Chewing

[Michelle and Chloe]

Chloe is 14 months old and loves to chew.  I have bought numerous chew toys and antlers but she still seems to find other more desirable objects to chew such as shoe laces, paper, sticks.....  I was wondering how long this chewing stage lasts or do I just have a doodle that loves to chew?  I am wanting to start leaving her out of her crate when I am gone but at this point I am afraid to what I will come home to.

[Adina P]

It's OKAY to use the crate to prevent chewing. Don't feel bad that she's still crated.

[Bonnie and Kona]

My pup is 11 weeks and the chewing is insane. We are big into Bitter Apple. I agree that you should use the crate when you leave the house. Our 3 year old Kona stayed in his crate for a long time. You need to feel secure when you leave, and he needs to be safe from ingesting anything dangerous.

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

Have you tried taking away whatever "inappropriate" things she is chewing and giving her the antler or chew toy? We had to do this over and over with our guys, but now they stick with "their things". It took a while of constant reinforcement, but they eventually "got it".

[Lauria Orr]

Melody is 14 months old, and we do use the crate still when we are not home. She loves to chew, and has chewed through 2 cell phone cords. That made us very aware that she is not out of this chewing stage!

[Deb, Connor & Simon]

As long as she is chewing whatever her little mouth can find, keep her crated when she can't be supervised. Eventually, she will probably outgrow chewing everything in sight. Until she does, though, consider the crate as protective custody. For now, it's a safety issue. :-)

[Jamie Petro]

Wrigley is an insane chewer! I was afraid of what she would do the first time we left her out of her kennel. We shut all of the bathroom and bedroom doors, and left plenty of toys out, and she did fine. She'll be 2 in February, and she had never touched anything of ours at all until last week. I came home for lunch, and she had destroyed a magazine of all things. I told my husband that the fan must have been blowing the pages and it was just too tempting! I can't complain though, I'd rather her destroy a magazine than a pair of shoes ANY day!

[Michelle and Chloe]

Thanks for the suggestions, I know the crate is good for now, I just feel guilty leaving her in there while my other dog is able to walk around. I hope she grows out of this stage soon. As for now, she has her antlers and nylabones to chew. :)

[Laura Deutsch]

I just posted on the dog whisperer sight about biting/chewing. Molly is also an intense chewer....destroying even the hardest nyla bones very quickly. It's the biting I'm concerned about. The furniture I think I can deal with easier!!!! Do any of your chewers also still love biting their owners? Not hard, not to hurt. It almost seems as though she does it to connect or at least, can't help herself. We thought it would stop when she got her adult teeth, but at 6 months plus, it's still a problem. As I mentioned in the other post, "no bite" and removing the limb from her doesn't work. We're thinking we need to get up and move and not say anything, as " they" say that any attention only makes them think it's a good thing. Also, "no bite" obviously means nothing, even though it worked with all our other pups. We're thinking for a week we should try....say nothing and get up and walk away. If she continues, put her in crate for 30 seconds.
We have to crate her even if we leave the room for a second, as she jumps up on the counter and gets what she can. She's a handful for sure but we love her!!!! Any suggestions appreciated.

[Shelly Gouvas]

My Jake sounds alot like your Molly.He loves to bite us too.Not to hard,used to be hard but I think he finally got it after time after time he would make my 6 year old cry with his bites that were just a little too hard. And then of course the playing would stop right then and there.When I'm outside playing lets say ball with Jake and he gets too excited and starts the biting I tell him no bite and then its over and I go in.See things getting better but slowly.Jake is ten months old now so still a pup,just a big pup.