Wood chewing

[puppy4ever]

Just wondering if anyone has any suggestions for a replacement for wood chewing? Sounds silly but this is what my puppy loves to chew on...baseboards, chair legs, door frames are all irresistable to him. We have lots of toys for him (giving him a max. of 3 each time) but he is always drawn to the wood! Is it maybe more enjoyable because it's harder than his ropes or chews?

[dmc123]

I wish I had an answer, I can only offer this....I went through that with my boy Rudy, 9 yrs ago. My house is full of chewed up chair legs, bathroom vanity, and my grandmother's buffet, all at a 9 week old puppy height. Fortunately, he outgrew that.

Best of luck, will keep watch here to see if anyone offers good suggestions.

Diane

[Dog Dancer]

I know not everyone has success with this, but we used tobasco sauce. We let the dog smell it then put a tiny dab on her tongue (first put it on our finger then on her tongue off our finger so the bottle didn't spill in her mouth). Then we put the sauce on the item she was chewing - chair legs, tree trunks, etc. She connected the smell to the taste and wouldn't go near it anymore. Now some dogs develop a taste for tobasco sauce so it doesn't always work, but it did for us. Just an idea - if you don't mind sauce on your door frames (we did that too...) Good luck! Have you tried the hard nylabones? We bought one called Galileo - very large and hard and Halo loves it. About $30 but the first one lasted 4 years.

[PetFriendly]

My guy did that too, chewed wood that is. There are a few corners of baseboards missing here and there. What we did to stop him was find toys that more closely resembled the texture of wood. I was lucky and found that sticks from my parents' back yard were close enough for him, if he was even looking at a table to baseboard, I'd show him a stick (I had a whole binch of them up on a shelf) and he'd loose interest in the table or what ever.

The sticks I used were fairly green and had all their bark. They had nver been treated with any sort of pesticide and were at least 1" in diameter. Charley seems to prefer ones that have spent some time on the ground and in the rain.

Good luck!

[puppy4ever]

Thanks! I've tried the hot sauce - it worked at first but now I think Louie is immune to it. He has a nylabone but prefers the the fine taste of wood.

I will try the sticks. He loves sticks outside. How about a big chunk of wood? The other night my mom gave him this wand thing that was made of wood (we thought it was made of plastic). He chewed it up and I would say it was a solution however there was paint on it. This is probably bad right? Can he get slivers from it?

[PetFriendly]

I would have to agree that paint is bad (plus the stuff you don't want him chewing is likely painted or stained so he might get the wrong idea), and yes, I would think they can get slivers from sticks but less so than they would get from a bigger piece of firewood (I'm guessing here just so you know). Maybe some sort of rawhide (bone, wrap, chew, etc) would do it? The stick thing with Charley was only during his major teething, he'll still pick them up but won't go to town with them any more.

[puppy4ever]

Originally Posted by PetFriendly

I would have to agree that paint is bad (plus the stuff you don't want him chewing is likely painted or stained so he might get the wrong idea), and yes, I would think they can get slivers from sticks but less so than they would get from a bigger piece of firewood (I'm guessing here just so you know). Maybe some sort of rawhide (bone, wrap, chew, etc) would do it? The stick thing with Charley was only during his major teething, he'll still pick them up but won't go to town with them any more.

Thanks! I will try some sticks. I agree, I think they sound less dangerous in terms of slivers and you mentioned that you used greener ones. My puppy has lost interest in rawhide for some strange reason. Good point about getting the wrong idea about paint!

[StaceyB]

When Montana was a young puppy and tried to chew on any wood furniture we would spray the area every time he went for something like my wood chest that my dad had built. It would take a few times and then he would no longer try to chew it. Bitter apple, Bitters end work well but the area needs to be wet, once it dries it no longer works. Each of these products has completely different ingredients so if one doesn't work the other might.

Home remedy: Anything used that is completely consumable usually doesn't work.
You can try a mixture of 2 parts lemon juice, 2 part rubbing alcohol, couple drops of tobasco. Mix together and put it in a spray bottle. Lightly spray objects your puppy tries to chew.

Many emergency surgeries are from dogs ingesting rawhide. It is great for chewing but should not be eaten. Peroxide is used in the processing of it. Find a sterilized bone. They rarely break, they can be washed in dishwasher, and you can stuff the insides with many of the same things used for kongs.

[puppy4ever]

Originally Posted by StaceyB

When Montana was a young puppy and tried to chew on any wood furniture we would spray the area every time he went for something like my wood chest that my dad had built. It would take a few times and then he would no longer try to chew it. Bitter apple, Bitters end work well but the area needs to be wet, once it dries it no longer works. Each of these products has completely different ingredients so if one doesn't work the other might.

Home remedy: Anything used that is completely consumable usually doesn't work.
You can try a mixture of 2 parts lemon juice, 2 part rubbing alcohol, couple drops of tobasco. Mix together and put it in a spray bottle. Lightly spray objects your puppy tries to chew.

Many emergency surgeries are from dogs ingesting rawhide. It is great for chewing but should not be eaten. Peroxide is used in the processing of it. Find a sterilized bone. They rarely break, they can be washed in dishwasher, and you can stuff the insides with many of the same things used for kongs.

Great recipe Stacey - thanks! Good to hear that you were able to save that chest!

I didn't know that rawhide was bad to ingest! I thought that was the purpose of it. I noticed that my puppy no longer likes the 100% rawhide bones but gobbles up dental chews. Are these okay? http://www.petsmart.com/global/product_detail.jsp?PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=84552444177 9951&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=282574488339095