When Does The Puppy Chewing Stage End?

[Guest donatella]

Hi donatella,

I feel your pain, I also have an intelligent teen and when he was at that age he was a nightmare! I walked him twice a day for 15-20 minutes each time (no longer cos I didn't want to overexercise him), but mostly trained him to do things. From then until now he's learned to fetch, obedience heel, jump thru a hula hoop, sit, drop, stand, spin, wave, dance (he does a kinda flip while standing on his back legs), touch, 2o2o, jump on and off things, search (I'll show him something, hide it and say "where is it?" and he's off looking for it) and his recall is pretty good now. He also knows boring house routines like "get out of the kitchen" (haha), "go to your bed", "in your crate", "leave it alone" etc.

While he was young I watched him like a hawk and tutted whenever he went to eat something 'wrong' and would put a toy or a chew in his mouth. He's pretty much perfect now and he's turning 1 ( !!!) at the end of the month! He only chewed a couple of cords when he was a baby, thank goodness, but I 100% attribute that to my being slack.

I worked full time hours for most of his puppy-hood and he's turned out fine now. He will only start chewing on banned items if he is bored, so I take it upon myself to make sure he doesn't become understimuated.

Buy a clicker and look up youtube clips of dogs doing tricks, you'll never run out of things to teach her!

I've heard about clicker training but never read into it but i'll google a bit more about it. She picks up tricks so quickly and then thrives at my girly squeal reaction praises to her getting it right.

Kavik thanks for the tricks, i'll have to find a good source to give me the instructions on how to teach her.

E x

edit: I tried doing everything by the book for the first couple of months, he had kongs, 100 stuffed toys (slight exaggeration), all the Busy Buddy range and it did nothing to help, he is fairly high energy and needed the mind stimulation. Even walking him twice a day was not enough, not by a long shot.

I guess I am secretly hanging out for the 12 month stage where she settles down and isn't so hyperactive but that isn't a magic fix either.

[Guest donatella]

Just bought a clicker online woo hoo

[**Super_Dogs**]

I hear your pain!!! My girl is 10 months has been a nightmare chewer and is not showing any signs of growing out of it. I only need to be gone for 10 minutes as she has pulled my handbag off the bench and scattered the contents around the house. I section off part of the house (she stays inside) and I find it helps to give her some things to work at while I am not here. When I go work I give her a plastic cup with peanut butter smeared over bottom, a kong with treats inside and I put small holes in a plastic soft drink bottle and put food treats in this also. These things have made HUGE difference.

Good luck.

Edited January 4, 2012 by buddy1

[Tralee]

I guess I am secretly hanging out for the 12 month stage where she settles down and isn't so hyperactive but that isn't a magic fix either.

Yep

Training for tricks can be overwhelming.

I haven't trained mine for any tricks.

I was/am more concerned about 'good doggy manners.'

Mostly common sense stuff.

They sit before meals or before crossing a road.

They walk past other dogs without incident.

They drop, go outside when asked, jump up onto the grooming table, follow my direction when off leash at parks etc.

They eat separately and come one at a time when I have to put their collars on.

Going to the Vet, all that sort of thing.

Don't forget the dog's nose.

My young boy was a different dog after being able to sniff all the different people while walking around the shops.

Obedience is mandatory for mine because that is basically good doggy manners.

But you may not be able to bank on her activity levels dropping off.

I have Maremmas but I could easily have done agility with my young boy.

There are no certainties with dogs and they will do things that are not expected in their breed.

Good Luck

[Rosaline]

Use puppy pens or Bunnings compost panels to confine her to area where there is nothing to destroy but her own toys. Puppies don't get their last back molars until about 9 months so she is probably still teething, but some dogs are just chewers all thei lives. Basically it is a matter of not allowing them unsupervised access to anything of value until you are certain they will not chew it. Always praise when she chews her toys and reprimand as soon as she looks like chewing anything that is not her's. Put pepper sauce of Vick's Vapourub on anything she shows interest in that you don't want chewed. If you allow her access to chew your things she will learn it is acceptable and keep doing it.

We put Vapourub on all our electrical cords etc as our cat has a habit of chewing on them. Worked really well. (Except we forgot when we bought a new coffee machine, little bugger chewed right through it on the first day!)

[minimiss]

Kongs are a godsend! Especially with peanut butter I give Benny his kong in the morning stuffed with peanut butter, a few bits of kibble and shredded treats and that usually keeps him busy. He gets so excited about his kong that he doesn't even say goodbye to me!

Another thing that we've got here is an 'everlasting treat ball'. This frustrates him because his little mouth can't get around the treat portion and he spends hours just licking it to death!

I also scatter some of Benny's breakfast over the floor so he has to do some hunting for his breaky and I pack all of his favourite toys into a small paper bag as he likes to relocate his toys to under the table.

We run around and play for 30 mins before I leave, and have a 10 minute training session before I leave in the morning so he's tired and probably wishing for me to hurry up and disappear to work so he can get some peace and quiet. Haha So far we've had no destruction, except of course for all of his toys piled predictably under the table. In the evening we have lots of short bursts of running around and another training session before dinner. By the time it's bed time he puts himself into his crate and zonks out til I harrass him awake in the morning to go downstairs to start our exercise.

I think it's finding out what works by trial and error... Poms are smart little creatures as you've already found out, and can be cheeky! Just tire her out mentally as well as physically and give her lots of things to do. I know you've mentioned that Lucy isn't very food oriented, which I suppose is where Benny differs - He'd sell his soul for food! Toys that make noises are found pretty fun too.. Even better for you when you're not home she can make all the noise with her toys without disturbing you with highpitch squeaks! :p

[Guest donatella]

I guess I am secretly hanging out for the 12 month stage where she settles down and isn't so hyperactive but that isn't a magic fix either.

Yep

Training for tricks can be overwhelming.

I haven't trained mine for any tricks.

I was/am more concerned about 'good doggy manners.'

Mostly common sense stuff.

They sit before meals or before crossing a road.

They walk past other dogs without incident.

They drop, go outside when asked, jump up onto the grooming table, follow my direction when off leash at parks etc.

They eat separately and come one at a time when I have to put their collars on.

Going to the Vet, all that sort of thing.

Don't forget the dog's nose.

My young boy was a different dog after being able to sniff all the different people while walking around the shops.

Obedience is mandatory for mine because that is basically good doggy manners.

But you may not be able to bank on her activity levels dropping off.

I have Maremmas but I could easily have done agility with my young boy.

There are no certainties with dogs and they will do things that are not expected in their breed.

Good Luck

The more I think about it the more I KNOW i need to work on her manners, she knows she has us wrapped around her little fingers!

When I sit down to my dinner (generally in front of the tv, not at a dinner table) she's all up in my face and when i put her down and tell her NO she lets out a bark or growl. Naughty naughty!!

She is very smart though, I am going to work on her manners with clicker training and I think enrolling her in obedience school which runs on wednesday nights, I just need to try get work off consequtively.

[Guest donatella]

Kongs are a godsend! Especially with peanut butter I give Benny his kong in the morning stuffed with peanut butter, a few bits of kibble and shredded treats and that usually keeps him busy. He gets so excited about his kong that he doesn't even say goodbye to me!

Another thing that we've got here is an 'everlasting treat ball'. This frustrates him because his little mouth can't get around the treat portion and he spends hours just licking it to death!

I also scatter some of Benny's breakfast over the floor so he has to do some hunting for his breaky and I pack all of his favourite toys into a small paper bag as he likes to relocate his toys to under the table.

We run around and play for 30 mins before I leave, and have a 10 minute training session before I leave in the morning so he's tired and probably wishing for me to hurry up and disappear to work so he can get some peace and quiet. Haha So far we've had no destruction, except of course for all of his toys piled predictably under the table. In the evening we have lots of short bursts of running around and another training session before dinner. By the time it's bed time he puts himself into his crate and zonks out til I harrass him awake in the morning to go downstairs to start our exercise.

I think it's finding out what works by trial and error... Poms are smart little creatures as you've already found out, and can be cheeky! Just tire her out mentally as well as physically and give her lots of things to do. I know you've mentioned that Lucy isn't very food oriented, which I suppose is where Benny differs - He'd sell his soul for food! Toys that make noises are found pretty fun too.. Even better for you when you're not home she can make all the noise with her toys without disturbing you with highpitch squeaks! :p

I have the kong and she never took to it, she's not a food orientated dog at all, she actually doesn't eat much, survives solely off chicken necks and black hawk (the very tiny bits she picks at daily) although she has a good output everyday so somethings going in.

She's beyond the toys and puzzles and wants to be doing what we're doing, she actually thinks she's one of the girls, she's a nosey little thing, nothing gets past her. I'd be very interested to see what she does when we're not there (apart from destroy the joint) because she's not lacking in toys, squeakers and things to chew on!

She's the best behaved thing and happy as larry when someone is home (and up) but becomes destructive when left to her own devices. I think the suggestions about clicker training and teaching her new tricks have hit the nail on the head, whenever I teach her new tricks she picks it up the first few times and then jumps around with all the attention she gets with my praising at her getting it right. And obedience will be good to get her amongst the 'big kids'.

She doesn't have day time naps (whenever i've been home), i wish she was one that would tire out easily

[persephone]

When I sit down to my dinner (generally in front of the tv, not at a dinner table) she's all up in my face and when i put her down and tell her NO she lets out a bark or growl. Naughty naughty!!

yes, you are !

I think THIS might give you both some good grounding ....

Edited January 4, 2012 by persephone

[dotdashdot]

It sucks that you can't walk her happily, I live in very small coastal village (near a bigger coastal city) and I can easily walk a few k's without seeing another dog. Gives my girl (9 months) a chance to run and run and run that energy off. We meander and she runs circles around us (literally). Maybe if you can find a secluded spot in your area? - probably hard but so worth it.

My "routine" with Cleo before she gets her dinner every night, is a little bit of mental stimulation before the food. I.e. go to crate, come to me (not to the bowl), wait as long as I ask her to, shake/high five, lie down, ear and teeth check or stack. Then she eats. I'm slowly adding new things, like the coming to me if the bowl is 2m to my left - this is harder for her!

Can't speak highly enough for mental stimulation. The kong wobbla is also good for dispensing food a bit slower and making them "work" for the food.

I also think that having manners is SUPER important. I make Cleo sit and wait for us to walk through the gate before her and if she tried to get up in my face while I was eating - BIG trouble. Maybe crate during dinner or you eat at a table otherwise.

I would also invest in a stop chew spray, just to have - it worked for me when Cleo was little. I've accidentally tasted it after spraying it - I know why they hate it!!!