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Help with Chewing

743 views 3 replies 3 participants last post by  macher 
#1 ·
Hi all hope everyone is having a nice holiday weekend.

Have some possible issue / question so far with Sheba who's now 4 months old.

1st Sheba is either teething like made or she likes to chew things or gets bored fast. She'll try to chew anything she can get a hold of. We try to re direct her with one of her chew toys and get her away from it. It's been a hard task. Don't know if she is stubborn and wants her own way. When I tell her leave it she knows what it means and she'll get a little angry and do a moaning sound. Sometimes with the moan she'll try to nip. She doesn't like it when we say 'leave it'. We try to keep her occupied with games but it's not easy.

I thought by this time we could give Sheba the kitchen when we are not home but she would tear up the kitchen. Our previous GSD had the run of the kitchen at around 3 months.

This is my 3rd GSD and this one is a lot more hard than the previous 2.

I'll start with this question 1st.

Thanks!
 
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#2 ·
Try giving her more interesting chew toys when redircting her from something. Just like you, she'll want the more fun/interesting choice out of her options of things to do. Currently, it sounds like your socks are more fascinating than some of her toys.

I know people have success with soaking a chew rope in chicken broth & freezing it. The flavor keeps 'em interested (just keep an eye out that they don't actually start eating it).

Some more interesting toys in general may be needed for her. The ones she has just may not be all that interesting to her. Or, she's grown bored of the ones she currently has. Many like to rotate which toys their dog(s) has access to, so the toys seem fresh/new again a week or two later.

She's still a very young & curious puppy, and is a smart breed. New & fun mental stimulation needs to be pretty constant as she is exploring the world. And since she's a pup at a good size now, she needs lots of physical exercise, too. More than just a walk. Walking 3 miles is nothing to a dog. Get her good & tired before you leave her alone by herself. 1-2 good hours of play & running should have her sleeping most of while she's home alone. Otherwise, she'll find ways to pass the time & have fun...and you probably won't like her ideas.

Try not to hold her to a standard based on other dogs you have had. All dogs (even of the same breed) progress with certain things at different rates.
 
#3 ·
Also she is probably teething and her gums are sore and itchy.Another month to six weeks and it's very possible the moaning and chewing will fade away.
 
#4 ·
Thanks Salto we will try new and more interesting chew toys to keep her more occupied.

As far as exercise we either play with her in our yard which is a nice size in ways she can run around. Or we take her to the dog park and let her run around with other dogs she's familiar with. Either it's at least 1-1 1/2 hours. She's usually more pooped out after playing and running around with the other dogs. My wife and I both work so she goes into a crate. My wife is last to leave at around 9:00 am and our older son is home by 12:30 and let's her out etc until I get home at 3:00. She's not in the crate between when my son is home and until I get home. She goes into her crate at bed time.

When I wake up I take her out. I either take her for a walk or we play around for a bit in our yard. At this time I do training with her. Basic stuff. She knows sit, lay down and heel pretty well. Right now teaching her stay and leave it. This is usually done in the house cause of no distractions. Outside she'll get distracted.

Before I leave for work at around 4:30am I put her into her crate. My wife wakes up at 5:15am. She'll have her coffee, take a shower. After she takes a showe she takes Sheba out of the crate. Then gets the kids up and ready. When she leaves at 9 she'll put Sheba into her crate.

Sheba has been putting up a fuss when she goes into her crate lately but calms down and lays down and goes to sleep. The fussing doesn't last long maybe 30 seconds to a minute. Then she's good to go.

The other issue we are having is getting her into the crate. We use a Kong toy filled with peanut butter and lure her in saying 'kennel up'. Sometimes she looks at us and she knows but does some resisting. When she resists I make sure she sees the Kong toy and have her lick it then place it in the back of the crate 'kennel up'. Sometimes she doesn't go in right away. But eventually she does.

We sort of have signals when she's tired and time to go into her kennel. She usually will make her run around our yard the same way. Or she'll lose interest in playing or training treats. Or she'll start wanting to dig holes. These seem to be signs she's tired and ready for a knap and so far we have been right cause although she's been fussing lately she'll always go to sleep.

We would like to get to a point like her other commands where she'll go into her crate without hesitation. She seems to associate the Kong toy peanut butter with her crate like she knows that the Kong peanut butter means it's kennel up time. We did buy her a dog bed.
 
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