We have a 12 year old yellow female. Struggling a bit with arthritis, but still going pretty strong. She was a good pup, but absolutely would not stay in the crate. That turned out ok, because she never really chewed too much when left alone in the house. She was ok left for the day alone in the house without restrictions starting around 5 months. One or two chewed shoes and some ripped up mail was about all that ever happened, and all in the first year or two. However, we now have a new addition - another female yellow - who is literally a canine vacuum cleaner. This one is 4 months old now. Thankfully, she took well to the crate when we brought her home at 8 weeks of age, so she's controlled at night and while we're briefly out of the house. However, she chews and destroys literally everything that can be reached and isn't firmly nailed down when she is out of the crate. She'll be caught chewing one household item, have it taken away and substituted with a toy, and within 3 seconds, she's smoothly moved onto chewing or eating another forbidden item. On walks, she hoovers up (and fortunately spits out) every leaf, cigarette butt, and piece of debris on the sidewalk and road. Every single bush and plant gets gnawed on as she passes by. In the time it took my wife to go to the bathroom a few days ago, unsupervised for 3 minutes, the pup ripped the entire zipper and a ton of stuffing out of our older dog's large bed (never chews her own bed...). It's driving us all crazy! She's well fed (over according to her weight, age and food guide), and has a plethora of chew toys like antlers, kongs, stuffs, etc that she mostly ignores. Any suggestions?!
Hi TWK, welcome to the forum Take a look at this article on our main site - I hope it has some helpful suggestions for you.
I had lots of issues with my pup chewing too. How much exercise is she getting? Pent up energy usually results in chewing. You might consider (based on income and time) a treadmill, puppy daycare where she can play with other dogs, or increasing her walk duration and times. good luck!
