We have to keep her in a crate or kennel whenever we are gone. She chews our furniture, tv stand, etc. right in front of us. She gets plenty of exercise. We have sprayed anti chew spray on furniture. She still chew. We have many chew toys and balls. She wants nothing to do with them. The only time she is good is when she gets a bone. I am very frustrated right now. Luckily she can just be in the basement with us, and it is old furniture...But, we are struggling. My other dog did not chew like this at this stage.
Yes, that's very normal and totally right (as long as it's not more than 4 hours at a time). There are two answers to unwanted chewing: Prevention. That means (besides the crate) preventing her from having access to the areas/rooms where she is most inclined to chew through use of stair gates and/or barriers. Puppies should not have free range of the house. Providing things she IS allowed to chew which are MORE APPEALING. That means identifying what she is choosing to chew (wood? plastic?) and buying similar products from the pet store. Believe me, dogs don't chew out of spite - so there is some criteria she is using to chew stuff and you need to identify what that is... Anti-chew sprays don't work. Sorry to tell you that after the fact, but I've never known a dog they work on. Besides which, they are aversive (or intended to be an aversive) - they are intended to taste bad so the dog doesn't chew something. The most effective way to train is never through the use of aversives. After all, would you spray the house daily including every new item, with the anti-chew stuff? Why not just teach her what is an appropriate chew toy in a positive way, instead? Then you have the wrong chew toys. Balls are not really things to give a dog to enjoy alone. They are things some people throw for dogs. Do you have any wooden chew toys? PetStages wooden chews? Do you have any flavoured chew toys? Do you have Benebones? Nylabones? So you need to provide more bones. Ask the butcher for 'very large bones for making broth with' - aim for bones the size of her head. They should only be raw - cooked bones or the dry bones from the pet shop are dangerous.
