I'm no dog expert, but I have had canine companions all my life.
It sounds like you are trying all the "first-line" things you're supposed to, and they're not working. My best recommendation is that you get with a (good) dog trainer. They know how to work on things like chewing and barking.
Antlers might be a good thing for him. They tend to last a lot longer than other things from what I hear (I don't know firsthand as my dog had NO interest in them, but she's not a chewy sort).
Besides that, is he crate-trained? I might consider investing in a crate and some training to make it a good place for him to go so when you can't keep an eye on him, he'll be someplace that both he AND your table will be safe.
He is crate trained and he likes his crate, but I feel awfully bad having him in it for such long periods of time (I have health issues so I sleep odd hours, usually 3am to noon-ish) and he doesn't really like being confined to it for that long either. He does great in it at night, but in the morning he likes to be able to move around and play (which previously did not include this chewing). We have a baby gate as well, but it causes him to really whine (which I completely ignore, yet he still does it allllll morning)
Chewing is also a huge symptom of boredom. He is mixed with two pretty darn high energy breeds - how much running and exercise does he get daily? If its anything less than a couple hours, no amount of chew friendly toys will help that issue.
I second antlers if he is indeed getting lots of exercise, no weird ingredients to upset his stomach and they tend to last awhile. You can also use ex-pens to create a larger space than just his crate to hang out in when you can't be watching him to redirect.
We give him as much exercise as we can, but unfortunately I just can't run that much and he doesn't seem to be at all interested in any games (like fetch, tug of war, anything). We try and get him to fetch, play with toys with us, keep away, whatever, and he just sits there and looks at us. If we sit on the ground to play with him he just comes and lies down in our laps, which is sweet but not helpful! haha. We're working on trying to teach him how to play games, but he doesn't have much that motivates him (other than food, which just distracts him). Any suggestions on how to go about teaching him some play so that we can give him more exercise?
The first thing that stood out to me was that he's part aussie & part corgi. I have a corgi, and well he's pretty mellow as far as corgi's go if he's had it with inactivity he'll let you know. Like yesterday for example, I had just gotten off work on my knee was killing. I was home for fifteen minutes and my boyfriend hadn't walked him or the other dog. The two of them maxxed out my patience for their growly, bitefacey fighting and running around game they do. So we went for a twenty minute walk (which is only two miles for them) & then we did fifteen minutes of training. Reading your replies I know you have some health issues, but I feel that even fifteen minutes of training is good. Teach him something fun to do --- or work with shaping or something. I'm awful at giving those suggestions. Right now we're shaping box behaviors and go to your bed
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Oh I definitely do training with him every day - right now we're working on stay, which he's picking up better than I thought he would (he's smart, but he's really excitable so treats = freakout/distraction, haha), its just the outdoor exercise time/running (which he loves) that I don't get to do as much as I would like to. We're trying to teach him fun things to do like fetch or keep away or something, but he can't seem to pick that up for some reason.
I'm worried that if he roams at night, he'll be chewing then, you know?
Thanks for the advice/info, I'll try and figure out how to get through to him on learning games and definitely will keep up with daily training sessions.
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Comments (9)
phillipalden
It sounds like you are trying all the "first-line" things you're supposed to, and they're not working. My best recommendation is that you get with a (good) dog trainer. They know how to work on things like chewing and barking.
Good Luck!
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plain_mornings
Reply
crysania4
Besides that, is he crate-trained? I might consider investing in a crate and some training to make it a good place for him to go so when you can't keep an eye on him, he'll be someplace that both he AND your table will be safe.
Reply
plain_mornings
He is crate trained and he likes his crate, but I feel awfully bad having him in it for such long periods of time (I have health issues so I sleep odd hours, usually 3am to noon-ish) and he doesn't really like being confined to it for that long either. He does great in it at night, but in the morning he likes to be able to move around and play (which previously did not include this chewing). We have a baby gate as well, but it causes him to really whine (which I completely ignore, yet he still does it allllll morning)
Reply
recreatexme
I second antlers if he is indeed getting lots of exercise, no weird ingredients to upset his stomach and they tend to last awhile. You can also use ex-pens to create a larger space than just his crate to hang out in when you can't be watching him to redirect.
Reply
plain_mornings
Reply
boxcar_diaries
Reply
plain_mornings
I'm worried that if he roams at night, he'll be chewing then, you know?
Thanks for the advice/info, I'll try and figure out how to get through to him on learning games and definitely will keep up with daily training sessions.
Reply
boxcar_diaries
Reply
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