Trouble with dog - need help!

[chernabog]

Ok, I need some help here! I'm having a problem with my 4 year old greyhound and I don't know what to do. Everytime she goes into our family room she tries to make a bed out of the carpet. She scratches and claws at it until she has pulled out several of the piles. It's a small loop berber and is only a couple of months old. She has basically destroyed a small portion of it and I don't know how to get her to stop. We've resorted to barricading the entrance to the room, so that she can't get in there, but there has been times when we have forgotten to close it off and she has sneaked in there. I've had dogs for years, but never had a problem like this before. Does anyone know if this is just a phase or are the rest of the carpets in the house in danger of being trashed??? I don't want to get rid of her because she really is a great dog. Any help would be great...

 

[Kallison]

Does she have her own doggie bed? Our labbie has a big pillow bed he lies on in our room. You can discipline every time she starts to do it, squirt bottle to the face. I've just become resigned to the fact we have a dog and stuff will now get ruined. We also have a berber and our labs dog tags get caught and pull out the loops from time to time.

 

[nativetxn]

My dog is 13 and is always "nesting" I don't know what to call it. She scratches at the carpeting with great determination and then she lays down.

I'm home all day so I can make her stop but she has damaged the carpeting.

I'd love to know of a way to break her of this habit too. I got her a bed of her own and she refuses to even lay on it

 

[chernabog]

The worst part is that she has three beds of her own and she insists on "nesting" in the middle of the floor. When we first got her, we used to crate her all the time when we weren't home, but it was such a chore. I would have to pick up her hind quarters and walk her to her crate like a wheelboarrow. So we decided to give her a place in our family room, which is in the basement! We figured it was cooler and quieter. But laying in bed one night, I could hear her scratching at the carpet. By the time I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and got downstairs, she had a nice big pile of carpet laying there. The first time she did this, the carpet was only three months old! So we crated her again. But all she did was shake and whine! Now she sleeps in the laundry room on an old piece of carpeting and a nice warm quilt. Funny thing is that she doesn't do this to her beds or blankets!!! Aggghhhh...

 

[Harley Chick]

Both my dogs do the same thing. My maltese gets under the bedcovers and scratches, so it's no big deal. The shepard scratches the rugs, so we gave her a rug of her own in the bedroom. We also restrict her from our good carpets. I don't know if you can train them not to do it, it's just instinct.

 

[Beauty]

Yes 2 of my three do this...but thankfully its either on the couch or my bed where they do it, not the carpet. Every night before we go to sleep my Tramp who is part shih-tzu has to bounce up and down and scratch and then finally he "gets his bed made" and goes to sleep.

 

[LuvTigger]

Are you in the house or know when she is doing this, or is it one of those things where you find out about it after the damage is done? If you are around and actually see her doing it, you could try getting a spray bottle of water and spray her whenever she starts doing it.

My dogs try to nest, but it's either on our comforter or on the couch, neither of which suffer any damage. I like the idea of getting a separate rug, or maybe a blanket. We have 3 dogs, so we have sheets all over the place, including on the floor, to capture dog hair. We noticed that our dogs really enjoy lying on the sheets because they're cooler, so maybe that's an option too, especially if you live in a warm area like I do!

 

[Pin Wizard]

I've got tile all through my house. Dear dog LOVES it! And he has his own bed and a throw on the floor in my room. He's usually an angel.

 

[bsnyder]

Our 8 month old puppy does this too! I was hoping it was something he would outgrow, and was just waiting until he stopped doing it to replace the carpet in our family room and den. He's gotten quite a few places started where he got a hold of a "loose" loop in the berber!

Now after reading this thread, I'm starting to think maybe he won't outgrow it!

Oh well, the joys of having a dog in the house!