Boots and the Chew
Boots seems to be settling into Boat life very well indeed. He loves his walks through the woods and over the fields, and over the last few months has got much fitter. Most of his behaviour has calmed down and he is getting better and doing what he is told (although it is very much in HIS time). What he hasn’t stopped doing is chewing. He doesn’t chew all the time and thus I call him an unreliable chewer – not least because I can’t pin it down to anything particular. He will chew whether he has been walked, or not, whether he has eaten, or not. I also can’t pin it down because he never does it when I am there. He will sometimes chew if I am out, or if I pop out, but it is just so random. It was suggested that it could be too much protein in his diet.. but it doesn’t seem to be related to that either.
I have some chew deterrent spray for my new chairs, but you can see here what he did to Maffi’s chair. He has done similar to one of mine (but ‘only’ chewed the corners of that).
He has toys to chew and they get changed regularly.
The thing is, I could stop spraying the arm chairs to see whether he has stopped chewing, but that could be a disaster… so do I spray everywhere I go.. or…
The idea that he might be getting bored is possible, but he has plenty of toys, gets lots of exercise and when he chewed Maffi’s chair Molly was on board. He likes Molly.
Does anyone have any ideas?
posted by MortimerBones at
11:42 AM
7 Comments:
Oh, it's so frustrating, isn't it? If he only does it when on his own, it's sounds like boredom, I'm afraid.
I'm sure he gets loads of physical exercise, but how much mental work does he do.Intelligent dogs need to use their brains, just like humans.
Getting into some training exercises, obedience classes, dog agility or whatever would probably help.
Good luck
Bruce
but he doesn't do it reliably when he is on his own.. he chews about once every blue moon, but when it is a chair, that matters!
I am trying to find a dog trainer near me but failing miserably (i realise they are more for me than boots!)! I will try harder!
Check that he is not having problems with his teeth.
done that, his teeth are great.
have you considered a muzzle?
peter.
We had a dog that did that. He chewed for England. Someone suggested crate training him, but he was a big dog and would have meant a big crate. In the end we muzzled him when we went out. It was a plastic box type muzzle that still enabled him to open his mouth and drink. He eventually grew out of it and we were able to leave him with no problems.
Not sure if it helps, but I know how you are feeling!
Hello Bones,
Have you ever bought him one of those leathery, bone shaped chews from the pet shop.
maybe if he did all his chewing on one of those he wouldn't be so addicted to chewing up the leather chairs.
Our little dog liked chewing them anyway!
nb Oakfield
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