My dog will not quit destroying thing! Help!?

Question

My dog will not quit destroying everything in our house. He has destroyed a futon, chewed through two lamp cords, phone charger, airconditioner cord, suround sound cable, computer cables and now pulled all of the inselation out of the fridge. We've crated him, isolated him, gave him plenty of love, nothing that me and my husband have tried has worked. Does anyone have any advise?

Answer 1

How old is he? He could be teething. I know it's a total pain in the rear to have a teething pup.

If he doesn't have the right kind of toys, or the right kind of stimulation, any animal can get destructive. Also, depending on the breed, some breed are naturally destructive.

No matter what the cause is, chewing can ALWAYS be controlled! Try getting him some different chew toys. If he likes a futon, then get him a hard rubber bone. Seein how he likes insilation, get him a braided rope, with a rubber chew on one end. You can also try and put some rawhide treats hidden, and make a game of trying to find them. They will keep him stimulated, and he can chew on things, without destroying your things. Find ways for him to be occupied during the day, and he should leave your possesions out of his mouth.

Does he do it when you're at home, or when you leave? If it's when you're home............he's trying to show you that he's the boss of the house. You need to show that he isn't the boss, YOU ARE! You need to show him that you're not afraid of him, and you need to scare the hell out of him when he starts to chew, and stare him down, and make him look away first. Find ways to dominate him, without making him afraid of you.

If it's when you leave, it's seperation anxiety. There's plenty of things you can do about seperation anxiety. Ignore the dog for at least 15 minutes before you leave, crate him, or isolate him when you leave, rub some hot sauce, or something else that the dog will run from the smell of, all over the things he usually chews, put him outside with a toy while you're gone...

The link below is to a site for destructive behavior in dogs. I hope it helps, and good luck to you!!

Answer 2

Depending on what kind of dog it is, it might be going through seperation anxienty, because they want you to be home when you aren't. Putting baby locks on cupboard doors,baby gates in restricted areas, putting cables up in places a dog couldn't normally reach, and getting some super fun chew toys will help the chewing.
He might be teething as well, so some heavy duty rubber toys,very large bones/pig ears,kong toys would keep his mind off the chewing of household items.
If you aren't sure what the dog likes, take him with you to Pet Supplies Plus with you so he can sniff his own toys, and when he goes nuts over one, then get it!
If you think he doesn't like the crate then get a larger one. Usually one where the dog has enough room to sit in corners and stand fully upright is best.
If he's on the big side, a kennel in the garage or backyard is another option.If its rainy alot they have tarps you can fashion for a little dog shelter.
Outside time for running around can help with the overactiveness.
Good luck!

Answer 3

When you have high drive dog (high energy), you have to give him a way to burn his energy. If you don't, they get restless and become problem child. It happen to most of working dogs (ex:Belgian malinois, Australian sheepdog, and etc) If you don't give them something to do, they will find their work by themselves. In your case, he is damaging your home.
Crate or isolate him won't fix the problem. It will make the problem worst as time go. You have to find a activity that you can do with your dog.
First thing, Start obedience with your dog. That is good activity and it will give you some control. Second, find activity that you can do with your dog. Jogging, cycling ( with Springer), competition obedience , agility , or you can play ball with him for a hour or two everyday.
Third, after you done first and second, you can make correcting on your dog when he is chewing things in your house (It should be his habit by now). At this time he will have great understanding of commands, and it will be easy to fix.

Answer 4

It all depends on the age of the dog. Our golden retriever took nearly 3 years before she stopped chewing on my shoes, electrical cords, etc. It drove us batty.

Sounds like the dog needs more toys to chew on. And a limited area to run. Keep the dog in the kitchen, for example, with a pet dog/gate. Don't leave the dog by itself for an indefinitely long time -- it still needs to be apart of the family. But with fewer things laying around for it to chew, it will grow out of the habit. Crating the dog is also helpful if you give it rawhide bones and toys to keep it company.

It might be helpful to also get it outside for walks more often. Chewing is a sign of boredom. Keep the loving and petting going on. And don't give up. Like I said it took our dog a very long time to give up chewing but we had her for 14 years and she became such a joy!!

Answer 5

He might just need attention. My dog would go through the trash and throw it around the house when we left her alone during the day. We eventually hid the trash. But since your dog seems to destroy everything, first off, crating him and isolating him are probably the opposite of what you need to be doing-- that's just going to starve him for attention even more. Instead, take him to a good obedience class, and hide things that he might try to chew on. You need to fix this quick, because he could really hurt himself with the kinds of things he's chewing on, like electronics.

Answer 6

You don't want to spank the animal, but your must provide it with structure, as you would when you are raising a child. Try baby gates, purchase a Kong and continue with what you've been doing with crating, so it's consistent. Have you tried more exercise for the dog? Sometimes more frequent walks and hikes will do wonders!

Answer 7

We had the same problem with our dog. She would destroy even the sturdiest looking store bought toys. Then we discovered beef shank bones. They are tougher than nails even the strongest of jaws can't shatter these baby's and they smell so good to the dog it will keep him/her occupied for hours. Call your local butcher usually they will have them fresh and smoked.

Answer 8

i think ur solution is simple. it sounds like your dog is young and teething. so just buy him a few chew toys and make sure he understands to chew on those instead of wires. make sure it's done quickly. it's not neccesarily the safest thing to have your dog chew on computer cords.

Answer 9

buy him a kong toy theyre the best chew toy and if you add treats to it it works even better

Answer 10

Watch the Dog Whisperer, trust me, it will work.