Chewing on my furniture

[merritt.alan]

My dog Breege will chew on the wooden furniture if left alone. I tried playing music to her but the problem. She has been spayed and that has help to settle down but is still a puppy. Any help to stop this behaviour please.

[Adrienne Farricelli]

Hello Merritt.alan,

I replied to you in another thread but will re-post some of that info here, also because I see in another post the age of your pup is closer to 1 year now and that changes my answer in several ways.

 

If Breege is still a puppy, wood is very attractive to chew on. Chewing in puppies is due to the puppy simply exploring the world with his mouth and enjoying various textures. Not to mention that puppies, just like human babies, go through a teething phase and have a strong need to chew and exercise their jaws. So many things going on!

 

Puppies are curious beings, and as they develop, they'll want to explore the world through their mouths. Since they lack our manual dexterity and opposable thumbs, puppies will use their mouths to examine their surroundings.

 

The teething phase in puppies generally takes place between the ages of three to six months. During this time, the urge to chew is very strong due to the eruption of adult teeth. Chewing can also facilitate the shedding process of the pup's milk teeth, and the legs of a coffee table may work perfectly for that!

 

However, past six months, don't expect for all chewing to subside! There's another chewing phase right around the corner. Dogs will still want to chew between the ages of six or seven months and 1 year old, and at this age, with the adult teeth in place, the damage can be pretty substantial. There's belief that at this age, some jawbone growth takes place and affected adolescent dogs seek chewing as it feels good.

 

There are several steps you can take to a stop a puppy from chewing wood furniture. These steps can be divided into three tiers: steps you can take when you are around to supervise, steps to take when you are not, and general steps that take a "holistic" approach to tackle any potential underlying causes. This multi-faceted approach leads to a higher rate of success considering that you are tackling the issue from different fronts.

 

Tier 1: Steps to Take During Supervision

 

When you can actively supervise, you will need to take steps to make alternative, legitimate items to chew on more salient than the wood furniture. At the same time, you may want to make the wood furniture less appealing. There are several ways to do so.

 

1) Don't keep the same toys around all the time. If you rotate them, your dog's interest towards them will be kept alive and he will seek them often. For puppies, make sure you use puppy-approved chew toys. Use toys of different textures and flavors to keep your pup entertained.

 

2) Another great way, to keep interest alive is to add some goodies. Pick food puzzles, interactive toys and treat/food dispensing toys that can be stuffed with goodies. Examples include, Buster Cubes, Kongs, Kong Wobblers etc. Most dogs will choose these rewarding toys over any piece of wood furniture.

 

3) At the same time, it helps to make the wood furniture no longer appealing. Some dog owners elect to spray wood furniture with bad tasting products, such as Bitter Apple Spray, Bitter Yuck or Cayenne powder/Tabasco sauce. However, these don't always work ( and some dogs even enjoy the taste!) and they require multiple applications.

 

A better way may be to make furniture no longer appealing is by making it difficult to reach. Place some large objects (that are already around your dog and that your dog doesn't destroy) around the wood furniture to discourage your dog from accessing it.

 

Alternatively, depending on the size of the table legs, you can try sliding some PVC pipe over the legs which dogs do not typically enjoy chewing. This is for a good part a temporary measure until the dog learns that there are better and more rewarding things to chew.

 

Tip: if you own a young puppy, avoiding giving your pup sticks or chunks of firewood since your pup may grow up having a hard time differentiating between them and your coffee table's legs.

 

 

4) Teach your pup to"Leave it". While actively supervising, if you ever notice that your dog ever starts losing interest in the toy, and you see her heading towards wood furniture, stop her in your tracks with the "leave it" command. Here is a guide on how to train a dog to leave it. https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/obedience-101/take-leave-it/ Make sure to redirect your dog to a toy and praise her lavishly when he makes good choices.

 

5) Sometimes dogs associate our presence with the training and also think that by moving away we are relinquishing "our claim" over an item, so as part of the proofing process it may help to add some distance to the "leave it" command. Move away from the wood furniture and test your dog. You may find a need to remind her to "leave it" as you move away. You can then ask her to come to you and sit and redirect her to a toy stuffed with some goodies or a treat you have held in your pocket.

 

You can then further add more distance by leaving the room and watching your dog from behind a window or furniture or behind a wall. A well-placed mirror can turn handy too. This teaches your dog that "leave it" applies as well in your "apparent absence."

 

If you have a remote monitoring system, you can further practice with that, by telling your dog "leave it" over the monitoring system. Don't count though on this working 100 percent if you leave the home for sustained periods of time and your dog grows lonely and bored. It is always best to keep wood furniture out of reach when you can't supervise or keep your dog crated, which brings to the next tier...

 

 

Tier 2: Steps to Take When There's No Supervision

 

When you cannot actively supervise, because you are working in another room or need to head out of the home, you must take steps to prevent your dog from engaging in the troublesome behavior.

 

There are several goals for this: 1) prevent your dog from rehearsing the troublesome behavior (the more dogs engage in a behavior, the more it becomes habit-forming and chewing is often a self-reinforcing behavior) 2) to prevent your dog from learning that when you are away, there is no consequence for the behavior (you can't say leave it while you are away) and, 3) to keep your dog safe (chewing inappropriate items like wood can lead to injuries and costly surgeries as described a few paragraphs below).

 

The Power of Enclosures

Crates, solid baby gates, kennels, exercise pens are all enclosures that help keep your dog safe and out of trouble. It's important to ensure that these management tools are secure and solid enough to contain the dog. Getting used to enclosures can take some time, but there is a good return on the investment in the long term, such as when the dog needs to be confined due to an injury, travel, being boarded or simply kept safe during specific circumstances. Here is a guide on training a dog to stay in a crate: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/video-archive/love-the-crate/

 

 

If you do not have access to enclosures, you can close your dog in a safe room in your home where you dog can't chew inappropriate items and he is safe from ingesting items that are potentially toxic or may cause a blockage. It is difficult to find a household item that hasn't been removed from a dog's stomach! Make sure to leave around safe chew toys to keep your dog busy while you are away.

 

Warning: chewing doesn't only damage your expensive furniture but also can prove harmful to your dog even potentially leading to expensive treatments and surgeries. Your dog may get splinters in his mouth, parts of wood may lodge in your dog's esophagus, and if a large or sharp piece makes it down the digestive tract, it can cause puncturing of the stomach or intestines causing peritonitis or a blockage that requires expensive surgery to get out.

 

Tier 3: Taking a "Holistic" Approach

 

Many dog behaviors stem from unaddressed issues that need to be tackled. It sometimes helps to investigate and try to find out the exact underlying source of the problem so to address it accordingly.

 

One thing worthy of evaluating is that sometimes chewing can be a sign of separation anxiety. With separation anxiety, the wood chewing behavior would be contingent upon being left alone. These dogs often show other signs such as nervousness as owners prepare to leave, overly exaggerated greetings upon the owner's return, and in between when being left alone, there may be pacing, howling, barking, drooling, inappropriate elimination and chewing. These dogs require an anxiety-reduction program to tackle the issue.

 

While separation anxiety is quite common, it is also true though that it is often also overdiagnosed. A dog chewing when left alone, can also be doing so because of boredom.

 

Many dogs were selectively bred to "work." For example, Labrador retrievers and German shepherds are high-energy breeds that need exercise and mental stimulation so to wear them out and ensure their basic needs are met. Playing brain games and going on walks (if your pup has finished her vaccinations and your vet says it is OK) before being left alone can help. While adding more exercise and mental stimulation may not resolve the chewing 100 percent, it can help keep the dog's mind a bit more off the wood furniture. However, with puppies, it's always best to crate them when left alone as they tend to get into trouble.

 

Sometimes, dogs chew when they are anxious. It is always a good practice to record the behavior of dogs when they are left alone and see if there are any triggers. Perhaps there are noises that make the dog anxious and trigger the chewing, or perhaps the dog is anxious when the owners leave. These are just a few possible underlying causes that may be seen at times.

 

I hope this helps!

Best,

Adrienne

Edited January 9, 2019 by Adrienne Farricelli