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Originally Posted by Mistymillar  Ummm, so Alfie gets free run of the house apart from the bedrooms and bathroom, he always has done ( I don't know that crate training and xpens are as popular here as they are in the states). The only things he has chewed apart from his toys are one each of mine and my husbands shoes and a pair of my slippers that I would find in his bed when we came home from work. He is a year old in a few weeks, he surely won't start chewing the house up now? Would he? |
He likely chewed on your shoes because they smell intensely of you and he probably felt comfortable chewing while you were away. They chew to soothe and occupy themselves - chew in lieu of smoking, surfing the net, gardening, reading books, cleaning house, working or running errands as their lives are usually pretty limited as house dogs. If they are not perfect, look at it from their point of view and sometimes a dog's gotta be a dog.
Chewing shoes doesn't mean your dog will eat carpet or dig holes in fancy pillows but to be sure, confine your dog from your fanciest things or parts of the house until he's older and been trained and inured to his active, challenging life a bit longer. Then he'll come to know that his fun, active time is coming when you get home and he'll quietly relax and rest when you are away, awaiting what he knows is coming. Usually the most destructive dogs are those that live boring, soft, useless lives or those over-pampered or spoiled dogs without boundaries. They get frustrated and stressed when left alone and begin to find something "interesting" or "worthwhile" to do.