[jocaribbean]

So Bruno is now 9 Months old and he is been doing great with training, especially potty training. He can hold it for about the 8-9 hours we are away with no problem and for so we decided to let him be alone at his will. The problem with that is that for about 2-3 weeks now he started eating all our decor that is made of wood.

For some reason, hes is after the picture frames, little wood boxes, aminal figures etc that are made out of wood. Its not like he doesnt have tons of toys to chew on, and plus he has tennis blls, socce balls, ducks, alligators, empty bottles of water and you name it...but the damn pooch loves our wood decor!!! !^%[email protected]&^%$#

Do you think it may be a deficiency in his diet? I feed him Blue Bufalo (plenty of food by the way) and he has at least one hour of dog park EVERY day and dog beach on weekends. Already dewormed him so thats out of the list. Any suggestions?

Thanks

 

[CatherineM]

What they eat has always been a puzzle to me. Had one eat a gallon of wallpaper paste once. Sure made him constipated.

 

[roscolaylamommy]

It sounds to me as if it's separation anxiety rearing it's ugly head. Some dogs when left alone will "act-out" by chewing up things. My cousin had a lab that would eat entire books and loaves of bread if she was allowed to roam free when no one was home. For his safety (and your sanity), I wouldn't leave him unattended until you resolve his issues.

 

[mhvonalmen8908]

Dogs will eat some weird stuff for sure. I would also keep him confined when you aren't there to directly supervise. That's what we do with ours. It saves our house and sanity. Plus we're renting and we can't afford to replace dry wall and baseboards. Good luck with the wood chewing though!

 

[Basset Momma]

Once when Jake was little he chewed a hole through the wall outside my bedroom... I was taking a bath and he did not like being on the wrong side of the door Sadly we had just built the house so it was my brand new wall... Jake is now 7 and still sleeps by the tub when I bathe

I have to crate our 10 month old when we are out or pen to the kitchen area (tiled) as he likes to find mischief as well.

 

[jocaribbean]

It sounds to me as if it's separation anxiety rearing it's ugly head. Some dogs when left alone will "act-out" by chewing up things.

My concern is not about separation anxeity, because obiously -since he is a needy hound- he suffers of that but rather the preference for chewing wooden object. He has bones, bottles, stuffed animals, etc...but instead he goes for the wood.

I'm definitely confining him to the balcony (once they fix the hole on the wooden floor). Would it be ok for him to have a wood toy to chew on? I never had this problem with my previous basset so that's why i'm so confused on what he wants.

 

[LY909]

My Porter likes to eat wood, but it is in the form of sticks from outside. He likes to find the right sized ones and gnaw on it for a while. Maybe you can see if he'll eat a stick?

 

[jocaribbean]

It sounds to me as if it's separation anxiety rearing it's ugly head. Some dogs when left alone will "act-out" by chewing up things. My cousin had a lab that would eat entire books and loaves of bread if she was allowed to roam free when no one was home. For his safety (and your sanity), I wouldn't leave him unattended until you resolve his issues.

I agree. I'm definitely going to limit his dwelling to the balcony. He will survive alone, if i pay atention to everytime he has anxiety i would go crazy. He whines even when sleeping so go figure

 

[jocaribbean]

My Porter likes to eat wood, but it is in the form of sticks from outside. He likes to find the right sized ones and gnaw on it for a while. Maybe you can see if he'll eat a stick?

Yep, that's a good idea. I need to find the right type of wood. He eats all sticks at the park but then he purges. Maybe he is bulimic

 

[Lightning&Stomps]

Unless you want to spend a few days and a few thousand dollars at your vet's, I wouldn't recommend you give him any kind of wood to chew on. Being with a basset (or most any other breed) isn't enough: When you're home with him, teach him tricks to stimulate his brain. Make sure he gets plenty of exercise. He's hungy for stimulation, not wood.

 

[Esther]

i like paper.
it's just experienced wood, right?

 

[Mikey T]

IMHO dogs develop a substance tactile feel preference durring the teething stage as to what feels best to chew on and this hold true basically for life. At 9 months he is smack in the middle of the second chewing phase. Keep in mind the vast majority of dog do out grow it. I know it is contrairy to a lot of the advice, but I find it rather useless to try an counter chewing on inappropriate objects with a more appropriate object unless they are of a similar tactile feel. I understand the concept of don't give a dog and old shoe to chew on if you don't want them to chew on your new shoes, But at the same time if the dog perfers wood to chew on giving them a hard plastic toy is not going to work as well. You need chew toys that are either made of wood or have a similar texure and mouth feel as wood.

The problem with that is that for about 2-3 weeks now he started eating all our decor that is made of wood.

Does this happen only when you are gone or all the time? If only when you are gone it could be Seperation Anxiety at the root cause and until it is succesfully dealt with the distructive behavior is likely to get worse.

He will survive alone

Not necessarily. There are thousand of incidents each year in which dogs do serious harm to themselves because of seperation anxiety. It is not something that gets better by itself. There are many cases where restricted confinement makes matter worse, much worse, each dog and case is individual in nature and solution must be taylored to the individual.

I don't know if the dog is suffering from seperation anxiety. If the distructive behavior is only occuring when you are gone it is likely. If not then just the second chewing phase rearing it ugly head. practicing good management and substitution techniques does wonders but in the end most dogs simply out grow it,

dog won't stop chewing

Did you know that dogs actually go through TWO teething phases? The first one is between 4 and 7 months, depending on the breed. The second one occurs at around 10 months of age, as the rear molars come in. In some dogs, this phase is hardly noticed, but in others (like your dog), it can be just as bad or worse than the initial teething phase!

IMHO given the size of basset molars often the second phase is worse than the first.

 

[bubbad]

He is also bored out of his gourd. The chewing is also part of his still being a puppy. Get him a crate of confine him to where there is no wood.

 

[Wworm]

Yeah, Worm likes wood, too. and cardboard. once i was taking a nap and he was next to the windowsill chewing on chew toy. when i woke up, he had chewed, eaten, and put his puppy teeth marks on the wood of the windowsill. yikes. we might have to pay for that when we move out of this apt. he has munched on a few table legs, too, tho not ruined them.

Worm eats sticks all the time-- tho i am trying to get him to stop with the "drop it" command.

i don't know what to say, except we tell him not to chew the wood or cardboard, and he'll stop. he knows he's not supposed to. he probably would still prefer them.

YIKES! there's a 2nd teething stage next month????

ha ha... yeah, maybe your dog is bulimic. my last dog was-- he would chew grass like a cow and then throw it up afterwards. usually did that when tummy was upset.

 

[roscolaylamommy]

Worm - I've found that wood putty and drywall spakle can work wonders with puppy holes. I once repaired a hole in a hollow filled door with that stuff. All you need to do is repaint after it's dry.

 

[jocaribbean]

Second Theeting!!!? Interesting eh? I have found that giving a piece of ice (not too big so his stomach doesn't freeze) calms him down amazingly.

In the mean time i have to go down to the apple store to get new wireless headphones

 

[Boomer's Mom]

I caught Boomer trying to eat the base of my glider rocker this evening. I was doing some secretarial work for hubby, and I guess he didn't like that I was ignoring him.

 

[Wworm]

Worm - I've found that wood putty and drywall spakle can work wonders with puppy holes. I once repaired a hole in a hollow filled door with that stuff. All you need to do is repaint after it's dry.

Thanks for the tip! (we are tempted to hire you and fly you in for the job... hee hee ... oh and rosco, layla, and breezy too of course!... Worm says he would LUV to meet them!)

and Boomer's mom-- YES! Worm is same and will do bad things when i am ignoring him too much...

 

[Salsacookies]

I went through this with button. She decided that the baseboards in our house would be a good chew toy. So, I went down to walmart and got some of the bitter cherry spray and sprayed it on the baseboards that she had been chewing on and anything else that she had shown interest in. It seems to be working. Too bad I can't spray it on all of my daughter's toys. lol

 

[SophieB]

Personally I think Bruno is bored out of his mind with spending so much time home alone!