I’m sorry to be such a pain in the butt, but I have a new dilemma. For some reason, Sadie started going under the kitchen chairs too the middle and starts licking or chewing on legs or spindles of the chairs. I’ve tried to use positive reinforcement be telling her to come and if she does I give her a treat and a good petting. But then she goes right back there and won’t come again so I have to move a chair and get her out. Short of moving the chairs to another room, what else can I do? I’ve taken her on a long walk on the lease around the yard to get her mind off it and wear out some of that puppy energy but again, as soon as we come back in, she’s under the table. She’s not scared of anything that’s making her “hide”. She happily starts mouthing on a chair leg with tail wagging until I get her. I did buy Pippas book but I’m having problems solving this problem.
So is the problem for you the fact that she is chewing/damaging the chair legs, rather than that she likes it under the table? If so, you might have some luck with a bitter spray. You can buy ones specifically aimed at dogs, and spray the legs and spindle of the chairs that she likes to nibble. You could also leave some nice frozen kongs under there to keep her busy. We tend to keep puppies out of room with precious furniture as a certain amount of chewing is inevitable. Or put chairs up on the table after meals, until the 'silly stage' is past
Yes, the problem is the chewing. If she just went under the table without chewing that would be fine. Unless we’re eating. So thinking about it, no I don’t want her under there at all. I can try a bitter spray but I’ve never seen those work. My in-laws dog still chewed and our last dog (chocolate lab) actually liked the taste of it! Talk about silly! I can’t keep her out of the room with our floor plan. The table is kinda between the kitchen, living room and hallway to the bedrooms. The Kong would be fine outside the table but we found out yesterday morning that she could care less about it as we tried to get her back in her crate for hopefully a little more sleep. She cried, whined, barked, howled, you name it until I laid by her, then she fell asleep. Which is another habit I’m hoping will break on it’s own. Thank you Pippa for your advice!
Our girl did exactly the same and although it was exhausting and frustrating, we simply moved her every time she chewed the chair and table legs and put one of her toys in her mouth, she now has stopped chewing both and she's just 22 weeks, so don't despair.
We have a pine table and chairs in our kitchen, when a pup arrives the plastic soil pipe comes out. It's cut to length and slides over the table legs...Not pretty but after a while it's normal and you don't notice... but it does save having the table chewed. Chairs are put on top of the table or moved to a different room when not in use. We've used this method for the last 3 pups, table is still perfect, chairs, there are a few tooth indents but that's entirely our own fault for forgetting to move them. BTW the soil pipe stays over the table legs until pup is about 18mths. We've yet to find a bitter spray that works. Good luck.
Ah what a brilliant idea!,bit too late for our table and chairs but I'll remember for next time,thanks.
