Acting Out? Chewing

• Acting Out? Chewing Petunia Posted : 8/21/2006 10:48:42 AM Hello Everyone!    I wonder if anyone can provide some insight as my normally sweet girl has decided in the last week to chew up 2 small wooden carved love bird that were given to my husband and me as a wedding gift.  They have been sitting on the table next to the sofa for several months but on Tuesday evening Gemma (my normally sweet girl) chewed one of them up.  And this morning she chewed the other one to bits!  My husband called me very irritated, more frustrated, to get some perspective.   A little background.  Gemma came from the animal control center and has lived with us for almost a year (29 Sept).  With the exception of one dress shoe that was chewed up(another time when I believe she was angry with me) she has been a very wonderful dog with very few "bad girl" moments.  She is very rarely naughty like this but it is obvious that we want to nip this before it turns into something much more frequent.   This most recent set started last week while we had gone out with a friend for a short Dairy Queen run and was followed up with the events of this morning when my husband sat on the back porch having coffee, but after he had prepared and set out her food.  My husband scolded her then put her in her crate so she would know that she had done something that we didn't like.    My question is whether anyone else experienced these sporadic what appear to be random acts of destruction and if so, what are your thoughts on why they occur and what should be done to address the issue?   Many thanks in advance for any/all who reply.   Petunia, Gemma's Momma   She is one of those dogs that wants to be next to you all the time.  I realize that we should have moved the 2nd LIKE 3 REPLIES 523 VIEWS LAST POST DEB Like Share You have posted to a forum that requires a moderator to approve posts before they are publicly available. Hey, it's way more fun when you sign up or log in Connect With Connect With Sign Up Login
• mudpuppy Posted : 8/21/2006 11:00:18 AM "My question is whether anyone else experienced these sporadic what appear to be random acts of destruction and if so, what are your thoughts on why they occur and what should be done to address the issue? "   they occur because the dog found something fun to chew on, and/or isn't being supervised enough, and/or is bored, and/or isn't being given suitable things to chew on. Dogs don't "get back" at their owners, and they don't destroy things to "spite" their owners or because they are "mad" at their owners. If and only if you catch the dog in the act should you "correct": say uh-oh or something, and re-direct the dog to a suitable chew item. 0 LIKE Like Share You have posted to a forum that requires a moderator to approve posts before they are publicly available. Hey, it's way more fun when you sign up or log in Connect With Connect With Sign Up Login
• Timbersmom Posted : 8/29/2006 11:57:29 PM I agree with mudpuppy. also her crate should never be used as punishment. 0 LIKE Like Share You have posted to a forum that requires a moderator to approve posts before they are publicly available. Hey, it's way more fun when you sign up or log in Connect With Connect With Sign Up Login
• Deb Posted : 8/30/2006 6:40:56 AM Yeah, I guess I would only add that thinking about this in terms of your dog being angry at you gives her way too much power. Rather, just watch your dog and/or keep things you don't want her to chew away from her. Here is a good article by Jon Katz about this: http://www.slate.com/id/2127419/ 0 LIKE Like Share You have posted to a forum that requires a moderator to approve posts before they are publicly available. Hey, it's way more fun when you sign up or log in Connect With Connect With Sign Up Login