Hi Gwen,
Wow, It's incredible what dog's do (eat stuff and survive) and how resilient they are to all kinds of alien matter they injest! Truly, amazing bulldog story... can you help me with my dog who likes to eat my laundry: worn, dirty socks ? What's up with this? Any advice will be greatly appreciated. Thanks a Bunch...
 

Dogs are amazing creatures! This reminds me of when people go on and on and swear that their dog is just like a person. I want to ask them how many people they know who eat dirty socks and drink out of the toilet bowl! Ok, back to subject at hand. I can hear great-aunt Tilly's voice in the background ..... "Billy, clean your plate, eat all those carrots, there's children starving in some third world country...... and.......pick up your dirty socks or the dog will eat them....." You get the drift. In addition to just keeping things off the floor and out of reach, you can also provide items that are much more pleasant to chew on. Presumably most dogs would rather be eating liver and cheese or chicken and bacon. There are some pretty neat toys available today that allow you to stuff them with these goodies. My dogs have always preferred HavaBalls and Kongs. You can find them at your pet store or online. You can also buy products designed to repell the dog from forbidden items. Leave out one dirty sock but beforehand spray it with a harmless but awful tasting substance such as Bitter Apple or citrus. When given the choice between eating a yucky tasting sock or a yummy tasting Kong, your dog should opt for the latter, unless he/she's more human than dog. Isn't it amazing what we eat and still survive?? I think there's an entire TV show based on that kinda stuff (smile) and think of the day to day junk we eat. (and i'm not even a health-nut, really, even tho i do yoga) Maybe socks aren't such a bad idea. But you try them first and let the rest of us know....j/k of course. Good luck and oh, btw, dogs also like to munch on healthy crunchy fun to eat stuff like carrots and broccoli. You might give those a try with your dog.
 

Gwen:
It has been a couple of years since you have had a puppy. Havaballs are now sold under the name of "stuff a ball" and are marketed by the Kong Co. They are available in three sizes. I agree they are wonderful toys for pups who you want to keep busy or to divert them while you are doing something else or are leaving for a few hours. It's hard for a pup to get into too much trouble when they have reward type toys to keep them interested. "Talk to Me Treat Balls" are also fun. You can record a short message that will play if you pup moves it around with enough vigor to trigger it and like the "stuff a ball" (havaball) will reward with a treat if rolled properly. I enjoy your blgs and advise even though my mastiff is older and finds his day filled with making certain that the fireplace does not change locations in the house.
 

Gwen,
My six-month-old spaniel just chewed through the phone line that ran along the back of the house. Typically, he is only unsupervised in the backyard for short stretches of time, has oodles of toys/chew things. This time, he was outside with our older dog for about an hour. Should I not leave him in the yard alone at all until he's older?
 

Most dogs are at their worst stage of chewing between 6 and 11 months of age and generally it is really bad around 9 months. So yes, it's not a good idea to leave him unsupervised yet.
 

I'm glad to see that you have owned so many shelter dogs. On that note, I just adopted my first shelter dog 6 months ago. All of my previous dogs had been purebred. The dog, we believe, is a male golden/saluki mix, about 18 months old, and he is neutered. He is extremely sweet, cute, and does very well with our children, but we have had numerous problems with him. He is extremely hyper, he is a destructive chewer, he is so hyper that (accidently we believe - he is not at all aggressive) he harmed another of our dogs almost to the point of death. We now keep those dogs absolutely seperated at all times. He also digs and has helped our smaller dogs escape numerous times with the holes he leaves by the fence, and the newest challenge is that he can now jump over our 6 ft. wooden fence and escape himself. We've tried obedience training and spoken to our vet about medication for his hyper behavior. I'm starting to wonder if we made a mistake, which I hate because I never wanted to be one of "those" dog owners who got in over their head and had to surrender a dog. Is there ever a good reason to surrender a dog? I am agonizing over this.
 

I understand how you agonize over this because i'm agonizing over how to reply to your situation. I would like to think that every problem is solvable with enough time, tools, effort, energy and motive. I'm thinking that if i were to take this project on personally, and i had all day to devote to it and being that this is my profession for over 20 years, not just a hobby, i think i would have great difficulty resolving all his issues to the point where i would trust him and i'm certain it would be very time consuming. I think it's wonderful to have good intentions, but we also have to be realistic and admit when we are in too deep. I'm sure you have some kind of life with obligations to your children and your home and don't have all day to devote to working with him. And I'm also sure that dog training is a skill you have, but it's not your field of expertise.
Even tho he unintentionally and accidentally injured one of your other dogs, i would be afraid that he might accidentally (in his hyperactiveness) injure another person, possibly your children or one of their playmates, especially if he escapes and is running free. I've seen people get sued because their dog caused a car accident as the dog was running into the street. I've seen little old men get knocked down by rambunctious friendly dogs and have be taken away in an ambulance with a broken hip. Maybe i'm paranoid, but i've just seen too many tragedies result from untrained dogs. And in this case it isn't that your fault as you have tried obedience training with him. i think it is basically his energy level and your lifestyle. Dogs end up in shelters for reasons and usually it's because the first, second or third owner could not train or handle them. You should not feel guilty if you take him back. You have other dogs and don't have problems with them, so obviously you know how to raise and train dogs, so it's not a deficiency on your part. If you wanted to take him on as a major project and you could write a book about it when you're done, let me know and we'll go over some things you can start doing, but realize this will take time and resouces. In the mean time, your first action would be to absolutely escape-proof your yard to prevent bigger problems, just as you have the dogs separated to prevent another mishap.
 

Dear gwen,
my eight month old puppy has a destructive behavior and chews through everything please help me before we have to give her away she is a realy cute and nice dog
how do i train her
 

Most dogs go thru their most destructive phase at around 9 months of age.
It's time to increase her activities to vent her energy. Perhaps play sessions with other dogs.
More vigorous walks and runs and playtime.
Also give her some interesting toys that will occupy her and something she can really sink her teeth into. Try treat stuffed Kongs, Stuff-a-Toy, etc.
Use some kind of confinement and prevention when you can't watch or train her. I'm assuming you've read my article on chewing at www.perfectpaws.com/chew.html
 

My 2 cents worth is to read my article about destructive chewing on my website at www.perfectpaws.com/chew.html
 

Hi Gwen,
Thanks for visiting my blog, I hope you enjoy reading all about my little girl!
Well now its another month, another problem. She's pretty much stopped completely the play biting. But now she's taking it out on other things. For a little over a month now, we leave here in the living room during the day. Bryan's office is right off of it, so he can hear her and can constantly check on her. She started taking things off the coffee table, so we fixed that easily by not leaving anything on the coffee table. But now, she digs in the carpet! We live in an apartment, and we're moving out into a house in less than a month. I don't want her to destroy the carpet in 2 weeks! There goes our security deposit! I know that digging is very instinctual, so there's not much we can do to stop it, is there? Is she too young to have that much free roam? Back to the kitchen with her?
 

Some dogs love to dig so you might give Z something a little more fun to dig into besides boring tacked down carpet. I always give my dogs a big blanket or two. I bury dog biscuits between the folds and hide toys underneath. That's alot more fun to dig at and saves the carpet. Give that a try and if she still tries to destroy the carpet, then back to the kitchen she goes...
I love your blog!!
 

Hi! I have a problem...my dog, for some reason has begun taking things off the counter, specifically food. She went through a horrible chewing phase, but then got better. Now, it seems to have started all over again, except with our food. First, it was a hamburger, then a stick of butter, and finally half a piece of steak. BAD news. i need some help because I am not sure what behavioral or physical stimulant would bring this on and what I need to do. uggh. Thank you. Wonderful and very helpful site, btw.
 

With my own dogs i begin by taking everything within reach off the counters and tables, etc.
Once my dog realizes there is never anything edible up there, they stop looking. This part of the training can take days or weeks depending on the dog.
Then i set them up with an unreachable but tempting item and watch as they try to get it.
When that happens, i create such a big commotion and rukus that it scares the dog away. I also make sure they don't associate the consequence with my presence, so i usually hide and watch. Then when the paws hit the counter top, i bang pots and pans or do something equally unnerving. (be sure not to over-traumatise your dog and don't do anything that would physically harm her)
Then the next thing i do is set up a paper towel or something harmless and tempting (all my dogs loved stealing paper so this worked great) on the counter and pre-soaked it with a taste deterrent such as bitter apple.
This has worked everytime with all my dogs and with client's dogs as well. You might have to make some modifications to suit your dog's personality.
And it's never a good idea to tempt them beyond their ability to resist. Dogs are not saints anymore than we are. If i made cookies for a bake sale and left them on the counter, even my husband would "steal" one and he's a pretty decent guy! So we shouldn't expect our dogs to act by human morals and ethics. I never leave steak or anything that tempting out.