Chewing Phase - 7-10 months

A few have discussed the chewing that they are experiencing around this time and we have it at our house too....I don't remember Duncan being this bad but Arthur is about to chew the house down.

We have the toy thing figured out....all tough, durable, chew toys...nothing plush will last 2 minutes...that said, how do I keep him from chewing is bed/pad in his crate. He has completely unstuffed one and thrown up the resulting "hair" ball. :ew: Now he is shredding towels, blankets, everything.

We do work but each go home to see them during the day. We leave plenty of toys, fozen kongs, etc...but he goes straight for his bed everytime

Any ideas.

have you tried bitter spray ?? icon_nwunsure

You, know I haven't....I guess i felt bad putting it on his bed (I don't know why)...I have only used it for furniture

Duncan's ma: I am going to be following this thread because I am having the same problem with Cody. He is driving me nuts!!! I have had to throw out mulitple towels, crate pads etc for the very same reason.

The problem with the bitter spray is that when he lays on it, it gets in his fur, then on me when I pet him. Heaven forbid if I forget to wash my hands before I wipe my face or eat anything :yuk:

Kodee likes bitter spray! She has taken to chewing the skirt on the ottoman - she likes to crawl under it and then chew the skirt. Out of desparation I turned it upside down this morning and sprayed the underneath hoping it wouldnt stain! She smelled it, sneezed a few times, and back under she went, grabbing the corner :yikes I'm only at 2mths - oh dear, what will 7 mths be like :sl*p: if that is when the REAL chewing is to start!

We are experiencing the same problem with Libby. They only thing she doesn't touch is her snuggle puppy. For now, I have just removed everything during the time that she is in her crate except for her snuggle puppy.

I took the towel out of her carseat, because she keeps going for the strings! I am just afraid something is going to get caught.

I am giving her a frozen kong in the evening. It's the only toy she hasn't chewed to get a string off of!

I am feeling bad, because if I put her toys down Riley chews them in two seconds flat. I keep the bin full of the toys that Riley has had, but Libby keeps chewing strings off of everything! These furkids are running low on things to do!

I think I'd be looking for something hard to shred -- a flat vinyl or cordura pad for example or inexpensive fleece crate liners or blankets you don't care if they shred a bit(fleece is a lot harder to shread than something woven).

If it is a real problem and concern I'd just leave the crate bottom bare. Dogs quite happily lie down on floors for example -- a couple of mine like the floor in summer in particular -- and often this is recommended to help when crate training, so it really isn't a big deal if you have a flat plastic bottom in the crate. Then try reintroducing a liner when the chewing stops. Or instead of crating use a hard to chew bed inside a room for the dog.

However: the chewing is likely a sign of boredom as well, not just of a chewing phase... particularly if this is something done primarily when confined. It's a lot more interesting to a dog to at least be able to move around within a room. A kong helps but doesn't eliminate the tedium of being in small space alone for many hours, especially for a young dog or puppy. Hence a high sided x-pen or just confining to a room may solve the problem completely for anyone having this as a crating problem, and the dog can just have its own regular bed or retreat to an open crate at will. I've never had a single chewing problem with dogs confined to a room as opposed to a crate, even when Jaspar was a puppy.

I have no problems with Libby when she is in the crate. It is just finding a safe toy for her to play without the crate. She is even chewing the fuzz off her tennis ball, if we don't keep taking it and trying to get her to catch or retrieve it.

The minute we stop, she finds a string or something to swallow. :yikes No matter how clean my floors are, she finds something. She is like a little cavalier roomba!