Oh noes....destructive chewing

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Shutterbug

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Korben is 6 months old now - he is an Alaskan Malamute and he is generally a good dog. Great with the kids, fantastic nature, took to house training like the proverbial duck, doesnt haul on the leash when walking and is socially good with other dogs although a little playful. He manages fine on his own for a few hours a day but is never left for longer than 3 hours max - my OH has good working hours and my mother (who just loves spending time with him) - comes over and dog sits for us if we have to he away longer than that - so he is not left on his own for long. He is walked for 30 mins a day mindful of the fact that he is still growing and too much walking is not good for him. He attends puppy classes and has graduated from puppy to novice classes a few weeks ago and for a Mal he is very obedient.

His area of the house is effectively a back hall way - we have a huge cupoard which my mum reckons was an old indoor coal cellar at some point, its about 3' x 2' and we put his bed in there with his food and water bowls and took the door off its hinges so he has this and the whole back hall to himself - the hall is about 5' long to the back door. We leave him overnight in there and thats where he goes if he we are out - we are in the process of building an outdoor run for him though, just getting the fencing up first so thats a work in progress. He has plenty of chew toys which we rotate to keep him from getting bored. He seems fine with this and always gets some kind of bone to chew on to keep him amused. The worst thing he has done was rip up the lino in the back hall when he got hold of a corner of it but it wasnt put back down very well from when we had our kitchen done a few months ago and thats out fault so we just pulled it up and left the stone floor in the back hall. No problem, we are getting tiles put down.


Still with me? lol

Anyhow we put him to bed last night as normal, he goes into his bed fine and never cries during the night or anything. This morning we woke up to this:

holeinwall.jpg


He has eaten our wall during the night - he never does this and he doesnt have any other innappropriate chewing habits - not so much as a shoe has be put in his mouth.

He was sick twice this morning, I'm just waiting to call the vet in 10 mins but OH says he seems fine.

Im not sure if I should increase his exercise, he gets 2 15 min walks a day atm and I dont want to risk causing him any potential growth problems.

Anyone any experience or suggestions? He wont go in a crate, he hates them and howls the place down - we were given one by my friend when we first got him and tried to persevere with him but he was having none of it.

Cookies for reading all that :) And here is a photo of the culprit himself - clearly cute as a button so difficult to stay mad at :D

DogsTrustFunDay090.jpg
 
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I think you should look into how long you should be walking him now, 15 mins doesn't seem alot, I know you said he's young, worth checking. I agree at that age they shouldn't be jumping off things, going up and down stairs, but I'm sure you could take him further now, presumably this is on the lead as well so he's not really using up alot of energy. Speak to your vet or where you take him training, when you take him there it must be more that 15 mins you are training for ?

As regards the wall, oops ! maybe there was an insect and he just got carried away ! my springer loves anything that moves

He's so cute
 
If he's six months you could probably up him to an hour or even an hour and a half broken down into two 45 mins on lead and then free running as well and lots of bursts of training - the best training takes place at home, not in class.
Don't take it personally - chew toys to us, are not always chew toys to them :)
 
Aww hes too cute to be mad at CC :D Its only a wall so we are not worried - just dont want him making himself ill by eating plaster lol

I will increase his walking time immediately - and make sure he is walked for at least half an hour before bed - will do me good as well. We do training in the garden with him with the kids - particularly happy recall work which he loves doing :D We have such a big garden at the front of the house. Time to encourage more play in the garden with the kids and their friends as well then - he loves playing football :D

Thanks guys :D And I was just saying to my OH that Korben could use a little friend to play with - might have to rethink that - two of them would most likely eat my house lol
 
Tis quite normal and he is now getting to an age where his mind, brain and energy levels are developing to the point he needs more of everything to keep him stimulated plus the fact he is a pack breed, so possibly a little anxiety from being alone, def up the exercise and although you should not over do thexercise in a forced way, i.e to long a walk on lead, jogging, cycling and walking on concrete, you could find an enclosed field for him to have "free play" i.e a hoon off the lead at his own pace this does not have to be so limited.
 
Im actually really nervous about letting him off leash.....you hear so many people tell you that Mals have such bad recall and even though I am specifically working on this at home in the garden, Im still scared in case it fails and he takes off. The only place I can think of is our local forrestry where I ride my horse. We have a massive open part of it, completely surrounded by dense trees and not in sight of any cows/sheep/horses/people/roads or otherwise. Might be an idea to try him there with OH and see how he gets on? I may have to take some rescue remedy before we leave the house though lol :D
 
All good advice:) Just to add though, when my pups were first ready to go off lead, my husband & I would take them to a large field (empty) & we would stand apart, say 50 metres to start with & encourage the pup to run backwards & forwards a couple of times, then increase the distance between us. Lots of calling, jumping up and down etc & the dogs soon get the hang of it!:)
 
Put him on a long line if you are nervous :)
That way if he does make to tank off, you have a hold on him, or if you let it trail along the ground, you can stand on it.
Tennis courts/basket ball courts (obviously when no one is in them and you clean up after them) are good controlled places to practise!
I love the 2-person recall game too :p
 
I remember that feeling. I don't think I breathed the 1st time I let Harley off the lead!! But my dog trainer encourages you to do it at a really young age (Harley was 13 weeks) as they are too scared to go far from you. It did work.

I'm not a dog training expert, I'll leave that to the others. Maybe leave a lunge line on him or something, then if recall fails he'll be easier to catch?
 
CaveCanem said:
I love the 2-person recall game too :p
Click to expand...

We do that in the garden - its fun, and he enjoys it - will take him to the forrestry area with the big long uphill grassy area where I normally gallop the horse - trees both sides and no distractions. Will let you know how we get on :D
 
Just a wee tip, if there are (forestry style) trees on either side and he looks like showing interest in investigating, just give him a wee vocal check or tug on the line.
I try to keep my fella on the path at all times, he used to go and investigate the trees, until last year, in fact almost a year ago, on my Mum's birthday, he tanked off after a squirrel or hare or something and was gone for nearly a quarter of an hour, me with no phone reception and my Ma expecting to be taken out for a meal, it was HORRIBLE, moreso that I couldn't see where he had gone because the trees were so thick.
He actually bounced out on the opposite side of where he had gone in, chest heaving and a bit lame, as I screamed myself hoarse - so he had obviously crossed my path behind my back while I was searching :p

Not to scare you of course but if I see him trying to veer off the path or if he displays certain behaviour, nose on ground, tail in air, ears super forward, heading in that direction, I recall him and tell him how awesome he is!
 
Iccle booger!! Hes so handsome though...cant stay mad at that face! Would echo what the others have said re upping his exercise and stimulation now hes a bit older.
I have only ever had one wall chewing incident...in my last house and it was.........MILO!!! :eek: If you met my gang you would know why that is so shocking! He's the least likely culprit out of the four! While I was on holiday may I add and they were in care of dog sitter so I suspect a walk had been missed or something.
 
CC - I will keep a close eye on him when we are out - might take the kids too, just so he has plenty of people distraction - my daughter screams and he comes running thinking someone is trying to kill her, he is very protective of her for some reason, she is the youngest so that may explain - its quite cute :D That could come in handy lol

Vizslak- its the quiet ones you gotta watch lol
 
Haha yea I think you are right...he actually was a nightmare the whole time we were away on that holiday, he wouldnt settle at night either for the first 3 nights, the girl phoned us on the fourth day practically in tears because he wouldnt let her sleep!!
 
The joy of pups eh! I have known of quite a few dogs who have chewed plaster, think there must be something in it that they take a liking to, and it seems to be quite addictive so I would smother the area with something nasty tasting (shaving foam is quite good) so he doesn't carry on where he left off tonight.
 
Could be a little bit of seperation anxity,now hes 6 months his hormones are kicking in a little bit,do you make a fuss of him when u leave him, and come home?Is he allowed on sofa etc,he may start to want to rule the roost now hes getting a little older,
i know what you mean about being worried about letting him off the lead,the younger you can let them off the better,with my 1st an 2nd dogs i was super paranoid about letting them off,but now i hardly ever have the others on leads at all now,
in my view little puppy legs are easyer to catch than long legged adolesants,i know its really hard but if he does run off,an you cant grab him,run in the oppisite direction,he should follow
hardest thing to do in the world mind,
my bitch was a dot in the distance before she noticed i was off in the other direction,now keeps up with me
,if god forbid he does run off i assume he is microchipped???If not get it done its a easy procedure,an well worth it.
Good luck,
P.s dont know how old your house is,but if old paint could have lead in it,worth finding out.
 
O norty boy!!:eek::eek: but what a cutey!!;):D

If its any consolation I took the dogs out this morning with my sister and her lab - we were gone over an hour across the fields where they hooned around chasing hares, swimming in brooks etc etc. I then went into town to pick up some feed and bones for the mutts and came back to find that Max has eaten the book I had just ordered from Amazon!!!:eek: The little s**t!!!!!:mad::mad::mad:

Anyone want norty lab??:confused::D
 
I have a cat who regularly eats plaster and has suffered no ill effects from it. No idea why she does it, she finds a bare patch and scratches at it til bits come off, then eats them. Makes a horrible noise!!

Ditto the 2 person recall game, that's how we got our pup used to being off lead, and she's now pretty good as long as there's not too many distractions.
 
Thanks for all the replies guys - very helpful stuff :)

We took him to our forrest area earlier today, its basically tree lined either side and a big grassy uphill gap in the middle, right back off the road and really quiet - I normally take my horse here for a good uphill blast. We did the two person recall game, getting further and further apart and then had a walk up and down to see if he would follow us. We got so far then stood quietly to see if he would notice, and he was having a good sniff but kept looking up to see where we were. When we called him he happily came to us. We had one heart stopping minute where he ran into the forrest and I almost died, but he came back out when we called him.

He had a really good hoon around for 30 mins then we headed back to the car with him chasing his daddy up the hill:D I then went riding and he apparantly passed out on the kitchen floor for an hour, poor soul was knackered. So another half hour walk round the park at the bottom of the street and that should do him for the day.

Slightly less panicked now about letting him off the leash now, so thanks guys :)
 
Cool glad you getting up the confidance to let him off.in my view a tired dog is a well behaved dog,saying that the little one(6 months 30kg!)went out for an hour today a still managed to muster up the energy to eat a mobile phone.little cow :P

p.s allways have his favorite treat or toy ready for him when he comes back,also try to use the same voice when u call him,know that sounds strange but diffrent conatations of voice will confuse him,or use a dog whistle,allways same sound then,

Start by using it in the house so he associates it with coming to the sound,when he does loads of praise an a treat.Also if he a bit slow coming back or does something before coming back dont tell him off,as he will associate coming back to a telling off,good luck and have fun.
 
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