Is there anything on earth considered undesirable to chew on by a puppy, or more specifically a labrador puppy? We have tried spraying vinegar, lime juice, and lemon juice but she just licks it off, tail wagging, and carries on as she was. In no particular order, here's a list of items gnawed, chewed, chomped or bitten by my puppy in the first three weeks of owning her: Stones, render, brick, the radiator pipes, the dining table, coffee table, chair legs, foot rests and arms, laces, footwear, any kind of label or ribbon, cushions, throws, fake grass, real grass, skirting board, plasterboard, wallpaper, doors of all kinds, window sills, our beloved rubber plant, filing boxes, the desk, printer, her day bed, the vet bed, the metal pen, the metal crate, her water bowl, the stereo, the speakers, the coasters, her kennel, the downpipe, the shed, the back door seal, the shed padlock, the lavender bush, any kind of brush, my hands and occasionally one of the tens of toys and chews we have bought for her! There's more too, I'd keep going only I can see she's eyeing up the keyboard as I type..... Oh oh... Cjsudbeksosnwneud gd hjhdrafhl
I tried a couple of different sprays designed for this, but the one that worked for us was Grannick's Bitter Apple spray. It only lasts about a day, so you have to reapply it, but it did work. However, I know others have had less success with it. Worth a try, though. I found the best thing was distraction, and frozen kongs. It is rather tiresome, but it does pass, honest!
I didn't try any of the sprays, I just used distraction. Very tiring but it worked, together with never leaving Juno alone in a room unless she was in her crate, and her crate when she couldn't be watched/played with. She was never allowed in the garden by herself but was supervised at all times so the garden was very much for training, playing ball with me and toileting. I used to play lots of fetch type games indoors tossing a favourite toy across the room for her to chase rather put her teeth around any furniture.
I have had three pups and found bitter apple worked on furniture - but, like snowbunny says, you need to re-apply it. While you are with them you need to constantly re-direct their chewing. If you are not with them then all chew-able things need to be out of reach.
Hi All, I will look for this next time I can go shopping. I absolutely do use distraction (about 95% of the time) but she nearly always gets a few chews in before I reach her. The damage is not extensive to anything (perhaps other than her teeth) and I cant very well move the skirting boards or walls (well, not without causing an even bigger mess), so I suppose if the spray doesn't work, i'll just have to hope the phase passes quickly :-/ Her new thing is to take the toy I give her, walk over to something else she shouldn't chew, drop the toy and start chewing that. She gets A LOT of attention and I really don't want her to think that we are available to play with her 24/7, I love her but if she is going to be fed - I have to work at some point. I put her in her pen sometimes but if she goes in when she's not in a perfect state of having eaten, been walked and to the toilet - she just causes chaos in there instead of the room (eating her bed, the crate, the lino on the floor) - and we cant walk her for more than 15 minutes a day at the moment. Could it be an anxiety thing? When both myself and my husband are home, she is as good as gold but when it is just one of us, she's a different pup. We also haven't left her alone yet but i'm going to write another post about that now as I think I need some guidance there too.
How old is Tatti now? Dexter was / is a strong ,enthusiastic chewer,I used to say thank goodness he never started on the house because it wouldn't have survived. We got by on a combination of all of the above,the bitter Apple spray worked for us.....our house is miminal but we took it to the extreme,everything got put away...he was supervised all the time and therefore distracted if he went 'illegal' if he couldnt be supervised he was crated with a kong which he would chew himself to sleep with .....or as he got older he was secured behind his baby gate with a kong,I think that is key to be honest.....contained space...it doesn't have to be a crate all the time ......limiting access to space with as few chewing pops will save your house.This sounds life consuming doesn't it? And it is a bit but it doesn't last forever.When Dexter was young our garden time that didn't involve playing,training or occupying him was impossible and tedious ....all he wanted to do was hunt stones and pull up the irrigation system,it's tiring and frustrating but it does get better x
Hi again, thanks for this - Tatti is 13 weeks today. we have had her for just over 4 weeks and have a routine (ish) which does involve some time in the pen and usually 2 frozen kibble kongs and a small carrot or dentistick per day (usually saved for when I am in meetings), we also pen her while we are eating in the evening. I find kibble lasts longer than the kong mouse you buy but even then, in 15 minutes she has finished and ready for more stuff in her mouth Sometimes, she settles and goes to sleep, others she just starts crying or eating everything in sight (which is usually her vet bed). I cant yet see a pattern to this to be able to predict how she will be. Yesterday for example was a very good day: We were up at 6 (she can do 7.5 hours through the night at the moment without any accidents - not one since we got her then toilet, breakfast, walk (less than 10 mins), play; asleep 07:30 - 09:30 next to my desk; then toilet, play, I put her in the pen (with a dentistick) while I had a meeting 10-11 where she slept a bit, then lunch at 11, walk (about 10 mins), play, she then sleeps from about 12:00 - 13:00 up for toilet, play, back in the pen with a kong and sleep from about 14:30 til about 16:00, then it is dinner time and she will be awake til about 18:30 then she sleeps most of the evening and all night (bed at around 10:30). This was a very good day and as you can see - she's not a big sleeper (not compared to her siblings who by all accounts are as good as gold and sleep all day). Today she was awake from 09:15 to 12:15 without even napping. I tried all the usual tricks to settle her (holding her, putting her on my lap and slowly stroking her - usually a winner, ptting her in her pen) but she wasn't interested in anything but playing or chewing her toys (at least not the table today). I think the problem is when she is awake is when I need to work and I don't want to keep her in her pen the whole time (she does so well at night and I don't want to jeopardise that). We don't have much for her to chew but what we do have, she does chew. So I end up getting really frustrated trying to distract her for the hours she is up because I am not working. I suppose its not actually that bad, I am just so aware that I should be working. I really feel like i'm doing a less than great job at both raising my pup and at my job as whenever I am attending to one, I am not attending to the other. Maybe this is why weekends are so much easier - there is no guilt (and there's a husband to help keep her occupied) I swear I should have asked for puppy maternity. Surely most people have to work full time. How on earth does everyone else seem to manage so well? I actually wrote this initial post to make people smile - I just thought it was funny that in such a short amount of time she could have a go at eating so many things. It seems I have ended up whining about her again - I still haven't solved the reason for my very first post... must try harder
Hi Tatti, Your post made me smile and took me back one year ago when my little crazy Lab was a puppy. I work from home and i can understand how you feel about the guilt. Was a hard time for me too and now i think about it and smile. My dog was the same...chew, eat, sleep for 10 min and then chew some more... Was hard not going to lie about that. I used to work at night when he was asleep. What i did was to keep him in the same room where i worked so i can watch him. Whenever he started doing something that he was not allowed i would say NO firmly and redirect him to one of his toys. When he played with his toy i praised him and give him a treat..he was looking at me like i was crazy but it worked. After a few weeks he got it.Don't get me wrong he stepped out of line for a wile after but those incidents were further and further apart until they stopped. He eventually got the fact that if i'm at my computer there is no playing with him and he leaves me alone. Hope it helps!
Don't worry, I'm sure Tatti will soon start phasing out of that stuff although it feels like it will never end! Otis is 18 weeks now and just starting to stop chewing on my kitchen table which he thoroughly loved before. We used lots of distraction, Kongs, and bully sticks which I think saved my life. We still give him bully sticks under close supervision and it keeps him busy sometimes for over an hour with chewing. I found that having a ton of different toys was helpful (he now has more toys than a small child!!). If he was chewing on my table, I'd give him a toy that had a similar texture. If it was my couch, a soft toy, etc.
