My son has a nine month old great dane puppy and he is constantly chewing on wood. How can we stop him?

Question

He seems to love chewing on the molding in the house. And being as big as he is, he strips in right down from the ceiling. He has chew toys to play with and he is let out a couple times a day when my son is working. Would really appreciate any help at all. Thanks

Answer 1

Probably teething. Get a big solid chew toy with grooves. Put some peanut butter in the grooves and the dog should switch to the toy. We lost table legs, chairs and other household objects, so I sprayed "Apple bitter" on the parts the dog could get to. Be careful not to get into your eyes from your hands. It can be sprayed onto shoes, furniture and works quite well. The Kong isn't as tough as it says, I worked in a vet clinic and saw 3 instances where a rottweiler bit pieces off and they had to remove it from the gut. Very expensive, Rahide chews too. (Sorry one more thing to worry about) Big leg bones for 20 bucks is money well spent. Hours of chew time, and they clean the teeth.

Answer 2

I have a Rott, and he liked to chew alot. I lost a couple remotes, a couple phones, and various other items, and the only thing that would make him stop, or slow down is buying him the white raw hide bones. I bought him some really expensive chew toys, and he wanted nothing to do with them. Hes now 3 years old and hes thankfully outgrown it.
Since your dog is just chewing one specific thing, (some may think this is cruel) but put some red pepper or a little hot sauce on your molding. I think there are sprays at the pet store for this too. Ive heard of people doing this for chewing or getting in the trash, but I could never bring myself to do it. But if he was destroying my home, I think Id try it as a last resort.

Answer 3

I have two cropped Harlequin Danes and two natural earred Fawn Danes. All have been shown with various degrees of success. I have one Harlequin dane with a failed crop. He was not recropped because he has other structure issues for showing and was neutered. #1. How many weeks old is the puppy? Most crops are done between 7-10 weeks old. At three months old, you are in the 14-17 week period. You may have a problem finding a vet to do this already. Many will not by this age. Most good ones will not. #2. You do not need to crop a Dane to show it. You have never needed to crop a Dane to show it. There is no reason to crop for any medical purpose. It is strictly a cosmetic surgery. Some puppys die during the surgery. #3. The after care for a crop is often a year and daily. Failed crops may require a second surgery and shorter ear which will look worse than an ear left natural. #4. It isn't just the ears that make a show dog. If your dog lacks structure and good bone, no ear crop in the world will help him out in the show ring. Show color is way different than show potential. Many backyard breeders will sell a harlequin as 'show color,' knowing full well the dog should not be shown because of major faults with structure. If your puppy was adopted from an ethical breeder, they should have given you a vet refferal for cropping or had it done with the rest of the litter. Intresting that you are deciding if you want to show your harlequin puppy. With an ethical breeder of Harle color, a harlequin puppy owner rarely decides this on their own. The breeder decides. 'Champion lines' are not the same as Champion parents. If your puppy has Champion lines or no Champions on the pedigree......it is probably less on structure than AKC show rings will tolerate. #5 The Great Dane show world likes pretty heads on their dogs. That is why they are often cropped to show the head planes. A good handler can still accent the dane head with natural ears. I like a nice crop, but it really has to be well done. I prefer Harls and Mantles with crops. A vet that does not do them often can really make them look stupid. I like Danes with natural ears. Fawns, Brindle and Blacks have more success with natural ears. Harlequin, Mantle and Blue have less success natural. Some show dogs will do better with a crop. If you have a good example of the Dane standard, (bone srtucture) it really will not matter in the long run. If you have a puppy that is questionable for success in the ring is marginal, I wouldn't crop it. It isn't worth the money, time, effort and risk. Also, California is much more liberal with showing dogs natural. The East coast is not so much. Hope this helps. j @ Bignuttdanes

Answer 4

Your dog is still a puppy and will have the urge to chew due to his teeth for quite some time. Even when puppies lose their teeth and get adult ones in, there will still be an urge to chew, up to the age of 3 yrs. The reason is that even tho the adult teeth are in, they are still shifting and settling into proper place within their jaw bone.

You want to confine in a safe room or crate the dog when you cannot be right there to watch him. A dog that needs to chew will take to almost anything even if they do have doggie options, like rawhides. And offer lots of chew things, such as rawhides and bones from the pet supply stores as options. My American Eskimo Dog was the same way and by the time she turned 3, that destructive need to chew was over. She has never had a problem since.

Answer 5

A crate is the best and to watch him. Right now he is still teething but you need to make sure it doesn't become a habit.

If you have a large yard try a tree branch. I had one dog that would carry them around everywhere. Wood gives them a challenge that they can win. Unfurtunately the wood most dogs come in contact with is our furniture or your house with the big ones. I have even had little puppies chew on steps. They like the feel of chewing on wood. Get him his own piece.

Answer 6

1) Try bitter apply spray or gel on the wood to get him to stop
2) Consider crate training the dog during the day ( i know, he's a big dog! but an option)
3) If you catch the dog in the act, give it a Kong toy filled w/ peanut butter instead and praise him when he takes it.
4) put pennies in an empty soda can and tape it shut. When the dog chews on the wood, shake the can until he stops. This usually startles or scares the dog and imprints on him a scary feeling when he goes to do it again. (this doesn't work with all dogs)
Good Luck!! My dog chewed on wood and it took catching her in the act to get it to stop.

Answer 7

I`ve had two dogs - both chewed wood. With my first dog, I found that putting hot sauce, or tabasco sauce on the wood it`s chewing him, caused him to stop. The other dog liked the taste, so he chewed it more, but I found a spray at a pet store that worked. Keep trying until you find something the dog doesn`t like. Try to avoid anything poisonous seeing as that would HURT the dog, ha. Good luck!

Answer 8

I don't have a big dog like that but i got my dog to stop chewing on wood by hitting with newspaper every time he chews on it and give him a chew toy instead. Make sure he knows he isn't aloud too and maybe he will stop if that doesn't work find something nasty to pour on it like something sweet so maybe he wont like the taste. The newspaper worked for my Catahoula

Answer 9

You can try spraying your wood with a product called Boundary which helps, but you have to keep applying it. Scold him when you catch him, and then give him the right thing to chew will also help. BUT - he needs a great deal of exercise, which will help eliminate that engery as well. We take our lab puppy (about the same age) out with us on bike rides every day for at least 45 minutes. He runs while we ride, and gets lots of exercise. Your puppy needs that kind of exercise, otherwise he will continue to misbehave, including chewing on stuff.

Answer 10

We have an 8 month old yellow lab who does the same. What we do is just be firm with her. I know that it hurts, but there will have to be some punishment, and often times bringing pain, like in our minds, tells them that is not acceptable to do. We bring her to where she was chewing the object and put her nose in it. We tell her no and then give a single, sharp swat to her bottom. But make sure you have another chew toy handy to give to her after you swat her. Believe me, it drives your blood pressure up to see them chewing everything. I had a pair of headphones on the table and while I was gone, she jumped up, grabbed them and started chewing on them. I no longer have headphones anymore, thanks to her. But, they are still puppies and they chew on anything while their adult teeth are coming in.