runs around with them in her mouth, rather than destroying them.

 

[KathyTX]

Speaking from experience: learn to repair drywall yourself.

I barely survived the puppyhood of my 2 lab mix girls. They were horrible chewers for about a year and a half. Laundry, cabinet doors, rugs, vinyl flooring, wood paneling, drywall, the studs UNDER the drywall... We tried bitter apple and other deterrents. None of them helped.

Good luck.

 

[Cinders]

One word "crate" Labs hate to be ignored so whenever ours did something bad we put them in their crate. When we would leave the house we'd either put them in the garage or crate. Otherswise they had the run of the house. Our labs seemed to find one favorite type of material they couldnt resist chewing on....our black male loved leather, yellow female loved plastic (sand pails, shovels, plastic plates, cups), yellow male that was their son loved the little pigtail end of my trailer wiring on my van....after 6 replacements I finally told the kids crate him or they'd have to pay for the new pigtail. Now we have a boxer that loves cat food.

 

[RNMOM]

I have raised two retreivers and I can assure you they are chewers for the first year or so. Golden Retreivers mature at about 2 years. That is when the calm down and mellow. Thank God.

I believe strongly in crate training. When you are home and someone is able to watch the dog...just like a toddler...they can be loose but otherwise they need to be in a crate. Give them their toys to chew on.

Don't make the mistake of giving old socks or shoes to chew as then they can't figure out which ones are okay or not. They need dog specific, safe, chew toys.

It will get better when they are over the teething stage. Just like kids.

We also crated our dog at night. He loved his crate and would go in by himself when he wanted some "away" time from our kids.

 

[KathyTX]

These guys are right about the crates.

I was pretty slow to buy into the crate idea. I thought it seemed cruel. But I was forced to crate train the dogs when I was relocating and they were living in an apartment with me...

The crates were lifesavers, and the dogs really took to them quickly. They quickly started voluntarily going into their crates when they wanted quiet time... they seemed to feel safe and cozy in them.

I sure wish I had used the crates before all the destruction. If I ever have another puppy, I will *definitely* introduce the crate at a very young age.

 

[Cinders]

Forgot one thing in all that rambling.....no rawhide!!!!!! No table scraps like chicken bones or chop bones. Buy her ropes, balls, treats, Nyla bones, or Denta bones. No nylon and no rawhide. On Petco.com they have a selection of toys for "enthusiastic" chewers....the Cool Kong Floating Retriever toy was a favorite here. Since she's a mix does she have webbed toes? If so she'll be a good swimmer.

 

[Kermit]

We also have a Lab mix. (Ours is Lab and Cocker Spaniel.) He's a very aggressive chewer. We crate trained him, and that did seem to help. When he was a puppy, we just always kept our eyes on him. We didn't let him go unaccounted for for over 3 minutes. He did outgrow it. I think it was probably around 1.5 years when we really knew that he wouldn't eat anything that wasn't his. At around 2.5 or 3 years, we were able to leave him out of his crate when we left the house.

I was just thinking the other day how well he's doing now. We have a 6 month old baby, and he hasn't even tried to eat any of the baby's toys, even though I know he'd love to. (The baby, on the other hand, would love to have some dog toys. ) The only problem we've had is when we first brought the baby home. For some reason, the dog kept taking his socks and putting them in his bed.

 

[chb]

Crate training will help a lot for when you are not there to keep an eye on the puppy.

My other advice is the truest puppy tip I've ever heard, "A good puppy is a tired puppy." They have SOOOO much energy. Walking several times a day and playing with them will help get rid of some of that extra energy.

 

[Annie68]

I have an 11 week old Beagle puppy, she's adorable but into everything! I bought the bitter apple spray last week, after she became fascinated with my rug in the family room. It has worked great, hasn't left any stains on the rug & has stopped her from attacking the rug whenever we are playing down there. My vet recommended buying a kong ball & putting a tiny smear of peanut butter inside to keep her occupied, yesterday she spent an hour just chewing on that! The crate has been wonderful, I have a place to put her when I need to do things around the house.

If only I could use the spray on my poor lab, the puppy considers her a chew toy!

 

[Lezah]

We have an almost 2 year old Black Lab who is a chewer as most puppies are. We have crate trained him so he doesn't destroy while we're out at work and it has worked well. We also use a time out when he does something bad too. Not sure how well that really works, but it is a suggestion to try. Some people swear by it. Our groomer/pet sitter swears by the Kong. She gave him one when we were at WDW last year, stuffed some dog biscuits in and smeared peanut butter inside on top of the cookies which kept him busy for hours. We have used it many times since and it works very, very well. THey say Labs calm down at 2, but we're not looking very promising yet! They are a ton of fun though and we love him.

 

[Tribe0701]

We too have a Golden, and he was a champion chewer! We used the bitter apple, it did keep him from chewing what we sprayed it on shoes etc., however it seemed to encourage him to find something else to chew on like the furnature, the rug, the table, and even the wall!!!! We too were told that he would calm down at 2 but he just turned 8 and is just as playful as ever, however he grew out of his chewing phase at about 1 to 1 1/2 years old.

My sugestion is to get your dog into some puppy classes, they teach basic obedience and will help socialize him to other dogs, but they are a great place to get advice from other dog owners and the instrucors on all kinds of "puppy problems."

Good luck...and remember they grow out of it you just have to outlast them!

 

[iNTeNSeBLue98]

Our lab was terrible. He couldn't be left alone or he'd find something to chew. Have patience and keep doing what you're doing. Eventually she'll grow out of it.

 

[JoNo]

I used to have a golden retriever / collie mix & now I have a 1 y.o. Weimaraner... Here's a little advice. If you do crate training, and toys & such don't work; do what I did. First I suggest a muzzle. When they chew on something they aren't supposed to (like my weim did to my $300 Doc Martin boots) Muzzle them for 25-30 minutes. They will learn not to chew on certain things after this.

Now before you get upset, remember, this is only done extremely sparingly:

if nothing else works, do this: find something he /she chews on that they aren't supposed to. Next, put a dab of hot sauce (no more than 2 or 3 drops!) and when they go to chew it, they will get ahold of the hot sauce and stop chewing indefinately there! I've only had to do it 3 times, but it's worked EVERY time!

 

[catherine]

Another vote here for the Apple Bitter.

We have a black lab and a blonde lab who are both 2. They are just about growing out of the chewing everything in sight stage. Although the black lab makes it her mission in life to chew up every doggie toy that we buy them. We used Apple Bitter on everything they soon lost interest in chewing things that they were not supposed to as they did not like the taste.

Good luck, I think in the end you just have to be patient and wait for them to outgrow it.

 

[grinningghost]

Reading all these posts reminds me of how my Golden, one day, decided to eat...

MY WEDDING RING!

I thought she had a paper clip, and when I went to pull it out of her mouth, I got a big surprise - it was my wedding ring, and it was no longer round. It was octagonal!

Best advice with chewing dogs - keep them in the crate and keep your valuables hidden.

 

[krazyboutWDW]

Thank you guys for all of these great ideas. I bought some bitter apple and am going to try it. I need to get a crate. I just have to convince my DH who thinks that the idea is cruel. I think if I can convince him that we will be protecting her as well as the furniture, etc... he may buy the idea.

It seems the main thing is time and a lot of patience. The average age for outgrowing chewing seems to be two years. She is nine months old now so we still have a while. I will just have to pray for patience (like I did when my three children were toddlers). I remember my mom giving me a little wall hanging at that time that said: God grant me patience ... and give it to me NOW!!! LOL

Thanks again for the tips. You guys are great!! I'm just hoping Reese is a little ahead of the learning curve on this one.