18 mo old lab/greyhound mix eats EVERYTHING!!

[]Woo hoo back on track, sorry for all that!
I dont think anything i can offer will completely stop his chewing as Rory hasnt been that detructive but maybe it will mamge it.
Rory is a BIG chewer as well, she has eaten a ipod, 3 remotes, sandals, toys, playstation controllers, and much more.
I too spent countless amounts of money on toys and it took me a while to realize that the toys I was giving her were all the wrong ones. She will not chew anyhting rubber, hard palstic, basically nothing that wasnt a part of a naimal or really really stinky, he he!
She started chewing her toys and not my stuff when I bougth her, her own basket, set it in the living room and let her go at it, everynight I gather them all up and put them back for the next day. When I caught her in the act (I know you  havnt yet but hopefully with the tethering trick you will) I would take my item away and exchange it with one if hers (which I'm sure you;ve heard of but havnt caught him yet, lil stinker)
 
The godsend has been COW HOOFS, have you tried those? They last a couple of days and you can make them fun by filling with peanut butter and freezing overnight. Bully Sticks also, check out [linkhttp://www.merrick,com]www.merrick,com[/link] for them and other long lasting chews.
Also *disclaimer, I do not condone doggy sedatives BUT there is a product that is almost all natural, sold over the counter called Rescue Remedy that helps calm dogs. Its like aromatherapy type thing that I must admit I was very skeptical of whenI first heard of it. I assumed it would make a dog drowsy or was uneccessary, just another easy way out BUT a customer of mine said she tried it because her dog would chew his tail for no reason all day and was missing fur. She said it didnt hamper his mood, energy level or anyhting, he jsut didnt chew. She compared it to the equivalant to a human drinking one glass of wine. Anyhoo, its called Rescue Remedy by Bach, I found a link here [linkhttp://www.bachflower.com/rescue_remedy.htm]http://www.bachflower.com/rescue_remedy.htm[/link]
at the least maybe inquire about it at the vets or humane society!

ORIGINAL: sheprano

[]Woo hoo back on track, sorry for all that!

Hee hee, same here!  []


I've also noticed that Sirius doesn't like hard toys.  For that matter, most of what he chews on of our stuff is also soft, such as clothing and blankets.  I will try your suggestion of a basket of his own toys.   Maybe he will start associating  chewing with a specific place, and leave everything else alone.

And YES!  He LOVES those cow hooves!  Thank goodness they are cheap too, because he goes through them pretty fast.  I never thought of freezing them or putting anything on them.  I will have to give that a try and see if we can get them to last a bit longer.  All three of my dogs love them, even my little Chihuahua, which is quite funny since one hoof is the size of her head!

I'll keep the Rescue Remedy in mind next time we're at the vet.  I, like you, am not quick to drug my animals (in fact I've never done so except for surgical procedures), but if it just "mellows" him out, it might be worth a shot as a last resort.  Thanks for the tip.

Well, I'll keep working with the tethering and get him his own basket of toys and see if there is any improvement.  I know he'll always be a chewer, I would just like to NOT have to buy another couch this year, lol!  []

sheprano, the original poster is not the only one who found your comments rude.  As a third party observer, you come off as very self-rightous and quick to make assumptions that in fact all turned out to be false.  You offended and accused this person who came here in good faith and has made many sacrifices for her dog.  Then you proceeded to deflect the blame from yourself to other posters who come here and supposedly make stupid comments. 

Katran,
 
Hang in there! I think tethering is a great solution and wish I'd learned about it sooner. You can buy one of those cotton leads they use to teach recall and lengthen it as he improves. Have you read "The Culture Clash" by Jean Donaldson? It was useful to me.
 
My Chow/Golden Retriever mix was the queen of destruction until she was about three. You can understand my despair  when I got out of the shower and she had destroyed a pair of Bose 901 speakers. In her case, I finally figured out that she simply likes to destroy things. Believe it or not, giving her rolls of toilet paper (don't do this if he EATS what he destroys), gave her the pleasure of destruction at a price that we could manage and picking up toilet paper is a whole lot less unpleasant than picking up the shreds of a silk blouse. She's seven now and a wonderful dog (has been for years), but she will still destroy a squeaky toy in less than 10 minutes and occasionally manages to steal a roll of toilet paper.

"A tired dog is a good dog", it seems that we all know that he needs even more excersice, which does not mean he does not have a lot right now, you can buy a doggy back pack, while you are walking him you can add weight to it, you can put water, sand, etc. that will increase the amount of energy burned while you are walking him, he will more focused on the walks since he will feel he has a "job", this way he will be tired before you are []

Wow, I've been reading through the dialogue between Sheprano and Katran, you guys got a little intense there, but I think that Sheprano (despite coming of kinda strong at first) is giving some good advice, although I will disagree on one point... I don't think obediance class will do too much for the chewing itself, as this is a very strong natural urge for a dog of that age and breed, although a trainer might help offer suggestions.  For instance, we ignored our trainer's insistance that our puppy was not ready to be left alone in the kitchen uncrated, and we got our walls eaten.  Then we listened   If your dog isn't one of those dogs that loves the taste of Bitter Apple, you can try spraying it on stuff you don't want the dog to chew, but the taste goes away very quickly, so it might not work.  If you don't want to crate the dog, again, I'll mention the ex-pen.  Works much better than baby gates, since baby gates are usually wood, which my dog eats.  The other advise Sheprano gave about the toy box, and catching the dog in the act, etc. is what we've been doing with our dog, and we've definitely made progress.
 
A couple other points:  Not a big fan of cow hooves if your dog is truely a power-chewer, we gave one to Scout for the first time last night and she put a nice, sharp, jagged crack in it so we had to take it away.  Try filled Kongs, they really are indestructable (although the dog will most likely lose interest the second the filling is gone)!!  What sort of bones are you giving that your dog can eat so quickly?  Beef bones are stronger than ham or lamb, my dog can destroy a cell phone in 10 seconds flat, but beef bones last forever.  For other chew treats, try Flossies in addition to Bully Sticks, I find that a Jumbo Phat Flossie lasts longer than a 6" bully stick, and Scout chews them more thoroughly (if I don't get the last 2" of the bully stick away from her in time she'll swallow the rest whole!).  I also like a product called N-Bones (not made by Nylabone), they don't last super-long, but my dog is wild about them and the ingredients seem healthy.  Oh, and a frozen carrot stick shoved in a Kong should keep the dog busy for a little while, too.
 
Toys:  I wouldn't give up on hard toys just yet, since that's really all you can leave unsupervised with a power-chewer... soft toys become a choking hazard as soon as the dog gets the stuffing exposed.  Nylabones come in lots of shapes, textures, sizes, and flavors, so maybe you haven't found the right one yet.  Also, my dog is a big fan of the Greenie's Smart Chew toy, get the dark green one for agressive chewers.  They are mysteriously melon flavored, which you wouldn't think dogs would be into, but Scout likes it more than her bacon flavored Nylabone, go figure!  As for soft toys, I do buy them for Scout because she likes variety in what she chews and just LOVES ripping stuff apart, but don't bother with expensive toys.  A $20 "indestructable" soft toy will be destroyed just as quickly as the $2 toy in the bargain bin, so go for cheap... but again, use supervision!  For a compromise between hard and soft, get a couple rope toys, my dog loves to both chew on them and play tug-o-war and fetch with them.  Just make sure the dog doesn't get it unravelled-- a big dog should be able to pass the little threads that come off just fine if they're swallowed, but a big clump of thread that gets swallowed would cause some problems (in this case, DON'T go for cheap, as it was the $3 rope toy that Scout got unravelled, the more expensive ones don't do this.).  I also like Stacita's toy alternative suggestion... Scout's favorite toy in the world is a cardboard box!  She'll spend hours ripping apart the box from a 12-pack of beer or soda, until there's nothing but cardboard confetti left
 
I also had a question about "muzzle harnesss"... do you mean something like a Gentle Leader or a Halti?  These are NOT muzzles, and shouldn't be confused with them.  I use a GL with Scout, and have had good results, but I'm annoyed that everyone thinks its a muzzle, so I'm thinking of switching to a chest harness.  An actual muzzle isn't designed to stop pulling, and honestly, you shouldn't be walking your dog with anything that prevents it from opening its mouth fully, as this restricts the dog's ability to pant and could cause the dog to overheat.
 
Ok... that's my very long 2 cents

glad the tethering is working - My dog (15 mo old 95lb great dane/lab mix) has a nickname - the destroyer!  He like yours can chew anything quickly and entirely.  We have been spared the furniture ( no idea why but very glad)
Mine has gotten better than he used to be but there is no toy or bone that lasts more than a couple of minutes at the most.
However another thing to consider is allergies.  I have realized that Bugsy chews obsessively when he's uncomfortable (itchy).  Things that have helped are remmoving the one food we have been able to isolate (eggs), adding meat or fish to his diet, and benedryl.  Each of the steps has been taken one by one so I know that each has helped.
If you have no symptoms of allergies at the least change his food to a higher protein food or just add a little meat/fish to his diet.

good luck

Ok, it sounds like he simply does not know the difference between "acceptable" and "not acceptable" things to chew on. What we do in my household is have a designated "chewing mat". Anything on the mat is fair game for chewing up, everything off the mat is not for dogs. So you put the dog on the mat with a bone, and praise the dog to the skies for chewing the bone. If he tries to take the bone off the mat, he gets an "uh oh" and is placed back on the mat. Very important, there are NO dog toys or dog chews left around anywhere in the house. So there are crystal-clear rules about what is for dogs and what is not for dogs. Most puppies catch on really quickly, especially if you never take your eyes off the puppy and thus the puppy can't develop a taste for the sofa. If he does try to sample the sofa or whatever, you gently say "uh oh" and take him back to his chew mat and show him what lovely chews are there. I'm not sure if a dog who has been happily destroying things for a year will catch on as fast. You might also want to put his destructive behavior on cue. Get some cheap stuffed animals, take him to a designated area, and command him to shred away, and happily participate in the fun. Repeat once or twice a week.
Some high-energy working dogs can literally run all day every day, and need mental work as well. He sounds like that. I'd suggest doing short training sessions every day, consider enrolling in an agility class, and don't feed him out of a bowl-- feed out of a food-dispensing toy so he has to work. Or make him earn all of his food as training rewards. And don't take your eyes off him! in cage or in your direct line of sight.

I'll just chime in and say that obedience classes probably will help because that kind of mental exercise is really important to dogs, just as important IMO than physical exercise.

FWIW, I have an adolescent vizsla puppy. He's only at about 7 months, so he's not nuts yet, but his energy level is extremely high--he would rather have three hours of running and playing every day.

But on a rainy day he *can* get tired out with two or three fiften-minute sessions of mental games like freeshaping or hide-and-seek or obedience.

ORIGINAL: Stacita
 Have you read "The Culture Clash" by Jean Donaldson? It was useful to me.

ORIGINAL: espencer

"A tired dog is a good dog", it seems that we all know that he needs even more excersice, which does not mean he does not have a lot right now, you can buy a doggy back pack, while you are walking him you can add weight to it, you can put water, sand, etc. that will increase the amount of energy burned while you are walking him, he will more focused on the walks since he will feel he has a "job", this way he will be tired before you are []

Thank you both for the tips.  I had never thought of adding weight to his walk, but I think that sounds like a great idea.  It certainly makes sense, and if he's still a bundle of energy even after he runs me ragged at the dog park, then I guess he really isn't getting enough exercise, at least not for him.

I will definitely check out the book.  The tethering is going well, though today I had to abandon it for a bit because we're holding a yard sale and it was just too crowded with the people and all the stuff.  We (meaning he and I both) kept knocking stuff over or bumping into people.  Bless him, he was trying, but it was just too crowded.  But I'm pleased with how well he did.  All that stuff just lying around and he didn't even attempt to chew any of it!

I will have to forgo the toilet paper suggestion though.  He does have a habit of eating at least some of what he chews up.  I'm so afraid he's going to get really sick one of these days from eating the wrong thing, but so far we've been lucky.