Venting/ A Cry for Help!

[Jessica, Loki and Moose]

Ok so let me start off by saying I love my doodle so so much but he's killing me lately! He has always been a chewer and today when I got home from work he chewed a hole in a down comforter!!!!! Now if this was TV it would have been hilarious when the actor walks in the front door and there is a snow storm of feathers EVERYWHERE. In reality it sucks! Oh and his whole face had feathers suck in his fur- should have taken a picture but I was too upset to at the time! I fixed the comforter and it's not that big of a deal, spending to hours "de-feathering" the apartment was annoying, but what sucks is I thought we were over this chewing phase! He was a horrible chewer up until two months ago and I thought we fixed it and we are back to square one it seems like it, he chewed a corner of a rug two days ago. I'm not sure how to discipline him because it happened when I wasn't here. I took him over to the mess and stuck his nose in it and sad No loudly and he backed away from it but idk if that got the message across. I've tried bitter apple spray on rugs or a watered down hot pepper juice mix but I can't put any of that near things that I will be sleeping on.

Would love to hear your guys advice/thoughts, also if anyone has any similar stories to share and make us all laugh :)

Thanks all,

Jess and Loki (comforter destroyer)

[Laura and Angus]

Same! We love the antler! Worth the money for our sanity ;) Same thing with the sticks and beef ribs haha

[Jessica, Loki and Moose]

I haven't tried the sticks, I was worried it would encourage him to chew on wood products, is that not the case?

[Laura and Angus]

I don't think he realizes they're meant to be like sticks since they seem just like the antlers. But to be honest with you, our puppy Angus is kind of a stubborn guy and will chew on sticks if he wants to - he wouldn't need encouragement. He loooooves sticks. His chewing sticks seems to have decreased as he's gotten older, but he'll still grab anything near him outside if he's excited or hyper...I don't think the sticks have any impact on that either way. Goldens just love their sticks haha

[Crystal about Murphy Bach]

Lori,

We had the same problem with Murphy, he chewed on some things and we would give him his toys if we caught him in the act in replacement on the spot. But if he had done something while we weren't present it was hard to discipline him, he is just a puppy, well 20 months.

He stopped chewing on things other than his toys about 4 months ago, and so we decided it would be a good idea to  leave the two dogs in one of our bedrooms with the door closed rather then the crate. 

Just two weeks ago, Murphy decided he was going to Tear up one of our favorite Seahawks pillows, that I made, which made me more sad. So back to the crate they go. They have been in there ever since, and we will probably just leave them in there for now on while we are gone. 

I honestly think they love being in the crate together. It gives Murphy a since of security and lowers his anxiety. I think leaving him out was giving him anxiety, He never chews his bed mat in his crate, so that is why I think that. 

That's my two sense. :) 

-Crystal and Murphy(The Secret Anxiety Chewer)

[Jessica, Loki and Moose]

Maybe Loki will get better with the crate once the new puppy comes along at the end of the month I never thought of that but that would be nice for them to snuggle some!

[Crystal about Murphy Bach]

When we got Murphy as a puppy we had each dog in their own crate, we bought a webcam to watch them and they would bark all day...Then we tried putting them together and they slept all day...Now we don't web cam them.

Just Saying.  

Your're Welcome. 

[Jessica, Loki and Moose]

Oh that's awesome! Hopefully the same works out for me! The new puppy comes home a week from today so we will see!

[SoSa]

I vote for crating. As much as I would like to let Ace roam free when we're not home, I just do not trust him. I let him roam when we are home because we are there to keep an eye on him. He loves to explore and he too has re-entered a chewing phase. I am pretty sure he would destroy something if we keft him out on his own. Whenever we leave the house, he is crated. For you sanity, crate him when you cannot keep an eye on him.

[Jessica, Loki and Moose]

Lol yes I need to keep my sanity!

[Elizabeth, Bailey & Bruin]

My rotten boy Bruin is also a big time chewer.  Just last night I brought out my shoes I wear from training and put them on the floor next to me.    While I was sitting in my chair and he was down at my feet and chewing on his toy, I just happened to look down and he had changed from chewing his toy to chewing my shoes...  Destroyed a 40.00 pair of sandals while I was sitting right there... in a matter of seconds.

He has also chewed my plantation shutters...  I had to put Vicks Vapor rub on them and he has stopped. 

Yes it is frustrating.  Hang in there!!!  Let's hope it gets better....and soon!! 

[Jessica, Loki and Moose]

Does the Vicks work? I'm sorry about your shoes that does suck! I have used the bitter Apple spray and its hit or miss whether that stops him or not

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

I didn't take the time to read all the replies so I may be repeating things you already heard.  Our Springer did damage to things ONLY when we left him home without people there. He ate couches cushion by cushion, molding on walls, rugs etc. It was frustrating and we got so angry that we were very tempted to re-home him.  Our ignorance was the problem. It turned out to be anxiety that was causing him to be destructive. He was not a dog that could be crated - it caused him too much anxiety - this should have been our first hint, but we were dunderheads.  What helped was to confin him to a smaller area of the house and limit his access to things to destruct. We consulted a trainer - got bad advice that even we could see was dumb. The good thing is that while he never outgrew the anxiety, he did outgrow the destructive behaviors when left home.  I don't figure that Hurley is anxious, but still just young.  My advice would be to limit his access to 'stuff' as much as you are able and that he will outgrow this. If he can be crated, crate him when you are gone.