Wood Chewing Monster

[giselakim]

My Tessa is 7 .5 months old - she is gets plenty of exercise, training sessions, mental stimulation, chew toys and is a wonderful and smart loving girl but with one issue that I have never run across before in such excessiveness. I have raised Doberman pups and they all have chewed but Tessa is over the top. She chews wood as if she were a beaver, trees, wood trim, chairs, fences - you name it and if it is wood, she chews it - nothing is safe from her jaws. She is not allowed soft bedding as sadly she has to sleep in a bare crate. She is never left unsupervised but all it takes is for me to turn my back for a moment and she is at it with a vengeance. Screens, stainless steel and hard plastic is her second choice. No spray or nasty stuff deters her nor age appropriate corrections - I give her plenty of healthy chew items but it is not enough for her. I fear for her safety and hope she outgrows it but I am wondering if any of you have run into this before and if so, what you did about it. Her teeth are in and her mouth has been examined by the vet, she is in excellent health and otherwise is the best girl ever but this is driving me crazy trying to control her chewing of wood.

 

[Doberman Gang]

I would put her up in her crate for some down time periodically during the day. Especially right after eating and right after training. Also redirect to toys she is allowed to chew on after correcting for chewing things she isn’t.

 

[Clary]

My jager chews alot I have found large nyler bones and reindeer horns really helped and with reward based training he now goes and gets his chew TOYS when he wan5s to chew. Saying that jager is 16months now best of luck x

 

[Kaiser2016]

This would typically be the destructive behavior of a bored Doberman, but it looks like you are doing everything right with the mental and physical stimulation, the vet checked her mouth too, so what else can it be?

Kaiser likes wood but he's not obsessive about it. However any time he has shown inappropriate chewing it has been redirected. He used to carry around a small piece like this, but when he showed stronger interest in this bigger piece including gnawing on it, I took the picture because it was funny and then took the piece away never permitting interest in it again.


I wonder if you can redirect to this item? It's a Gorrilla Chew (wood based) and I have a thread on here with more info.


If she has found wood chewing to be a soothing activity, it will be a hard one to break, but she's young enough. Kaiser suckles a blanket which I believe is his self soothing technique.

 

[My2Girls]

Shadow went through a wood chewing phase. She knew it was wrong and got corrected and redirect all the time. I used to put hot sauce on all the areas she chewed on ... door trim, wooden blinds, decorative column in my dining room, corner of a wall.. yup not the look I was going for but all the other apple bitter type sprays didn’t work. Most of her wood work was done while I was out of the house. Now at 2 yrs old she has grown out of it.

 

[Clary]

Exactly i think its a phase but I would just say I won't let Jager chase or chew sticks. Also he destroyed a whole sofa in 5 hours one time I'll see if I can find a photo

 

[Kaiser2016]

I used to put hot sauce

What did that do to the poop?!

 

[My2Girls]

She never really ate it afterwards. I think she licked it once while I was applying it and from then on she just avoided those areas. The challenge was she would find new areas to chew on.

 

[Gelcoater]

Shadow went through a wood chewing phase. She knew it was wrong and got corrected and redirect all the time. I used to put hot sauce on all the areas she chewed on ... door trim, wooden blinds, decorative column in my dining room, corner of a wall.. yup not the look I was going for but all the other apple bitter type sprays didn’t work. Most of her wood work was done while I was out of the house. Now at 2 yrs old she has grown out of it.

It’s good it worked for you, but the OP should be advised not all dogs hate hot sauce or spicy stuff.
I remember FredC, DCF creator, telling me his boy Mars would regularly pluck jalapeños right off the plant and eat them.