Our Boxer is 13 months now and she is a great dog, but she has a bad habit of chewing anything. If I put her in her dog run, she chews the wodden fence rails. If we buy her a bed for her kennel, she chews it right away and eats the stuffing, which costs us money at the vet because she gets sick from it. My fiance is to the point that she wants to get rid of her but I can't do that. So far we have had her in the vet three times from bad diahrea from eating stuffing from various things. I work nights and I let her stay in the room with me while I'm sleeping during the day. She does great for the most part, but today I woke up and she was chewing on the comforter. I lost it, because I knew if Lisa found out, it would be the last straw. I swatted her and then put her in her Kennel. She woke me up at 1pm and I let her out to do her business for awhile. I needed a little more sleep and I felt bad for her being in her kennel so I gave it another try and let her stay in my room, because I knew I would be up in an hour. I wake up and shes chewing the comforter again and this time there is ahole in it. I need help! I never want to get rid of my dog but if I can't break her of this it will put a strain on both me and my fiance. She is already mad at her all the time. Evertime she gets over it and relaxes, Jayden (my Boxer) chews something else up! Any ideas or good references?

 

Dissolve cayenne pepper in water and put it in a squirt bottle. Spray everything the dog chews that you don't want it to.

Justin

 

Ive tried that,and some of that bitter apple stuff they sell. My dog licks the stuff! some dogs ya just cant break the habbit

 

We bought the bitter apple stuff and it just smells like alcohol. If she were specific about what she chews it would be easy, but she is very random. We can't spray the whole house.
I found some tips online. First thing is that I need to exsercise her more. I'm going to start walking her in the morning and let her run for a while (no matter how tired I am), and I'm going to buy her plenty of good durable chew toys. When she was chewing the comforter, her chew toy was laying right beside her. They say they can become bored of their toys if you don't switch them up every week or so.
I'm going to look into changing her diet. She may not be getting enough of the nutrition that she needs.
I hate to do it, but I'm going to start keeping her in her kennel when I'm sleeping during the day to keep her away from temptation. At least for a while, until I think she is getting better.
Wish me luck. I'd be crushed if I have to give her away. She really is a great dog.

 

We've got three dogs (one's a pup), and have never had a chewing problem. I think it's because we put all the dog toys in a big tupperware container. At the end of the day I go around the house, pick up toys, and put them back. Doesn't take them long to figure out the tote is "their stuff," and they generally leave ours alone. They also have short memories, so every trip to the toy tote is like Christmas all over again. Sounds stoopid, but it's worked for over 20 years. Other suggestions: get a soup bone at the market- that's worth hours of entertainment. It really sounds like the dog could be bored.

 

A dog that age should be past the "cutting in of teeth stage", and shouldnt be chewing evrthing in sight like a pup will. As a very last chance for her, I would take her for a checkup and x-ray for her teeth. She could have some impacted or problem teeth that is paining her. If she if fact does have dental problems , and you give her to a pound or someone else, she may just end up in a home where the owner will beat her down all the time to stop the chewing. That would just not be right, she would be better off put down. good luck with her. jmo

 

Your dog is sooooo bored. She is not getting attention and needs her chew toys. We start our pups in a cage not kennel. That cage is a safe place they call home and is easier to potty train them because they will not soil thier home.

You need to supervise her more and do more things with the dog. When you sleep she will understand. Raw hides work and when she does well reward her. Maybe she needs a new owner that understands ( not trying to be smart here ) but because the dog deserves a change in your training. Dogs will test you every given minute of the day and you have to show her who the Alpha is in the home.

You chose a high energy breed of dog.
Go to WWW.SitStay.com at the bottom you will see discussion board, look up your breed and maybe lurk or join in...Help can be found.

Best of Luck to you and your dog....Friend for life

 

With regards to the chewing problem, i'm sure that you give er' the typical "no, no, no" and swat on the nose when she is bad. This broke my guy of the habit pretty quick, but all dogs are different.... I do know that some plain yogert will clear up a case of the runs for dogs real quick. My aunt is a vet and she told me this years ago, has worked the couple of times i've had to use it. Hope this helps.

 

GotLift
YOUR PUPPY IS LOOKING FOR A DIET CHANGE. WHAT ARE YOU FEEDING YOUR BOXER.
DOGS ARE NOT DESIGNED TO EAT PROCESSED FOODS, THEY WEREN'T INVENTED UNTIL THE 1930'S. WHAT DO YOU THINK THEY ATE PRIOR TILLTHEN? I switched all my dogs ( 3 Great Pyrenees and a Lab) to raw foods and all their medical problems went away. NO bad breath. They don't tear anything up.

Buy the book Give Your Dog a Bone by Dr Ian Billinghurst. IT will be the best money you have ever spent on your dog.

You can also find about the raw diet online by doing a search of feeding dogs raw.
Good luck,
Hope you change your boxer's diet and get to keep your dog.

Becky

 

5_labsownus: 3 Great Pyr's and a Lab? Wow, I bet you could sell ticket to family outings at your place. I love Great Pyr's.

edit: now if I could just get the pup through the "digging" phase.

 

Dogs less than about 2 years old will chew just about anything. Some never quit but will slow down.

I have never been able to stop ours with any sprays etc. They just find something else to chew.

Our weiner hound chews and eats anything. Once he at that silver tinsel from the XMAS tree. Next day when he went potty there was a poop stuck on the tinsel which was still uh stuck. So this silvery tinsel and poop chased him all around the yard. Yah gotta take your humor wherever you get it when the dog chews everything.

Maybe habanero chili mixed into a spray would work?

Jim Henderson

 

One word, Electricity. Just electrify something that the dog chews, and she won't chew it after that.

To be serious now, what we did with our was constantly give him some flavored rawhide bones. For a while he had dozens scattered in misc locations in the house, but now if we give him a rawhide bone each night prior to going to bed, nothing gets chew up in the house. If we forget, we are buying my kid a new pair of shoes or mitts.

 

Oh yeah, We've had a few of those episodes.

I'm not getting rid of her. I talked with Lisa this morning and she knows that I will not get rid of Jayden. I have to get her through this and I'm going to do everything I can. I'm going to Pet Smart this afternoon to get her loads of chew toys. I took her out and ran her for a good hour today. She was excited. She couldn't get enough fetch. She's been sleeping like a log for the past hour and a half. I'm going to take her every morning as long as the arroyo isn't soaked.
One good thing: When she was younger, she stepped on an electrical cord that had tape on it. It stuck to her foot and when she took off she thought it had her and was chasing her. So now she is terrified of cords so I never have to worry about her chewing those.

 

PolarBear, If it is a Pyr it never stops digging. We did SAR with and Labs and they all aged out and so did we. We rescued a Pyr and loved it and after it passes we ended up with 3 and love them. We bread our Female and Ch male and welp litters for a big show breader.
At this time I have a 175# 22 month male in the floor sleeping!

 

GotLift - I am a veterinarian and help people deal with this all the time. Don't be afraid of using that kennel, I assume you are talking about a small one, more like a crate. Crate training is a very useful tool in raising a well behaved dog. Dogs can only be taught when they are supervised, Think of a crate as not setting them up to fail when they can't be supervised. When they learn solidly, and it will take months, you can slowly introduce new trust and tests. My dog used to chew up remote controls, important papers, etc. I used a combination of things mentioned previously (exercise, toys, etc) but made sure I didn't set him up to fail by leaving him free to roam when I couldn't monitor him.