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  1. #1
    Puppy JenDeHoet's Avatar
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    Puppy Chewing wood in house

    Hello all, need some big help here! Our guy is almost 1 year old. He is still having issues sleeping through the night (have a post on this from when he was 6 months) even with increased daily activity and keeping up later at night. He always wakes around 4am no matter what day of the week and is ready to go. Some of that is due to our schedules as Mom-fri we are up at 5am getting ready for work. We had begun letting him sleep in our room at night the last few month and that helped from him instead sitting in his kennel whining, he would wake and chew a bone/antler until we woke. But now he’s taken to chewing wood - literally chewing the edge of our walls and base crown moulding in the room. He only does this at night while we’re sleeping, he’s never tried chewing during the day. We’re at the point we are going to kennel him again as he’s making costly house repairs on us. My 7 year old lab never did anything like this. Do any of you have any tips/tricks to discontinue this behavior?!?!

  2. #2
    Senior Dog Snowshoe's Avatar
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    What does he get for physical and mental exercise? Some need more than others.

    It's funny he doesn't chew the baseboard in the daytime. Makes it harder for you to substitute an approved action. Is he not alone during the day? Sorry, only questions, no tips. Except, I'm not a fan of crating, but is a HUGE crate possible? Or even better, a sturdy pen with room to move around in but away from the walls?
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  3. #3
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    Can you put a night time crate in your bedroom? That kept Kimber quiet and safe. (Like your pup, she whined and cried in the morning when her crate was in the kitchen.)

    At almost-1, your pup is still very puppy-brained so I wouldn’t see it as any kind of failure on his part that he needs to be crated at night.
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  4. #4
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    Could he be bored? What's his daily routine like? Is he left alone for many hours during the day?

  5. #5
    Puppy JenDeHoet's Avatar
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    If it was a weekday I’d say yes probably boredom. But as he did this again last night - a Saturday night than no.... he had a full day of activity that included dog park, 3 walks, playing multiples times in yard with his brother and playing with neighbors dogs while parents had a bonfire from 9-midnight. he had a full day and stayed up later than normal.

  6. #6
    Senior Dog Snowshoe's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by JenDeHoet View Post
    If it was a weekday I’d say yes probably boredom. But as he did this again last night - a Saturday night than no.... he had a full day of activity that included dog park, 3 walks, playing multiples times in yard with his brother and playing with neighbors dogs while parents had a bonfire from 9-midnight. he had a full day and stayed up later than normal.
    It's hard to know how much off leash time this included. Even if it was all day, they need mental work too. IN fact, nothing but physical exercise might even work against you, as, if it's regular, they can just get fitter and fitter and a mere human can't hope to keep up. Remember high school? Thinking tires them out too. Classes of some kind, obedience, rally, agility, tricks, make them not just think about what they are learning but they learn control too.

    We learned a calming exercise designed to teach the pup how to chill out. OUr trainer demanded all her novice classes do this before she'd let them move to the next level. It's simple, dog on leash must be still at your feet (or your knees as some of us kneeled) for mere seconds at a time. No formal sit or down or rigorous stay, just be still and quiet. A lie down is nice though. No interaction with pup either, you are not to entertain or expend energy keeping pup quiet, he's supposed to learn to do that himself. Basically my dog got bored. Our goal was to increase the still time till we could both watch a half hour TV show. The time it takes to get to this point depends on the dog. This ability to chill out spills over into other life.
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  7. #7
    Senior Dog smartrock's Avatar
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    So, is he out of his crate during the day when you're at work as well as being out of his crate at night? I'm not sure from your posts if he's crated when you're at work because you said he doesn't chew the wood during the day. Some dogs just seem to be ready to be out of the crate sooner than others. Lark could be trusted out of the crate all day and night when she was just coming up on a year of age and was never a chewer. Our old guy Chase couldn't be trusted out of the crate unsupervised until he was 2 years old, nearly 3. He could be out at night when we were home sooner than when we were both at work but he slept in our room. I have baseboards to prove his beaverish tendencies. Our boxers chewed up baseboards and cabinets, too, and we just had to keep them in their crates a bit longer until they didn't want to do that any more. They all outgrew the house demolition phase.

  8. #8
    Puppy JenDeHoet's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Snowshoe View Post
    It's hard to know how much off leash time this included. Even if it was all day, they need mental work too. IN fact, nothing but physical exercise might even work against you, as, if it's regular, they can just get fitter and fitter and a mere human can't hope to keep up. Remember high school? Thinking tires them out too. Classes of some kind, obedience, rally, agility, tricks, make them not just think about what they are learning but they learn control too.

    We learned a calming exercise designed to teach the pup how to chill out. OUr trainer demanded all her novice classes do this before she'd let them move to the next level. It's simple, dog on leash must be still at your feet (or your knees as some of us kneeled) for mere seconds at a time. No formal sit or down or rigorous stay, just be still and quiet. A lie down is nice though. No interaction with pup either, you are not to entertain or expend energy keeping pup quiet, he's supposed to learn to do that himself. Basically my dog got bored. Our goal was to increase the still time till we could both watch a half hour TV show. The time it takes to get to this point depends on the dog. This ability to chill out spills over into other life.
    He’s actually currently training to be a service dog so he is getting training time daily as well as training class once a week.

  9. #9
    Puppy JenDeHoet's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by smartrock View Post
    So, is he out of his crate during the day when you're at work as well as being out of his crate at night? I'm not sure from your posts if he's crated when you're at work because you said he doesn't chew the wood during the day. Some dogs just seem to be ready to be out of the crate sooner than others. Lark could be trusted out of the crate all day and night when she was just coming up on a year of age and was never a chewer. Our old guy Chase couldn't be trusted out of the crate unsupervised until he was 2 years old, nearly 3. He could be out at night when we were home sooner than when we were both at work but he slept in our room. I have baseboards to prove his beaverish tendencies. Our boxers chewed up baseboards and cabinets, too, and we just had to keep them in their crates a bit longer until they didn't want to do that any more. They all outgrew the house demolition phase.
    Yes we crate while at work. He cannot be trusted for that length of time yet at his age unfortunately, we tried a pen and he just jumped it and chewed up an family piano 🤦🏼*♀️. But when we’re home or even if leave for only a short period to run to the store or something we won’t crate him and he has been doing fine during those periods. He just recently started this mid-night baseboard chewing. He even has his favorite bones beside him but chooses the boards.

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by JenDeHoet View Post
    Yes we crate while at work. He cannot be trusted for that length of time yet at his age unfortunately, we tried a pen and he just jumped it and chewed up an family piano 臘*♀️. But when we’re home or even if leave for only a short period to run to the store or something we won’t crate him and he has been doing fine during those periods. He just recently started this mid-night baseboard chewing. He even has his favorite bones beside him but chooses the boards.
    I would go back to crating him then, but have you tried putting an aversive (e.g. Bitter Apple spray) on the baseboards? When our first puppy was little she was relentless about the baseboard molding until in desperation I sprinkled cayenne pepper on it (not necessarily recommending this - it was just what I did out of frustration). She went to chew on it, jumped back, barked at it and never touched it again.
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    Sassy (HIT Jamrah's Blonde Ambition, UDX, OM2, BN) 6/4/2015

    Chloe (HIT HC OTCH Windsong's Femme Fatale, UDX4, OM6, RE) 6/7/2009

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    Scully (HC Coventry's Truth Is Out There, UD, TD, RN) 4/14/1996 - 6/30/2011
    Mulder (Coventry's I Want To Believe, UD, RN, WC) 5/26/1999 - 4/22/2015

    And our foster Jolie (Windsong's Genuine Risk, CDX) 5/26/1999 - 3/16/2014

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