Dangerous Puppy Boredom?

[Loriann Clayton-Bethard]

Kaleida will be 7 months old on Friday. He came to live with us at the end of May. Since I teach, I was home with him all of June, July and August. Training went well, and he rarely had any potty accidents, so we stopped using the crate much. We also have a 13 year old Irish Terrier who has always had freedom in the house. We have a university student who is home quite a bit during the day most days, and I usually come home at lunch to visit the dogs. We recently began a large remodeling project, so furniture has been moved to accommodate painting and new flooring. Last week, we put both dogs in the finished basement to get some work done, and the puppy chewed through a telephone cord while unsupervised. This week, he chewed the power cord to an unplugged (thankfully) lamp that had been moved into the kitchen for additional lighting. We haven't had any chewing issues until now. I know crating the puppy is the obvious solution, but do we correct the dangerous chewing behavior if we haven't actually seen it happen? If so, how do we correct the behavior after the fact? Thanks.

[Lynda Kamrath]

I think chewing is pretty typical of puppies, especially when they are bored.  Don't leave things around that can be chewed.  I know that is hard, but easier than replacing the chewed items.  Our last doodle was a chewer and chewed through lots of things, including the deck and baseboards in the laundry room.  My husband discovered that he really dislikes Tabasco sauce and he bought large bottles of it and a dauber and daubed it on to the places where Harpo was chewing.  It took care of that problem for us.  But he is well past the chewing stage now, and your puppy will be also.  Suggest toys and things he can chew on - my dogs like bully sticks but we limit them to 20 minutes on a chew.  I actually use the timer on the range.  Each bully stick lasts about an hour (3 chew sessions).  Another diversion is doggie day care if there is one available in your area.

[Loriann Clayton-Bethard]

Good tip about the Tabasco sauce; thanks Lynda! He has a basket full of toys that he plays with all day, so I think we have the entertainment side covered.

[a.k.a. Rodney]

Tabasco worked great here...all I need to do is open the bottle now & DerbyDoodle starts to back away. However all my white baseboard corners look pretty funny with that orange-red color on the angles

[Ricki and Tara (doodle)]

I think correcting after the behavior is just confusing for dogs. But you can set up training sessions with a cord teaching "leave it" and/or using Bitter Apple or another unpleasant tasting deterrent on the cord.  Since he seems to be targeting cords you could also spray Bitter Apple on the cords around the house where he may be tempted. But unless you can ensure that all the cords will be unplugged while you are gone it might be safer to crate him or keep him in an ex-pen until you are certain he has learned to avoid cords or outgrown the desire for them.  Does he have other safe chews to keep him busy? Also don't forget the puppy owners Golden Rule: A tired puppy is a good puppy.  Make sure he worn out before you leave him. :)

[Loriann Clayton-Bethard]

Thank you, you've offered some helpful suggestions! He is pretty good at responding to the leave it command, and I never thought of training using a cord (unplugged, of course)--that's a great idea! I'll look for some Bitter Apple too. He does have a large basket of all kinds of toys, including many chew toys and teething toys, that he plays with all day; I can tell he plays with them, because when I get home from work, they are all out of the basket every day! You're also right about a tired puppy staying out of mischief, so I'll have to see if we can add some more exercise.

[Ricki and Tara (doodle)]

Good luck! I'm sure he'll catch on quickly.

[Loriann Clayton-Bethard]

Follow-up: I had some Louisiana hot sauce on hand, and put the gnawed pieces of the cord and plug that I found in a dish and added hot sauce on top of each piece. I put the dish near the lamp cord he had chewed and said leave it. The puppy excitedly licked the dish once anyway, and now won't go near it, so I rewarded him for the "good leave it" with a training treat. The Irish Terrier, however, was not deterred.....but then, at her age, she never chews destructively. I did read that different dogs dislike different ingredients/products.

[Ricki and Tara (doodle)]

 Good work! And yes, that's true, Tara hates Bitter Apple but I have read of other DK doodles that love it! It sounds like the hot sauce got his attention!  Are you certain he can associate the dish with the cord? Or is he learning to "leave" the dish? Not sure but you may need to actually put it on the cord.

[Loriann Clayton-Bethard]

While he learns the desired behavior of not chewing cords, what would be an appropriate way to react/deterrent if I do catch him chewing a cord?

[BG and Gavin]

Use whatever your "you need to stop what you are doing right now" word is (mine is uh-uh) and redirect him to the desired thing to chew.

[Ricki and Tara (doodle)]

I agree with BG. This is the best opportunity for training-catching them in the act. Make sure he knows you mean business!! :)