Help

[Razzi]

It has been a while since I have been on. Life just got really hectic around here.

Anyway, we are having on issue with the dog we rescued last year. When we leave him home alone he chews on our clothes, well mainly mine. How can we correct a problem that is never done in front of us or while we're home? I have been told by family to crate him. I really don't wanna crate him cause of his past. Is this the only way to deal with it? Also, is the a reason why just my clothes?

Thanks for the help!
Raz

[Ambieruns10]

I would also suggest crating. When done properly, it makes the dog feel more secure and helps with destruction problems.

What happend in his past that makes you not want to crate him?

If you do decide to crate make sure that you make the crate something pleasant and not fearful. A crate should be a "safe place" for your dog, never use it as punishment.


http://www.inch.com/~dogs/cratetraining.html Great info on how to crate train.

[corgimom]

If you don't want to crate him, could you confine him to one room, where there are no clothes for him to chew on?

I'm guessing you don't want to crate him because his previous owner kept him crated 24/7?

[Razzi]

Quote: Originally Posted by corgimom If you don't want to crate him, could you confine him to one room, where there are no clothes for him to chew on? I'm guessing you don't want to crate him because his previous owner kept him crated 24/7?

Yes, previous SIX owners crated him like that. I resuced him from a groomer. I came into her shop for other reasons to see his cute sad eyes behind bars and hearing she had been trying to find a home for him.

His new groomer won't crate him either after hearing his whole story. When he is done and I'm not there yet he is allowed freedom around her shop. They are so great!.

I never through of keeping him to one room. We'll try that.

Do you think if he can't get clothes he'll distroy something else?

I wonder if this habbit is cause of his past and really wonder why my clothes. He has tons of toys he can chew on but he doesn't distroy them like clothes.

I still like to know if there is a way to brake this habbit. I just don't know what steps to take on something thats never done in front of us or when we're home.

[Angelnstuff]

I would guess he chews your clothes cuz hes your dog? maybe he misses you and it makes him feel better, perhaps he can smell you on the clothes so he feels like hes playing with you? does he have any rope toys? or a kong? i think in most cases crating him would be a good idea, but given his past it might never become a good place for him.. do you have a crate he could use? maybe you could leave one sitting out with the door open to see if he will go in it on his own?

if he cant get to any clothes he could very well distroy something else, but then again he might not.. i think the first steps to braking this habbit would be making sure to never leave clothes laying about. get some laundry hampers with lids for dirty laundry, and try to put clean laundry up out of the way.. what kinda dog is he btw?

[Razzi]

Quote: Originally Posted by Angelnstuff I would guess he chews your clothes cuz hes your dog? maybe he misses you and it makes him feel better, perhaps he can smell you on the clothes so he feels like hes playing with you? does he have any rope toys? or a kong? i think in most cases crating him would be a good idea, but given his past it might never become a good place for him.. do you have a crate he could use? maybe you could leave one sitting out with the door open to see if he will go in it on his own? if he cant get to any clothes he could very well distroy something else, but then again he might not.. i think the first steps to braking this habbit would be making sure to never leave clothes laying about. get some laundry hampers with lids for dirty laundry, and try to put clean laundry up out of the way.. what kinda dog is he btw?

Yeah he is my dog mainly. He is active with the whole family but chooses to be with me. I wondered if that might be the reason too. He has all kinds of toys but not a rope or anything. He won't have anything to do with hard toys or even hard treats.

Yeah, we have a crate but he avoids it. If we leave it out our cats are all over it and in it but not him.

We have gone the extra step of making sure clothes are not laying around but he gets into the hampers and laundry baskets on us. There has been times we couldn't even figure out how he gets into them.

His is mixed between Chihuahua an a Shih Tzu.

[christine]

Do you have a kong for him? Most destructive dogs stop destroying (from what I have heard) when they have a kong. Our old dog, Maggie (God Rest her Soul) loved her kong and would chew on it whenever she got to excited. Tennis balls also work well in my opinion. Hope I had some good information.

Just in case you don't know (some people don't) a kong is usually a red rubber ball with a big hole on one end and a small hole on the other and looks a little bit like a bee hive. I'll see if I can't find a picture.

Edit: link

[PokeyPokey]

The dog is probably chewing because it is your scent, just like some dogs will lay on dirty clothes and cats will sleep in drawers.

I'd try a kong - put peanut butter or a treat in there. If that doesn't keep him busy, then put some toys in your dirty laundry basket for a day or so then give those toys to him, he'll chew those but you MUST keep your clothes away from him.

[Razzi]

I didn't know what a kong was by name but with you explaining it I know what your talking about and no he doesn't have one. He won't chew or play with hard toys. We have gotten him ropes, balls, tennis balls and many different kinds and he just leaves them lay. He doesn't even get excited about them.

We even went to the park with some of his toys, mainly balls, to see if he would at least play with them outside. Nope, he just rather run around and being goofy.

[Razzi]

Quote: Originally Posted by PokeyPokey The dog is probably chewing because it is your scent, just like some dogs will lay on dirty clothes and cats will sleep in drawers. I'd try a kong - put peanut butter or a treat in there. If that doesn't keep him busy, then put some toys in your dirty laundry basket for a day or so then give those toys to him, he'll chew those but you MUST keep your clothes away from him.

Hmmmm, I never thought of putting his toys in with my laundry to get my scent on them. I'll try that.

We have been trying to keep all clothes away from him. Laundry baskets and hampers isn't going to do it, so for now I'll be putting the hamper in my daughters room. The dog isn't allowed in her room because she doesn't keep it 100% cleaned so I have no clue what he can get into, eat or hurt with.

Thanks so much for all the advise so far. I was gettin worried we might not break this habbit. Even if we don't he is part of our family and will remain part of family. I'll just have to buy clothes more often.

[christine]

Hope it helps. Petsmart should have the kong and kong treats if you want to try that or just leave it in the laundry basket for a week or so

[Razzi]

Ok, I told hubby about the leaving toys in the laundry thing he has a question. Wouldn't putting the scent on his toys and letting him distroy them cause of the scent confuse him? Meaning if we put the scent on them and he can get away with distroying his toys give him the idea its ok to distroy things with my scent on them? He wonders this cause Smeagol has never distroy any of his toys.

He is also unsure about buying the kong since we have never gotten him to play with hard toys before. He doesn't want to waste money on something Smeagol won't even look at.

[christine]

Have you put treats on/in the old toys?

[PokeyPokey]

If the dog tries to destroy other things, ie. your house, when he cannot get at your clothes or from boredom, wouldn't you rather him destroy toys? If he can find **HIS** toys with your scent on them he may be kept busy enough from trying to find YOUR stuff to chew.

but you MUST keep your stuff out of reach. Put hampers on dressers or on the washer and dryer, etc.

[Razzi]

Quote: Originally Posted by christine Have you put treats on/in the old toys?

Yes and if its a toy he doesn't want anything to do with he'll forgo the treat.