how do I stop my dog from eating things that will kill her?

Question

Baby girl is a year and a half old female pit/springer. We try very hard to keep things away from her, but she has learned how to open cabinets, (clawing) doors, (banging), she eats wood, not just chews, eats. I have no couches, table, or chairs that are not gnawed through. She eats cough drops, how she got them I don't know, they were on top of the refrigerator. I came home from work and she had two boxes of pop tarts gone, including the wrappers. She eats disposable razors, leather jackets,(okay, I get that one), soap, lotion, I got her giant rawhide bones, they were gone in one afternoon. She had sheets of rawhide coming out of both ends. A cow femur lasted exactly 4 hours. I put her in the bathroom one day, with her dishes and her favorite blanket, some toys, and went to the store. I came home, she had eaten the wood moldings and gnawed four holes in the walls, her toys weren't touched. She is going to kill herself with the stuff she eats. I know she's bored, help!

Answer 1

You just have to do your best to keep those things away from her. It sounds like that's a real challenge. I have a dog who is that way about chocolate. I just don't even keep any in the house anymore because I know he will do about anything to get to it. You might consider getting some type of metal box you can lock or else putting locks on your cabinets. It's extreme, I know, but it might help.

She does sound like she's bored and punishing you for it. More exercise would probably help and it sounds like she has some separation anxiety going on. She's making you pay when you leave her behind. Give her as much quality time as you can. Sounds like this baby girl really needs it. Some dogs need it more than others. The good news is if/when you finally get her through this, she's probably going to be the best dog you've ever had. Sometimes the smartest, most rewarding dogs are the most difficult. Good Luck!

Answer 2

Take your dog to the Vet and tell him or her what you wrote here. Some dogs can be given a medication to help their behavior if there is something askew in their brain function that is causing all that problematic chewing and eating of everything in sight. I say this because I knew someone that had a dog with similar problems that training did not correct and the Vet put the dog on some kind of medication that stopped it. That dog at the collars off the dog she was with, ate wood, bit an air conditioning wire in half and knocked itself out, after eating through the wood and metal that surrounded this for it's protection! It ate shoes, bedding, even an indestructible ball designed for Rottweilers. Know what they look like inside? Sort of like those old Jawbreaker candies that have tons of different layers of color..
Anyway, it was something wrong with the brain and some sort of antidepressant med for dogs helped a lot.

Answer 3

Very simple, you make absolutely sure she has no access to anything dangerous. You keep doors shut, trash out of her reach, and you watch her since you know what she is apt to do. What are you feeding her by the way? Sounds as if she has nutritional shortages - try a good dry like Canidae, don't feed her supermarket junk, that is mostly corn fillers and artificial preservatives - give her good dry with meat listed as the first ingredient. You're the human - make sure your dog doesn't have access to what she shouldn't eat and STOP HITTING HER, whether you call it hitting or spanking, it is animal abuse. Yelling at her will just make her more nervous too - get a grip onthis and do what a responsible dog owner is supposed to do - monitor what your dog is into.

Answer 4

Sounds like first she needs some training. Enroll her in obedience classes as soon as possible. She should also be crated when you are not home to watch her. Although I know someone who's Bulldog ripped the bars off of a metal crate, another Bulldog that could unlatch her crate door and another person whose German Shepherd foster ate one of the plastic crates. It is still a good idea to try to crate train though. You also need to try to get as much of the stuff she is getting into up out of her reach or put child safe latches on all cabinets and drawers. Finally if she does most of this when you are not home she could have separation anxiety which your vet can prescribe medication for.

Answer 5

why, does so many owners dont even think about getting their dogs and cats toys that they might want to play with when they do get a pet? any ways, if you have a car garged with shelds that you can put everything that youre dog cant reach or grab onto. well i dont know if any of you do any house chorses around youre home , but you should alway pick up the foods off the floors if you did drop something and hadnt clean up yourself then that will cause problem with youre dog eaten everything that she can pick up and swallow by not having you guys watching her ever time she try to find something to eat. that she shouldnt have. if you dont want her chew on things that can harm her. you should go to the pet store and buy her a few dogs things like chewing bones, , toys, that cant harm her health, hard ball, silly soft stuffly animals toys, snacks etc.. that she doesnt got right now. by the time she will not be chewing on things that you do own around the house. she will just chew and play with her own things .

Answer 6

buy the baby safety items, or screw looks into the cabinets.

also place any items like the cough drops in the bathroom with the door shut.

have her trained as well, she needs obedience and buy her heavy duty toys to play with, those like thick thick rubber. spray pepper on what she chews to prevent her from doing it

also if there is a counter by the fridge she more likly jumps on it to get the stuff on top

Answer 7

sounds like you need to crate train her. she may still be going thru her "chew" phase. also, teach her the command "leave it". you put a treat on a ground. and if she goes for it, you say "ahnahn" or a sound like no. and if she gets it in her mouth, take it back out. tell her to leave it. takes them a while to learn that they need to wait for your command. when she has your full attention give her the okay to eat the treat. the leave it command will help you when you are on walks nad she wants to eat something on the ground. good luck.

Answer 8

Child safty locks on all low cubbards she can get in.Move all you can to higher cubbards.Only buy her eatable toys and chews.They also make diffrent sprays and waxes with bad tastes to put on wood or furniture that she gwawls on,that will not harm her or the furniture.

Answer 9

Sometimes for the safety of a dog it is better to crate them when you go away

Answer 10

get Grannick's Bitter Apple Spray sold at petsmart or petco and spray it on the thing she chews on