Destructor Strikes Again, He Must Be Stopped!

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SadKen

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Long, sorry. My little chap is a GSD, he's nearly 3, and he's a machine for exercise and chewing.

He's chewed the following items: socks, three dog beds (a real favourite, the most recent being a friend's dog bed chewed during a car journey when he was 6 inches from me - cost of replacement £80), our dining table, plaster off the walls...

I initially thought this was due to separation anxiety, but recently (given that I was sitting next to him when he started gently extracting the stuffing from his brother's bed and piling it in a nice pyramid in the corner) I'm tending toward him just being bored.

I have tried the following: long walks, short walks, obedience training, scent training, chasing a ball for 30 mins, mountain biking for 11 miles, stuffed kongs, taking the kong away, rescue remedy, attention, no attention, reprimands, no reprimands and a dog knapsack full of weights.

WHY WILL HE NOT STOP CHEWING!!! AAARGH!!

I realise probably nobody can help with this, but I just needed to express my frustration in front of someone who is not my husband, as OH currently alternates between wanting to strangle the little beggar and muttering darkly about the 'naughty dogs home' whilst trying to repair the gouges in the dining table.

Any thoughts welcome!
 
it could be separation anxiety, it maybe that he is anxious about being left?

a friends collie is very high energy and needs lots of mental stimulation, he is walked for a minimum of 2hrs per day off lead, he does obedience, agility, canicross, bike joring, ball chasing, he has stuffed kongs and chews, he also has a box of cardboard in the kitchen dining room (old kitchen roll tubes/cereal boxes etc) that he can help himself to and destroy when he feels the need-he always without fail is bouncing off the walls if any sniff of excersise is had-he is however quiet and sleeps at home. any reduction in his level of excersise and he is a nightmare he becomes destructive/seek things to keep his brain excersised.

how much excersise and brain work does your dog get on a daily basis?

my 16yr old dog used to destroy beds if he was anxious-he never had separation anxiety though.

my thoughts?... get a good behaviourist in
 
Sounds to me like your dog just needs more to occupy him, a bored dog is a chewing dog esp when young and presumably has never stopped since a pup ? It's become a habit and dog habits are very hard to stop !
 
Twiggy - he gets 45 mins off lead in the morning, about half an hour at night. He's off lead for most of the walk (except about 10 mins on road) and we do obedience and scent training while on the way round. I've done scent training for about the past month, he's completely brilliant at it (too good, he finds the things now pretty much straight away so less running). He's working lines and is incredibly driven, he would have made an amazing police dog I think. I have taken him mountain biking with me on the trails, he's done 14 miles with me at a fair lick but even that didn't make a dent in his energy levels, they were just the same as they always are so I kinda gave up trying to physically tire him as I think I'd drop first! He has taken to chewing 'naughty' items whether we are here or not, and we do have another dog. I'm not ruling out separation anxiety, but he doesn't give the impression of concern and has no other symptoms of it. He chews whether we are here or not at the moment.

Bonny - re the chewing it is a habit, but it is one that we broke for a period of about a month, then with seemingly no reason he started up again.

I was thinking about getting him an antler only for when we are out and see if that occupies him. The cardboard is a VERY good idea, definitely worth a go, he loves cardboard.

I have thought of a behaviourist but wanted to exhaust cheaper avenues first! hehe
 
Chuckle! I think OH is considering that! I am sure if we could stick him on a treadmill we could use him to power our house somehow. Or possibly the entire village...
 
SadKen said:
Twiggy - he gets 45 mins off lead in the morning, about half an hour at night. He's off lead for most of the walk (except about 10 mins on road) and we do obedience and scent training while on the way round. I've done scent training for about the past month, he's completely brilliant at it (too good, he finds the things now pretty much straight away so less running). He's working lines and is incredibly driven, he would have made an amazing police dog I think. I have taken him mountain biking with me on the trails, he's done 14 miles with me at a fair lick but even that didn't make a dent in his energy levels, they were just the same as they always are so I kinda gave up trying to physically tire him as I think I'd drop first! He has taken to chewing 'naughty' items whether we are here or not, and we do have another dog. I'm not ruling out separation anxiety, but he doesn't give the impression of concern and has no other symptoms of it. He chews whether we are here or not at the moment.

Bonny - re the chewing it is a habit, but it is one that we broke for a period of about a month, then with seemingly no reason he started up again.

I was thinking about getting him an antler only for when we are out and see if that occupies him. The cardboard is a VERY good idea, definitely worth a go, he loves cardboard.

I have thought of a behaviourist but wanted to exhaust cheaper avenues first! hehe
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if he is good at sent work get him tracking-join a club and compete, it can be great fun and as it is physical and mental it tires more of them, chewing is often a sign of anxiety, TBH to me that does not sound like enough exercise, I would be doing an hour and half running free with other dogs/canicross/with a bike etc plus some brain work, try a kong filled with frozen food when you go out to occupy his brain (and jaw) the bubble machines look great to me but I know my lurcher would be too impatient (and clever?) and try to get the bubbles before they come out, I would also kennel a destructive dog in a kennel and large run-there is more scope to rig up stuff to keep him occupied without the mess in the house-ice blocks with pieces of meat frozen in them, kongs as mentioned bubble machine could be rigged up out of reach so bubbles drift into run(put on a timer switch maybe?) also some dogs find being enclosed in the house stressful. I know my 2 older dogs are much happier out doors as the action in the house is too much for them now they are less able to move quickly
 
I think you're right on both counts Twiggy, the chances are we will have to kennel him outside although I will probably worry about him being stolen. We do generally do the frozen Kongs, they keep him going for a little while but he's pretty determined. He goes through a Kong extreme in about six weeks.

I'd like to do a bit more scent work but would struggle for time with my horse as well. I wanted to get a kiddy scooter to go a bit faster as bikes would be a magnet for local ne'er do wells who would happily shove me off and nick a bike! I've only managed to tire him once, after a 10 mile hike off lead at Malham, with a half hour swim in the tarn. Swimming does seem to tire him a bit. If only I had a pool!

My other shepherds have consistently been sleepers when not working, but this one has no off button! Good job he's adorable.
 
He's a working line GSD and you will never tire him out through physical exercise...you'll just make him much fitter than you.

He is genetically inclined to want to have something in his mouth. Mine was a terror and had to be watched like a hawk as a pup, he is in a run during the day and in an airline crate at night or else we would have no soft furnishings.
At a training day a few months ago, he bit clean through one of those Kong treat bones I'd been lent :o while lying on the ground while the trainer was explaining something to me...he had it in his mouth for about a minute.
His grips are excellent :p

He is walked, biked, swam, he goes to club twice a week and has at least one training session a day and maybe ome rest day a week.

Mine is incredibly high drive so I'm not suggesting you do all that, but your dog needs an outlet and he needs to think. A good club/trainer will help point the way.
 
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What are you feeding him on? Agree scent work should really help. Can you crate him when left, or perhaps muzzle when appropriate?
 
Food wise he is on gluten free skinners, he doesn't do well on any wheat food, and got very skinny before we switched him to gluten free.

He is crated at present and is fine then, but I'd rather not crate him as the crate is ugly and is in my dining room, and our other GSD is loose, and has a nice time watching out of the French doors when we aren't here. He is*ok in the crate but I'd prefer to get rid of it if I can. I don't really think muzzling would help as he uses just his front teeth to nibble things and only a basket muzzle would stop that, then he couldn't drink, which I'm not comfortable with.

I have been working on scent training this weekend and it definitely has an effect on his relaxation levels as does obedience training. I think I'll have to get a pro in to help us with some exercises though, as there are no clubs close by (we'd have to travel half an hour or so to the nearest, and I just don't have the time with the horse etc). He is so good at scenting that he finds everything almost instantly when we play at home which isn't much of a challenge! Off onto the field behind us tomorrow to try and scent one of OH's socks instead of a ball.

Going to try the cardboard in addition to his frozen peanut butter/carrot Kong tomorrow. Thanks for all the suggestions! I will give them a whirl and maybe pop back with an update on how he does. With pics, as he is adorable.
 
If you don't have time for a club, while I've never tried them myself (I have very high mileage on my car instead :p), I hear a lot of people who train by themselves, rate the Michael Ellis DVDs.

Think he might have some stuff on YouTube also.
 
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SadKen said:
Twiggy - he gets 45 mins off lead in the morning, about half an hour at night.
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My little Bichon does more than this every day. That doesn't sound like much exercise for a big dog.

Could it simply be more exercise is required, as well as distraction techniques? Our little dog loves a chew on the wall, and also her bed. The production of a bone soon stops the behaviour.
 
To be honest AM I don't think physical exercise is the key - he is running for most of the off lead time as we have another GSD and they chase/play/wrestle etc so he's not walking sedately, unless I ask him to. I've also biked miles and miles with him running alongside (we used to do between 10 and 12 miles on the mountain bike trails at an average of 8mph, and I've clocked him at 25mph on the downhills) and it didn't change his energy levels at all. The only time I've ever seen him tired is when swimming, to be honest! But we don't have the facilities to do that every day.

As CC said, I genuinely don't think I could tire him physically and I've just made him fitter with my efforts so far. I think I'll get him one of those dog puzzle toys, I think he'd like that - will also check out Michael Ellis later when I have youtube, and I've found a local-ish guy who used to be a police dog trainer. He's a behaviourist as well, so I think investing in a few sessions with him would probably be beneficial even if he just gives us some police dog exercises to try as I'm running out of ideas of things to teach him. Although he will not learn to give a paw for some reason!
 
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