Why is she eating wood?!?!

I'm not sure what kind of dog you have, but with my lab, she didn't really quit doing the chewing thing until she was almost 3.  Like your dog, she'd chew anything she could find and we went thru 3 dog beds in a matter of months.  I know she must've been thrilled everytime we brought a new one home and she could shred it everywhere.  I do think boredom is the biggest factor, but at this age, it's probably impossible to keep them occupied 100% of the time or if you're gone, so I'd suggest crating for any time you can't be there to supervise.  It'll save you a lot of $$ in the long run.  It really does get better in a year or two []

Changes in behavior like this absolutely warrent a trip to the vet.  Could be a physical condition or it could be something like separation anxiety.  I'm sorry I dont' have better suggestions, but I'd start with the vet.

I am a vet tech...they go to work with me quite a bit but ever since they both got upper respiratory I try not to take them as much...maybe that has something to do with it?  But I wasn't able to spend as much time with them at the vet either because I have moved up enough that I am hardly ever back in the kennle...I have tried everthing bitter wise except the bitter apple or the stuff we sell at the pharmacy at work.  I just thought it was a fase like everything else but she is not growing out of it, it's getting worse!! 

I know that she gets bored because she's an aussie and if she's left without a job for two seconds she gets bored but when I got her my lifestyle was a lot different and I had a lot more room for her.  As a result of a family illness we went from living in Vermont (with wide open fields right down the street that we could take her and play ball in for hours) to a half hour outside of  Washington DC and a small fenced in yard.  I am also working more than I was in Vermont (new place new carreer had to find something...and fast).  Plus in Vermont we were doing training classes with her but Ryan is hardly ever around (he used to work a 35-40 hour week, evenings mostly) now because he works about 60 hours a week including his drive.  He leaves at five in the morning and isn't home until almost six at night which leaves him exausted.  I play with the dogs as much as I can but I gotta tell you, 9 hours at the animal hospital and I am pretty tired too. 
Plus now there's two of them (that was always the plan to get Keva a buddy and there was one we really wanted to save from the kennle life he was 7 months and hadn't sold yet).  So she has some training and he has a small amount and when I take them to work they get as much attention as I can give them without getting fired...and when we get home I give them as much as I can before I have to make their dinner and make my own.  Maybe I should start training again?  Playing ball isn't tiring her out anymore either and she seems kinda depressed.  My male is just a goofball and is totally content cuddling on the couch after dinner but Keva always is dropping a ball in our laps or something....she does it to my mother in law too who works from home and really is just watching them to help me out but doesn't have time to play with them much.   So there's a little more insight into my situation.  On weekends we spend as much time with them as possible but I can't help feeling guilty during the week...frisbee and ball wear Keva out for all of ten minutes but she will do it until she drops...but this week we have already had a couple of 70+ degree days and she was borderline overheating.  So I won't even be able to do that with her much longer unless I do it in an airconditioned house...[&o]  I love my dogs but I just feel horrible that this bad habbit is caused because I can't spend enough time with them keeping them busy.  In VT I knew people that owned farms and had other aussies, so she would go play with them and run like crazy all over the place.  ARGH!!!!

Hello there []

Getting rid of physical energy is one thing, giving them something to think about another. Your dog might highly benefit from some proper obedience training. Not only does it mentally challenge your dog and tire them out on another level, it also will help you to control all sorts of behavior you do want to change. A dog needs to learn to control his impulses, and that he can really only do by constructive work with you or a trainer.

So my suggestion would be to do a training session mornings and nights, each starting with play (to get out the worst energy), then some formal work, then again some play. It will do wonders when done properly. []

do you know how to clicker train? sessions of free-shaping are probably the best way ever to mentally tire out a dog.
Also, have you considered doggy daycare two or three times a week? a wired aussie may need something like that. The wood-chewing does sound like a "stable vice"you see in bored, overally confined horses.

I do clicker training...I am afraid I don't know what free-shaping is?  Doggie daycare would be such an excelent option but I don't live in an area where there are any (that I know of).  Ryan drives right by one on his way to work...but I doubt if they are open at 5 am...  Today I took them to work with me and they seemed to get a little more excercise which was nice...I think I just need to find a happy medium between the mother in laws and taking them to work with me.  I like taking them to work because I can just throw them out in the fenced in back yard by themselves for a while and they love it and then I can do some training at lunch or whenever I have a break...or just play with them.  I just don't like it when they come down with eye infections and upper respiratory as a result...

Aussies need mental stimulation as much as physical stimulation.  This is a breed that goes nuts without a job to do.  YES! Do start training again.  Take agility lessons, throw a frisbee, send her to doggie day care a couple of times a week...whatever you need to do to avoid boredom.  She is attempting either to set her adult teeth into her jaw (but with this breed, I suspect that should have happened sooner), or she is creating her own job - not something that humans usually want to have happen with an Aussie.

P.S.  There are cancer causing agents in treated wood - find a way to keep her away from that stuff...[sm=uhoh.gif]

I also wouldn't bother with the bitter apple spray - unless you're sure they hate it (mind didn't) and can douse everything you own, it's a waste of time and money.

On a similar note, I know people who tried cayenne pepper and tabasco sauce to discourage chewing and neither worked. (I'm also not sure of the intestinal reprecussions of using either, but I can only imagine lol). Anyway, years ago, Brown's foster mom poured both on the tree stump Brown kept chewing (don't ask...I don't know why he was chewing on a tree lol), and it only encouraged him more. I was surprised when she told me, but then again what was I expecting from a dog from Cajun country...of course he'd like spicy stuff![sm=wink3.gif][sm=lol.gif]

not to change the subject but I think from a holistic point of view, cayanne is really good for dogs in small doses...or maybe it was pepperika (sp?).  hmm? 

On another note, I really appreciate everyones info.  I have started training agressively again.  My male is totally eager to please but Keva is very thick headed and still when she out of my site reverts to her old ways.  She destroyed a metal wired basket today an my mother in laws...and I could just scream b/c my mother in law was like "oh it was so funny...and don't be worried if you see gold sting in her poop."  I was like "oh my god was it a long piece" thinking it was going to get caught up in her intestine and she was like "it was just off a metal wired basket she chewed up" [:@]  God give me strength...

free-shaping is really fun and very mentally challenging for the dog. Take an object, any object, and decide what you want the dog to do. Say push the door closed with her nose. Then you click and treat for any behavior even close to your final desired behavior-- looking at the door. As the dog starts to catch on you start clicking only for behaviors ever-closer to your desired behavior-- touching the door. Then pushing the door.
Once a dog becomes experienced with free-shaping, you have a dog you can teach ANYTHING to in a matter of minutes. You can pull out various objects and teach a new behavior every day, just for fun. Behaviors you really like you can continue working on, and put on cue and proof, and turn into tricks. And you can back-chain behaviors to create elaborate tricks.

Mudpuppy THANK YOU!  That sounds like a great idea.  I do it with certain tricks like paw and bang but never thought to do anything (like closing the door, etc.).   I heard you can clicker train cats too[&:]  Maybe I should learn how to do that!  My cats are such instigators!!!

Also, to discourage chewing, you can put a few drops of clove essential oil in a spray bottle filled with water, then mist your wood with it.  Most dogs hate the smell and will avoid it.  But, you may think the place smells great!!!