Carpet Chewed - ON NO!
Last night while we were sleeping he chewed a whole the size of a half dollar in our BRAND NEW carpet. He also took it upon himself to nibble on our crown molding and the corner of our new cabinets. The sour apple does not work for him, he actually prefers it. I've been told Tabasco sause but I can't exactly spread that all over my carpet. We've tried crating him for months now and he despises the thing. When he goes in there he wigs out, cutting himself up on the bars. So we gave him a very confined space and slowly progressed to more space since he's growing. Do we go back to a smaller space? Did he get too much too soon? Any suggestions would be appreciated, I'm going to go weep at my carpet now... |
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| Lots of folks have great success with crating at night and down times. I am not a fan personally but do acknowledge that it works great and have used it for chewing puppies. I suggest you put several chew toys out and keep your eyes open, maybe get some child gates and restrict them to the kitchen etc at night.
I had to laugh though at the vision of him chewing the crown molding as technially this is the molding on the ceiling the molding on the floor is the base molding. |
| Can you tell I don't do the home repairs!
Well, it's the molding in the door? Strangly we're painting that bathroom tonight and have to run out and get white paint to cover his little disaster. ARGH! People at my work told me it could be a lack of excersice. There's no way, this dog goes on a mile run in the morning and a 2 mile walk at night. Then it's off to dog parks on the weekend. I'm really opposed to crating too. While we leave during the day he gets a very small area. Perhaps we should put him there at night? The only reason he had access to our bedroom is because we wanted to hear him when he wanted to go out. He usually paws us at night when he needs to go out. |
| First of all..........what a cute face!!! I love the Zorro look.
Chewing is quite common with any dog, especially young dogs. Sigh. We all have "distressed" furniture, moulding, etc. One sheepie I know of ate drywall.....creating his own doggie door to the next room? Toys, bone, mental stimulation........time usually wins. They grow out of it....most grow out of it. As for the whole in the carpeting......if it is carpeting and not a rug, go to a closet, cut a comperable size hole and patch the booboo using double sided carpet tape to hold. Put a shoe over the hole in the closet. (experience here) Moulding.......wood putty and paint works wonders. I had an St. Bernard eat an entire bathroom throw rug, fring and all.......and it came back in the car on the way to the vet's.  |
| Haha, I can't help but laugh at the idea of a dog eating a wall. That's a funny picture.
When we're not home we babygate our dogs in the kitchen. There're these great gates that are tall enough that the dog can't jump over, but they can be opened with your leg, so it's hands free. We originally had to do this because our last 2 sheepdogs lost control of their bladder and bowels when they got old. So we had to confine them in a room with a washable floor. And after they passed the gates have worked great for puppies. The only thing to remember is you have to dog-proof the room you keep them in. The whole bottom half of our fridge is void of any magnets or notes, and we make sure to push back anything on the counters. Big dogs love to counter-surf. Someone suggested we put mouse traps on the counters (supposedly it won't hurt the dogs) and we tried it, but we were constantly getting snapped just trying to make a sandwich! |
| We've got the baby gates up and their high, so it won't be a problem secluding him. It's just tough puppy proofing an entire kitchen. How do you puppy proof cabinets?! Do I rub tabasco sauce on them, the table legs, vertical blinds?
I think we'll have to give him less space, especially at night when we're sleeping. It's hard to catch him in the act when we're snoozin' away. Thanks for the carpet tips! |
| How old is he now? I guess what I'm getting at is, can he make it through the night without having to go out yet? I know you mentioned having him close so you could hear him but I wasn't sure if you did have to take him out still. If he can make it through the night, I'd definitely suggest confining him to a small space where he's comfortable and some chew toys/bones to keep him busy. We tried confining Clyde to the kitchen at night and he hated it-- he howled and peed and drooled all over the place. After almost 2 weeks of that, I brought him upstairs, made sure everything was off of the floor and confined him to upper floor, but only the hallway, the bathroom (that he always loved to sleep in) and our bedroom. ALL bad behavior stopped, he just wanted to be close to us! Ooh-- though it may seem obvious, don't forget to bring "quiet" chew toys into his space if it's near you. The first night we brought him up with us, James grabbed oone of his favorite toys, not thinking about the piercing squeak. Clyde decided to play with it around 4 in the morning and scared the heck out of me!
SheepieBoss is right in that all of us have "distressed" furniture and/or other home objects! I, too, lost a corner of base molding but it was the only home damage Clyde did. That was pretty easily fixed with a little putty and paint. He bit 2 of the dining room chairs-- I caught him both times just after the puncture occurred so they didn't get chewed but they still look like crap now! Thanks Clyde!  |
| Carpet chewing happened at our house too. Did you know that Berber carpeting is pretty much just one long string?
Turns out that Carl was bored and just caught one loop on a claw and then the games began. We found that keeping him occupied with toys and such pretty much alleviated the problem. Try the frozen kongs and the puzzle toys to keep his mind busy. |
| If he's not ok with the crate, you could perhaps try a large ex-pen set up, maybe hinge it to a wall so he can't knock it over? |
| The larger gated area will work, thanks!
What's a puzzle toy? |
| Here's an example of a puzzle toy:
http://forum.oes.org/viewtopic.php?p=26322#26322 |
| thanks for the pictures! is it something you can get at Petsmart? Petco? |
 Bentley of fond memory once unravelled and ate about 3 yards of rug fibre. It sat in his tummy for several weeks. Noticing that he wasn't eating as well as usual (still digesting everything he did eat though) I gave him Tums for his tummy. He brought up a huge skein of fibe. I was quite shocked at the time. He was lucky it didn't damage his digestive tract. Another time he nibbled several videos and and an antique book (17th century French) which in my folly I left within dog reach. Needless to say for several years after that, anything destructible was removed from his area when he was on his own. I also gave him doggy things to chew and gradually the problem went away as he got older. |
| Sorry to say there's not much else to do but to keep an eye at all times. Even as adults, if they are bored they can get pretty destructive sometimes. Lennon and Sofa decided to remodel our stairs a few months ago and pulled ALL the carpet from about 10 steps.... hahahahaha... sounds funny now. They ate all the under rug foam, so I could fix the damage. There's another post somewhere where we showed what they did to a pillow while we were away.
Most sheepies are very well behaved when left inside the house alone, for us those have been the only destructive incidents in one and a hlaf years, so I'll say we're much lucky. We have a house rule... If it got chewed, it's your fault because you left it within reach. Many people have seen very good results with crating at night and when left alone. You can create a large play area where they are safe using baby gates and plenty of toys and fun stuff to do. Usually this is just a phase and it will go away as your dog gets older and more trained and confident around the house. Ask Ron about some links for puzzle toys, he posted some iCube (sp?) great deals a few months ago. |
| You have a pooch named Lennon? I'm jealous I wanted to name Hendrix, McCartney! |
| Hehehe... Hendrix is a Cool Name.
We've had Lennon's name in our heads for a loooong time. Sofa's original name was Sofia, she was going to be called Yoko, she did not respond to it so called her Sofi, but somehow the name changed to Sofa... She's such a couch potato that the name just seemed natural.
All we need now is a Ringo and a Harrison and we can start a band. Any Clapton will be a plus!!! |
| I was wondering how "Sofa" got her name......it is unique. |
| Yep, I wanted McCartney he wanted Bonham. Marley was a close contender, but he had the final pick and of Marley and Hendrix and choose Hendrix. |
| Your the fourth person that I've found who has had a dog eat brand new carpeting. I wonder if there's something in the glue or carpet that appeals to the dogs that fades over time and is only obvious in new carpeting?
Our black lab, age 8, ate a dinner plate sized hole in our brand new carpeting and then ate a saucer sized hole in the carpeting in another area of the house. He has never before done anything like this. We are taking him to the vet to make sure that he doesn't have a stomach ailment or anemia leading to pica. After that, i have no idea. We may have to restrict him to uncarpeted areas while we are not home. Good luck! |
My father in law was able to fix the carpet, he besically glued down and sewed in carpet to fix the hole. It worked! Of course the new carpet patch is much cleaner and brighter looking then the rest of the carpet, however give us time and we can fix that!  |
| Chauncey has always had a taste for pillows. We have the envelope style in our living and family room which is great. He pulls out the blank pillow and shreads it without damaging the more expensive cover. Knock wood he has'nt even done this in several months.
Could it be the light is finally coming on  |
Louie is 6 mos. old and chews the carpet to get to the padding. He is doing this to throw a temper tantrum because I went to work. He also eats the paint off the wall. I put a room size rug over the carpet he chewed and he drags it out of the way so he can continue to chew the carpet he already ate. A co worker suggested putting onions around because they don't like them. I didn't try but I thought about orajel or ambasol and it would numb his mouth I tried the crate and he acts like hes being beat. I hope he grows out of this stage soon  |
| Don't use the onions because they can be quite harmful to your dog should he eat them.
It sounds to me like your dog is either bored or has separation anxiety issues. I think you should Google those and start a little reading!
Good luck. |
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