Bentley chewed a hole in my carpet!

[McheleM]

Custom faux finish on the bathroom cabinets?? Not anymore, unless you count teeth marks as custom.

Nice blue rocking chair in the dining room? Nice big hole in the corner.

Lovely red paint in the kitchen??? Nice white hole where the sheet rocks gone.

Teeth marks on the window sill? Adds character.

The list goes on!

[mygirllacey]

I have two lovely holes in my carpet thanks to Miss Lacey. One is 4 inches square and looks terrible. I cut off a piece of self stick carpet tile and placed over the holes. Looks bad, but better than the hole. I then sprayed that area with Green Apple spray. That worked for about two months and then this past Sunday I heard her little growl. Found her tugging on the piece of self stick carpet with all her might. Persistant little thing. The adjustments I've had to make include no bath mats on the floor as she loves tearing them up, no toilet paper in the holder as that is just too much fun, and never, ever leave any type of paper where she can get to it. No need for a paper shreader at my house. Lacey is more than happy to assist.

[jeane]

morgan chewed up the cord of my new Lamp when he first came home// thank god it was not plugged in

[BlueBelle]

Wow, I really appreciate my Sophie a bit more!! She has never been a chewer. However, one time she found a Hershey's Kisses empty wrapper in my daughter's purse and that tin foil was sooo tasty. Now everytime my daughter visits she keeps trying to stick her nose into her purse. Nobody elses just the one that paid off that one time!

[Bentleysmom1985]

I feel a little better now that I know I am not alone :-/. I put a blanket on top of the hole until I can get a rug ... Or fix it ... I dont even know what to do with it. I can't even look at it.

He has never tried to chew anything other than his toys. No digging either. He has never show any interest on carpet or walls. But I have to watch him now. I guess he started teething. I am going to get him more chew toys today Grrr

[Bentleysmom1985]

Here's his masterpiece:

[gemy]

Can you hold off on that renovating? We silly enough doggey parents had decided to renovate our living room dining room.

Then we got Razzle. We now have corners chewed off of all the molding (accent new molding), we have to figure out how to fix permanently the front window ledge that bears his scratches, He got the corner of the new hardwood stair first step! I had to replace 2 panels from my new living room blinds. He ruined the legs of a just re-finished wooden chair (his early peeing "accidents".

So I have learnt my lesson. Xpens when I can't be 100% on top of puppy ways.

And no more renovating until a new puppy goes up. Or at least finishes teething!

[Gillykat]

Back in the 1990's my dog hated being left on her own and I popped out to the shops for 30 minutes and came back to the bed sheets stripped off the bed and a HOLE chewed in the mattress I stitched a piece of fabric over the hole and turned the mattress over and reminded myself NOT to leave Tara with unlimited access to the whole of the house

Another time I hadn't taken into account how big she was growing and left her in the kitchen whilst I popped out. Came back to THE mother of all messes!!!!!! She had pulled all the dirty clothes out of the washing basket and scratched them up into a bed to lie on (on top of her own bed), managed to tip over her full water bowl, pulled a full bag of sugar off the top of my small fridge AND pulled three plant pots off the kitchen windowsill so there was chewed up geraniums, compost AND plastic pots to add to the mix I just took one look at the mess and thought ''Let's go for a walk babes'' and took her out When we got back she went to sleep in the living room whilst I rolled up my sleeves and attempted to clear up the disaster zone Even after a few washes the kitchen lino STILL felt slightly tacky for a few days afterwards! Sugar + water + compost = DISASTER!!!!!! I didn't scold Tara as I didn't actually catch her DOING it and, more importantly, I had been silly enough to leave things in her reach

Funnily enough it taught me to scan a room before I leave it and even now I'll go mad at Neil if he leaves ANYTHING even remotely attractive to puppy teeth (or cat teeth!) on the floor....and we don't have her yet!!! Can you imagine what I'll be like once we actually get our puppy!!!!

[mygirllacey]

Originally Posted by Bentleysmom1985

Here's his masterpiece:

I can identify with that picture. Lacey's masterpiece looked just like that and the same location, right at the door seal. I cut the nylon strings away and it helped it look a little better. I would still spray that area with Bitter Apple Spray to discourage him from trying to pull anymore up. It might work.

[Bentleysmom1985]

Originally Posted by mygirllacey

I can identify with that picture. Lacey's masterpiece looked just like that. I cut the nylon strings away and it helped it look a little better. I would still spray that area with Bitter Apple Spray to discourage her from trying to pull anymore up. It might work.

Where can I get the bitter apple spray?

[mygirllacey]

Originally Posted by Bentleysmom1985

Where can I get the bitter apple spray?

I found it at Petco. I've also ordered it from Amazon.

[yorkietalkjilly]

Just a couple of thoughts on OP. Unless your dog is mature and has lived around you a long while, to him the carpet is just like grass, a chewie or a twig in the back yard. And chewing/digging something to do to play and keep busy during the day or night anytime he's bored to tears or frustrated that his pack leader is gone and he's so lonely. Perhaps you could confine him away from areas and things he can destroy for the time being and train him not to stress or grow frustrated from separation anxiety, keep his life challenging, very well-exercised and be sure he's involved in a good training program of short sessions a few times a day totaling about 15 mins. a day. You'll be surprised how little, if anything, a very well-trained dog will destroy once his expectations and impulse control are modified by a good life-enrichment, behavior modification program. Once he's had about 9 mos. to a year of this type program carried out properly, he can be trusted out and about in the house.

[Maximo]

Originally Posted by Bentleysmom1985

Here's his masterpiece:

How about a little sign that says, "Bentley was Here"?

You could install a door jam piece of wood to cover the spot (I don't recall what the proper name is). It would look natural since there is a division of two different floorings at the door.

[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?

[yorkietalkjilly]

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.