how do i stop my dog chewing!!?

Question

how do i stop a dog chewing soo much!!! she will chew anything in site!! how do i stop her from doing this!

she's a 6 month blue heeler cross labrador, i'm lookin after her for a friend and she does not stop chewin!! she chews her bowls a body board plastic container a hose pipe!! retic for the garden

i take her for 2 half hour walks on my bike!!

yeah she has heaps of toys that are hers she just prefers ours!!

its not like when i take her for walks she is walking she is actually running!!

lol i wish they had wilkinsons in australia lol!! she is avery xcitable pupp!!

ok i mean she she has the run of the garden so i would have too spray every where to stop her from cewin?

Answer 1

Blue Heelers and Labs are both extremely active working dogs, and require a LOT of exercise, and in the Heeler's case, mental stimulation.

The dog is bored out of her mind. You either need to crate it with a few chew toys, get it a VERY large bone (not your best bet, they tend to splinter bones), paint everything in it's vicinity with Bitter Apple OR keep your eye on it. Constantly.

Try to keep it active. Training is good, so is throwing a ball. A Heeler isn't necessarily an indoor breed and would prefer rampaging around an outdoor pen to the life of a housepet, and will tend to chew anything in sight as a pup.

You may need a combination of a few approved chew toys, bitter apple, paying strict attention to the dog, and a squirt bottle. Note that they tend to get bored with chew toys quickly, and need the toughest ones to chew on, such as Kongs, and toys made from fire hose fabric. A large dumbbell Kong stuffed with peanut butter or cheese whiz will keep her busy for a while.

Rotating the toys is good, trying to train the dog is better. The squirt gun and NO! is a good start if you don't have the willpower to train the dog, and they can be difficult to train. They're far from stupid, but have been bred to make their own decisions in the field, and training them can be a long and harrowing process.

Engaging them in play is one of the best things that you can do, but they don't get tired of it - you will. Therefore, monitoring her chewing is the way to go.

I'd go with rotating the peanut butter and cheese stuffed toys, bitter apple, paying strict attention to the dog, and the squirt gun, without the citronella. You want to discipline the dog to avoid the inappropriate chewing behavior, not punish it for what's natural to the animal, and plain water is fine for discipline - it must be consistent, however, which means: watch the dog carefully and constantly.

This is a good time to employ or teach the "lie down" command, and only allow chewing in that position, so that it's easy to tell when the dog is restless and gets up. It would be apppropriate to have her "come" to you (I try to use one word commands) when she gets up. so it seems like your idea, have a short game of "fetch" with a hard rubber ball if she it gets up, then switch toys by enticing her with a new one, and having her "lie down" with it. Use a folded moving blanket or a dog pillow for her to lie down on, and restrict her chewing to that spot.

Please avoid tug of war games, as they promote aggression and willfulness. Spraying the entire room with a bitter apple solution might not be a bad idea, either, but your key is controlling her, not allowing her to wander at will.

Yes, it's time consuming and stressful for you, but if she gets away with it now, you're creating a monster when she becomes an adult and can't be controlled. Best of luck with her. I have a
rescue Basset with similar problems who was allowed to run amok until amost 8 months, and is still a problem child at a year,
but is getting much much better with careful monitoring and constant reinforcement of commands and territory. It would have been preferable if she had learned as a younger pup, and please keep in mind that many hounds are considered 'pups' until about
1-1/2 to 2 years, so patience is definitely a virtue.

Again, good luck with her, but firmly establishing yourself as "Alpha Dog" will solve about 1/2 of your problems, as you'll make her look to you for guidance. Speak firmly and carry a spray bottle of water, and keep that bitter apple spray handy, pardner, it's a loooooooooooooooong ride, but worth it. ;D

Oh, and you might consider a covered outside chain link kennel full of interesting things like tire hoops and boxes or climbing wedges that she can play alone in for a few hours a day. Just a thought. You can often find kennels on www.craigslist .org for your nearest city in the "free" section.

Answer 2

It is very natural for a puppy to want to chew, but there are some things you can do that will help. It sounds like you have a very high energy dog. You may need to increase the walks you are taking her on to a bit longer. She is probably also very intelligent and needs a job to do. Are you spending any time obedience training her? Just 10 minutes a day in the backyard on basic obedience commands will give her a healthy outlet for her intelligence and then she won't get into so much trouble. It's good that you are giving her lots of things to chew on, but you may need to rotate them so she doesn't loose interest. My german shepherds like nyla bones but only if I rub them for a while or stick them in my shirt for an hour to get my scent on them, but they last a long time. If you are going to use real bones, make sure you only feed raw beef bones. Anything else may splinter and perforate the dog's intestines--it's very dangerous. When you do catch your dog chewing something inappropriate, take it away and pound the object on the ground using a loud angry voice. Make the object, not the puppy, seem like the bad thing. My dog trainer says that if you don't feel silly when you're doing this you are probably not doing it right. Then replace the unwanted object with something you want your dog to chew and praise the dog and play with her. She'll outgrow it--eventually. She neeeds lots of exercise, attention, and some obedience training to divert her. Good luck.

Answer 3

a 6 month old dog does NOT need more exercise she needs things to keep her brain active because your could ride all day with her but unless the brain is knackered she's not going to stop chewing! Try scattering her food instead of giving it to her from the bowl, buy a kong or some toys which you can put soft cheese, peanut butter etc in to keep her amused, play hide and seek by putting treats under things, training her do do sits, stays, recall, just wear her brain out and you'll have a lot less problems but over exercising her at this age will cause joint problems.

Answer 4

a good way is to distract her when she chews - try putting some small stones in the bottom of a plastic bottle and when she starts to chew shake the bottle and the noise will distract her long enough for you to give her a treat and tell her she is a good girl. she will quickly see that not chewing gets her treats but chewing gets her nothing. as she learns start saying no as you shake the bottle then you can reduce the use of the bottle until you need only say no. Good luck.

Answer 5

I had the same problem with my Rottweiler pup.

I stopped her by a) cutting the top off a chilli pepper and rubbing it wherever she prefers to chew. It stopped her very quickly.

b) When you catch her you must slowly walk up, point to where she has chewed, and tap her on the nose with your finger saying 'no'.

Stopped my Rotty in 1 week.

Buy something else for her to chew also. I bought a chocolate flavoured chew toy to keep her occupied.

She might just be bored also, so take her for a short walk to tire it out.

Answer 6

She will probably grow out of it. In the meantime give her lots of rawhide chews and toys to chew on. I didn't find that the anti chew gels / sprays worked, my dog just licked them off. My dog ate the plaster off the wall, chewed doors, his basket, a wine rack, table and chair legs etc. If you took your eye off him for a minute he was chewing something. He's now 2 years old and I can't remember the last time he chewed anything.

Answer 7

Your local supermarket's meat section or even a butcher's shop should have some "soup bones" that you could give her to chew on... I have found that the only way to keep a dog from chewing YOUR stuff is to give them something they CAN chew. They aren't too expensive and should keep her busy for hours! Good luck... we have a dog the same age with similar energy levels... it's insane!!

Answer 8

Does she have toys she's allowed to chew? Is she getting enough exercise? Is she bored?

Make sure she's got toys, squeakies and rawhides will usually keep them busy for a while. If she's not getting plenty of activity, she's got tons of energy to burn and does it by chewing your stuff. You can also get "bitter apple" spray and put on her favorite targets. It tastes horrible and she should leave them alone after a few trys.

Answer 9

At the local pet store you can by a compound put on what she chews and buy something for her to chew on it isn't the dogs fault she is a baby and is only teething Dave

Answer 10

When she goes to chew something say in a stern voice 'NO' and tap her on the nose, not hard of course, just to get her attention. Then act mad, by not pay any attention to her, do it repeatedly when she goes to chew something or bite, this is part of a puppy behaviour and then soon grow out of it.