Dog chews EVERYTHING!

[rainylakefisher]

I have an almost three year old golden retriever that has destroyed so many things I can't count that high. She has always been outside in either an enclosed kennel or the heated garage - never a house dog. She seems to chew out of boredom, but none of us can be her playmate 24 hours a day.

She has a special affection for aluminum cans and had 8+ of them shredded on the garage steps yesterday when I got home. Doesn't eat them ... just shreds them into tiny pieces. I've given her old couch cushions to use as a dog bed - she shreds them. You name it, she chews it.

The odd thing is she knows what she's doing is wrong and acts very sorry when confronted. BUT, it doesn't prevent her from grabbing the next thing she can find. She even chewed the end of my son's battery powered car charger while it was plugged into the wall!

My wife is about to give her away, but she's a good pheasant dog so I can't let that happen. We've given her dog chew toys as a substitute, but she still grabs OUR stuff. How do I get her to understand? Advice?

[Ralph Wiggum]

She takes your things likely because she sees those as "your toys" and she want to play with those "toys".

The problem I see is that she's chewing these things when unsupervised. Then, you come home and the damage is already done. You can't correct her after the fact--she won't understand the link between the chewing and the correction. You need to catch her in the act and correct her immediately.

So, when she's alone, remove anything she shouldn't chew and leave her with some tough toys (Nylabone, Kongs, etc). When you're around, immediately correct her for chewing on anything inappropriate, and give her an acceptable toy to chew on.

Chewing on bedding is tougher. You can take it away, but then she's got to lay on concrete, which isn't good. We've got a pad that is almost like a gym mat. After ours chewed the corners of that while we were gone, I discovered that Tobasco will deter him. Not an good option with a couch cushion, but something to think about. After we got him to leave the mat alone, we just throw old towels and blankets in with him and have resigned ourselves to the fact that he will chew on them.

Good luck!

[ESmith]

Can't say it much better than Ralph just did, but I'll say that I agree exactly with what he said. Purely no offense intended, but it sounds like it could be an owner issue, not a dog issue. Takes supervision and a watchful eye, which sometimes drives me nuts. But, you have to catch the dog right when they go for something, and correct them. My GSP was terrible as a young puppy. Now, at 7 months, he grabs only his toys that he knows are ok to go after, anything else and one "no" or "leave it" and he'll stop what he's doing and look at me for the next step.

Ours is kenneled inside at night, and like Ralph already said, we put only tougher toys in with him. Things made out of cloth or the stuffed animals get shredded, and then you see your dog try and eliminate with strings and undigested fur in there!

Takes a lot of supervision, 5 times more than I was prepared for, but its worth it. Especially if your golden knows her way around a pheasant hunt! By all means!

[JayinMN]

Your right on one thing, she is probably bored while you are gone or possibly has a anxiety issue from being separated from her people and is taking things with your scent on them. Keep in mind she is a dog and not a human so does not reason like you do. She does not feel sorry for chewing things when you get home, what she is doing is reacting to your behavior and body language. Dogs are masters at reading our body language and she knows what type of mood you are in before you even get to her kennel. What your interpreting as her feeling sorry is really her display submissive behaviors trying to appease your anger or disappointment. She knows you are mad but doesn't know what for, dogs only live in the present, they don't dwell on the past. By the time you show up she has no idea what your about to scold her for, so she does what dogs have learned to do from living in packs for thousands of years and that is to use submissive behavior towards their leaders to avoid punishment.

The only way your going to put an end to this is to spend more one on one time with her so she gets more mental stimulation and exercise plus you need to dog proof your garage. If the cans where put some where like a covered container they wouldn't be an issue, get everything off the floor that is chew able etc. Another option is to make a kennel area in the garage so she does not have access to your stuff.

A tired dog is a good dog, take her out and give her a good run before you go away for the day. I run my 18 month old lab 3-5 miles before work and then spend 10-15 training when we get back followed by a couple long fetches to keep things up beat and fun. Training is whats going to exercise her mind and help with the boredom.

[duckbuster]

I am going to go with Jayin a bit here.

Not sure how often the dog is out or has exercise time but a dog that sits all day or most of the day and gets little to no attention will act out, believe it or not. Obviously we don't know what goes on so we can only guess at what might help.

GOOD LUCK getting your problem resolved.

[SpringerGuy]

All of the above. A Golden needs at least a hour of exercise per day. It can be 6 x 10 minute runs or 2 x 30. What ever you can do to add up to over 60 minutes per day.

Dogs are like kids, they have to get out and run and play to burn off that excess energy.

[Todd Caswell]

A tired dog is a good dog..........

[RumRiverRat]

A tired dog is a good dog..........

Very true.

[Darryl Raate]

A tired dog is a good dog..........

so true. A little cayenne pepper sprinkled on my new boat shoes, kept my chewing shepard pup at bay.