Hi Guys, I have a 1 year old fox red Lab called Mia who came to me at 4 months old having never been in a house before so she had a humongous great long list of issues, behavioural issues, digestive issues, toilet training issues, you name it and she probably had it. As much as I love her to bits and we have conquered or are in the midst of conquering most of her issues, one that I really cannot get on top of is her destructive chewing. Mia isn't great at being left alone and that is when the destructive chewing is happening, so we introduced crate training to her and she got on absolutely fine with it and will alternate between sitting on my lap and taking herself off to her crate when we're home relaxing. She's really happy in her crate and to start with I thought I had conquered the destructive chewing phase but she seems to have recently gotten into a habit of chewing her bed. I've tried the plastic beds with a cushion or blanket, the plush dog beds and the supposedly indestructible mattress type bed, all of which have been killed off. Mia has company in our other dog when alone, although Bramble isn't in the crate with her she is in the same room. She has lots of toys that I rotate when she is the crate so she always has something new, different and exciting to chew and play with in there, as well keeping a couple of her favourites in there all the time and she has plenty of space in the crate to be playing - the crate is more than big enough for two large dogs so for one very slight lab there is masses of space. A chap I know who works in a rescue suggested trying a smaller crate which she hated so we reverted back to the bigger one and she is much happier in that one. She also has the radio left on when we aren't there but I often have the radio on when I am home so this is something that she is used to rather than being a part of my leaving home process. She is walked every morning before I go to work and if I make home it in daylight then we have a nice long run in the evenings as well as long runs on my two days off throughout the week. Between myself, my boyfriend and my parents, we always make sure that Mia is alone for short periods (maximum 4 hours at a time but it's usually more like 2-3) and if we can't get back to her then one of my cousins will go in and take her outside for a wee and play for while. I really do not know what else to try to stop her chewing, has anyone else had this trouble that they can give me some tips on? Thanks in advance!
Hi Lucy, this is an annoying problem. My youngest lab was an avid bed chewer for several years. I found the best beds for her are the ones with fabric stretched over a metal frame. I replace the fabric cover every six months or so. Occasionally they last a bit longer. The downside for dogs that sleep in a crate is that you'd need a pretty big crate to fit one in because they are raised. On the bright side, while labs do often chew for many months, most do outgrow it by their second birthday.
I don’t have a bed in my pups crate, just a couple of inexpensive soft blankets that he can scootch around to where he wants them. He’s in his crate about three hours daily, and even if he’s not closed in it he will happily go in there to nap, so must feel comfy.
Hi Pippa, thank you for your response. Perhaps I will look into whether one of those beds may fit in her crate, it's a pretty massive crate so I should think it would be alright. Several people have told me to just wait it out until she grows out of it but my biggest concern is that she will sometimes try to swallow things that she has chewed and I have nightmares about coming home and finding she's choked on something! I feel like it may be a bit of separation anxiety when alone as she doesn't do it overnight when she knows we are in the house so I guess that is another issue to tackle, I've just got no idea how to go about it. Hi, thank you for your response. I have tried putting blankets in but she just rips them shreds and will sometimes try to swallow the pieces if I don't get them picked up quick enough, which is impossible to do if I'm not there. This may seem a bizarre question but what type of blankets have you used? I've tried fleece ones and knitted ones so far, both of which have met the same fate. She seems happy to go in her crate and often takes herself off in there if she wants some downtime so I'm not really sure what to try next! I'm glad your pup is happy in his crate, it's lovely for them have their own little sanctuary.
I use a fleece blanket and a crocheted blanket. Fortunately my dog isn’t a blanket shredder (he’s more of a digger), so I definitely see where you don’t want to use one.
I think I would try the crate with no bedding, and some toys that were nearly indestructible. Cooper destroys plush toys, but does not eat them so it is not a problem. She seems to completely understand that her toys are hers, and our stuff is ours and not to be chewed.
Sorry, I should have mentioned before that I have tried without a bed in there and she chewed the plastic tray at the bottom of the crate. At the moment the crate is on loan to me from a friend of my dads as Mia hated her smaller one and I didn't want to spend masses on a bigger one if she hated that one as well so I'd feel bad if she chewed the bottom of it any more as it will be returned at some point. I will look into getting purchasing one of my own and am thinking perhaps it may be beneficial to go with one that has a metal bottom rather than the plastic tray. The removable tray does make it easy to clean but being so big it's no problem for me to get in there to clean it if the bottom was attached to the frame. Mia has lots of different toys in there with her, her rope duck and Kong Gorilla are her favourites but she also has ropes, bones and filled Kongs that I rotate around so she always has plenty of variety. I haven't tried her with a plush toy but I feel it will probably end up in a million pieces. Mia is getting better at chewing around the house, she generally doesn't do it anymore except occasionally she will have a little knaw at the arm of a chair she had previously chewed when she first moved in but this seems to be only when she is staging protest against something, like me not getting her breakfast fast enough or having a couple of days of activities and training at home instead of walks when she was in season!
