not chewing things, scratching things, playing with things, etc that's
in the house is a part of training/house training. i'm not sure why
you think teaching a dog how to behave when indoors is absurd.

I had a friend over for the holidays. She left her snow boots out. I should have put them up when I saw them, but I forgot So Spirit, 9 months, chewed one a bit. My friend said I needed to teach him boundaries, what's off limits.

My take on that is I know what is tempting for him to get into and I should be proactive with making sure things are picked up so he can't get into them.

>>>> How do you teach a young dog that chewing boots
is off limits?<<<<

>>>> Teaching boundaries .... like teaching what's yours is yours and what's mine is mine and you can't cross this boundary. <<<<

>>>> Seems absurd to me, but am I missing something?<<<

 

No, I don't think training a dog to be sensible indoors is absurd. I do that type of training constantly, all day everyday. But I choose my battles ... I don't leave things down when I know the temptation may be too great or when I may not be in 100% supervision mode.

What I do think is absurd is that Spirit, at 9 months, should know that the pair of boots beside the chair is off limits. I always put my boots up, and my shoes in the closet.

I don't have a wild dog -- hah, I'm feeling defensive now He doesn't chew the furniture, he doesn't pull the tablecloth off the table, he doesn't chew my pillows, my home is intact. But he does have his weaknesses -- the garbage can, chewing anything that fits in his mouth and is not attached to something. I put the garbage can where he can't get to it easily, and I keep things picked up.

Am I bad that I specifically have not taught him not to chew a boot?

 

Jo Ellen, I agree with you. I try to pick up anything that will be tempting. Sure, we take away things the puppy can't have. As he gets older, he will learn, this is your toy. This is not your toy. I don't think it is realistic to expect a pup to know he can't chew on the boot.

Spirit sounds like a very good boy. I have a new mix puppy, who sits on top of the trash can, stole a box of candy, DOES pull the table cloth off the table. Want to trade? LOL!

PS Tell your friend she best not be bringing any boots to my house - socks either.

 

How I read it was that you think the idea of teaching a dog everything that is off limits is absurb. Like how could the dog possibly know. And I thought about that and tried to remember how we taught Mac. I think that everything except toys and treats provided by you is off limits. Ya know what I mean? And he should be told "leave it" every time he puts anything in his mouth, unless you've given it to him. I know what you mean about picking your battles and sometimes it gets so tiresome to constantly be watching and trading your shoe for a raw hide But the fastest way is consistency. On the other hand, I do think its annoying when people leave their stuff laying around with a puppy in the house and I hate it when people make comments. But thats because I get super defensive of my dogs too

 

How I read it was that you think the idea of teaching a dog everything that is off limits is absurd

Exactly. If Spirit, at 9 months, understood his "boundaries" perfectly, I wouldn't have any need to crate him when I am not home -- and I wouldn't dream of it, God only knows what I would come home to.

Now, my 12 year old dog knows not to chew my shoes, or anything she's not suppoosed to. I have no idea how I taught her that, but she can have free reign of the house anytime.

I think my friend was just mad about her boot, understandably so -- they were brand new

I don't believe that I have failed in training him basic house manners. I believe I overlooked a temptation too great.

Stevenzachsmom -- socks, not even going there. One missed training opportunity could be fatal, or at least extremely expensive and worrisome. Not worth it, I'm fanatical about socks, not a single apology. Have fun with that new puppy of yours

 

If he's still a destructive chewer, then you need to continue leaving things out of reach. I've had puppies that were completely reliable about not chewing by 3 or 4 months old (Dena! :wub, and others that can be relied on to chew certain things, even as old as 4 years (Halo! :wild. This is what she was up to Christmas morning:

She also likes toilet paper...

And kitchen knives!!!

She doesn't care about shoes, socks or clothing, pens, coins, or the other usual stuff that ends up on the floor, but if it has ever touched food - watch out, lol! She used to have a thing for eyeglasses, and TV remotes too.

If I had a 9 month old puppy in the house I would make it MY responsibility that everything was put up out of reach, especially things that belong to a guest that may not realize that puppies chew. I do think it's unrealistic for your friend to expect him to know his boundaries - training is a process, and it takes time and patience.

Cassidy was our worst chewer, she literally couldn't be left alone for 5 minutes or she'd have destroyed something - she ate one of my orchids while I was at work and my husband was on the phone in the office, she chewed a hole in our blanket and ripped up our quilt, (again, in mere minutes), she even took down the slippers I'd put on the bathroom counter before I got in the shower, and chewed those up before I got out and caught her. She even had a secondary chewing phase that occurred months after she had improved to the point where we didn't have to watch her every single minute, and chewed a quarter sized hole in the edge of my favorite rug. I rolled up the rug, and it spent the next year on top of the bookcase because I wanted to make COMPLETELY sure she wouldn't ruin it further. But even she eventually outgrew the chewing.

With every one of my dogs, I put things up out of reach for the first few months (or a year or more, depending), supervised well, and left out plenty of toys that they could play with or chew on. I've never done anything more than that, except for an occasional verbal correction and a redirect to something more appropriate, to teach them boundaries, but they eventually all figured it out. Well, except for Halo, but she's pretty predictable so it's manageable.

Either your friend has never had a puppy before, or she's had puppies that aren't natural destructive chewers. Keep doing what you're doing, but maybe supervise a little closer and do a bit better about putting things out of reach.

 

Cassidy was our worst chewer, she literally couldn't be left alone for 5 minutes or she'd have destroyed something - she ate one of my orchids while I was at work and my husband was on the phone in the office, she chewed a hole in our blanket and ripped up our quilt, (again, in mere minutes), she even took down the slippers I'd put on the bathroom counter before I got in the shower, and chewed those up before I got out and caught her. She even had a secondary chewing phase that occurred months after she had improved to the point where we didn't have to watch her every single minute, and chewed a quarter sized hole in the edge of my favorite rug. I rolled up the rug, and it spent the next year on top of the bookcase because I wanted to make COMPLETELY sure she wouldn't ruin it further. But even she eventually outgrew the chewing.

Tess is very similar to Cassidy and also our worst chewer to date. The corners of our coffee table are gone, pretty soon it will look like a cutting board. My dear husband literally gave up on trying to stop her and just let her chew away so she wouldn't chew on him... I refuse to get a new one until she grows out of this chewing stage. She literally tore the top part of my UGG boots right off the soles in seconds, her jaws and teeth are that strong, and toilet paper, she ran out a whole roll one day in a matter of seconds with our entire hallway and living room being strung up like a welcome home party in toilet paper. She even jumped up to the dish strainer and grabbed a knife, proceeding to run around the house with it in her mouth. The joys of puppy-hood! We try to be diligent about keeping things up and doors closed, plus I am working on "leave it" with her and she's doing a lot better now, but does have a ways to go.

I do think it's important to try to set boundaries and I am working with Tess on this issue night and day. We love her to death and just can't bring ourselves to ever get mad at her or even stern. I just say no and try to work harder on redirecting the behavior and letting her know what is okay and what isn't. Hopefully that little light will go on soon and we'll be over this hump.

 

Cassidy's Mom -- your pictures and stories made me giggle. Knives? Holy cow! :wild: That picture is priceless, definitely a mixed bag of reactions LOL

I know, I failed my hostess responsibilities. I apologize, but defend my dog profusely

 

Cassidy's Mom -- your pictures and stories made me giggle. Knives? Holy cow! :wild: That picture is priceless, definitely a mixed bag of reactions LOL

Yeah, she's a bad girl! :nono: That was the 3rd and last time she got ahold of a knife. We KNOW food can't be left out (well, my husband has had to learn that lesson the hard way a couple of times, lol) but it never even occurred to me she'd steal a knife.

The first time it happened we were going to an afternoon garden party at my sister's house, and I'd cut up a variety of cheeses and arranged them on a platter with cherry tomatoes and olives. I was going to run to the bathroom before we left, and even though I was only going to be out of the kitchen for a minute, I put the tray in the fridge. Obviously, I left the knife on the counter.

Imagine my surprise when I'd just sat down and Halo casually strolls into the room with my 12" long butcher knife in her mouth - seemingly quite pleased with herself, I might add! :wild: I'd spent SO much time when she was younger working on trading games with her that I guess it didn't occur to her not to bring me the knife she'd just stolen. In my head I'm thinking OMG, OMG, OMG, put I planted a smile on my face and told her what a good girl she was for bringing me a present. I got it from her without incident and vowed to be better about leaving knives out. Fortunately, she was carrying it like in the picture, by the handle and with the blade pointed away.

The second time it happened Tom had cut up some fruit from the farmer's market and left the paring knife on the counter. Neither one of us thought she'd be attracted by fruit the way she was by cheese......until I see her walking towards me with it pointed straight out - she almost poked me in the thigh with it before I grabbed her!

The last time I happened to have my camera laying on the breakfast table, and when I walked into the living room she was laying on the floor with the knife, chewing the handle. As soon as she saw me she got up and started to leave, which is when I quickly grabbed my camera and got off a couple of shots before getting the knife away from her. No harm done to herself, no holes in my nice leather couch, and injuries to humans, cats, or Keefer. This time it was a surprise because it was nearly a year after the last time, and we had gotten more casual with stuff in the kitchen (not food though!) because she'd been good for so long. I guess this was her secondary knife stealing phase, lol! I was glad to get a picture because it's one of those things you have to see to believe. :laugh:

 

I think that as MOST dogs get older it gets better. My oldest dog never grew out of getting in the garbage...if she gets it, then I didn't do my job of putting it away. Some people might not agree, but some dogs can't be trained not to do certain things. If they want to do it, they will find a way. My golden and the GSD were never chewers...every now and then the golden picks up small pieces of paper, drop it works fine. The GSD will pick shoes up and carry them to a different spot, but she doesn't eat them.

 

I agree that expecting a 9 month old to 'know' what is okay to chew on and what is not is expecting too much. At 9 months I couldn't leave Gryffon out unsupervised, but at 12 he was perfect left out loose in the house.

It was just a matter of him maturing, not a matter of me not having done my job as an owner.

 

If you keep at it letting the pup know its wrong. It does get better and they stop doing it. Jonas used to love to grab the bath towels in the bathroom and run like a crazy pup through the house with it. So I put them out of reach, and he no longer is interested in them. You just have to make something else interesting to them. I think you are doing a fine job...You know what your doing.

 

Debbie, Your Halo pictures are awesome. Gotta love a well armed GSD. LOL!

 

Halo is pretty darned awesome - she has certainly been an adventure and is always entertaining! :wub:

 

Cassidy's Mom.....I tried to edit my post to say that our Tess is similar to Halo, but was not allowed to do so, due to the time I took to edit the post. My sincere apologies.

 

No worries - Cassidy was our worst chewer, she was pretty indiscriminate about what she chewed, but she did finally outgrow it after a year and a half or two years. She killed a lot of stuff during that time though! We bought our first indestructible ball, and indestructible bed (Kuranda) for Cassidy - she was a one dog wrecking ball of destruction. Halo just happens to be our most enduring and creative chewer, lol! She's always been more about the challenge, chewing things laying on the floor is just too easy for her, so it's not as fun.

Fortunately, none of our dogs has ever been a furniture chewer, but we also don't leave them loose in the house when we're gone either. My sister has a chair that her cats like to scratch, no matter how many scratching posts she provides. It looks hideous but she's afraid to get rid of it because they might start in on a different piece of furniture instead. She refers to it as the "sacrificial chair", which your story about the coffee table reminds me of - you have your own piece of sacrificial furniture!

 

That picture with the knife is hilarious. Scary but hilarious :laugh:

 

Oh, I had this same issue over the holidays! My kids all came home, and even though we went over the 'rules'... apparently there were too many or something. I had people yelling at Grim for taking their shoes (which were left all over the house) or getting into their stuff (they didn't close the bedroom door) and I had a near fatal FIT when someone left the half door to the basement open! (The stairs are dangerous for humans, and a dog could easily break its neck trying to go down them!) I also couldn't stand them yelling his name every 10 seconds! We're down to just my daughter (who is a bit better about this) until she goes back to college in a few days. Nothing more frustrating than keeping your pup out of things and safe, then having someone in who leaves something out and blames YOU for a pup being a typical pup. Did you offer to pay for her boots?

Those pics of Halo are priceless!!

 

I agree that you can't expect a puppy not to chew tempting things. 9 months old is still very young--I'd liken it to toddler stage with kids. Would you expect a 2-3 year old child to not occasionally grab things he isn't supposed to if he's left unsupervised? I doubt it!

Kids and puppies are still exploring their worlds, and puppies unfortunately do much of it with their teeth. Your friend's boots were new and probably full of interesting smells and textures and that's a lot of temptation for a baby to resist!

I think you have a good attitude. I've had the most success with just giving them plenty of appropriate things to chew on (and encouraging them to/rewarding them for doing so), and waiting for them to grow up. If I catch a dog with something inappropriate, I take it away with a gentle correction and then give them something appropriate to replace it.

And yeah, some dogs will always be problems. One of mine is a trash raider too, and there's really not much to do about it except keep the temptation away. He "knows" not to do it and won't when we're home...but when we're gone so there's no consequence to it and that trash can is just full of tempting smells, he'll get into it. Dogs are creatures of impulse to a large degree, and getting into tempting things when people aren't around will always be more rewarding to some. That's the wonderful thing about crate training.