I need Help ASAP

My puppies are destroying my kitchen!!! I live in a rental and I've taken EVERY precaution to safe guard the owners home. The dogs are allowed in the kitchen in an exercise pen when I am not home, which is rarely. I leave them in the kitchen during the day while i'm cleaning, ect. I check in on them ever 15-20 minutes and play with them, take them out, take them for walks, ect.

They have chewed cupboards, wood trim and JUST NOW I see that they've chewed a HOLE in the woodwork near the door jam. I'm so frustrated. I've tried so hard, I use the no chew spray.. have put plastic screw on covers on edges of cabinets, ect. They have a multitude of toys ranging from squeakies, to bones, to chewtoys. I most likely have one of every toy from petsmart and petco that they make. I try to play fun and stimulating games, get them plenty of exercise and entertain them

What am I doing wrong and how can I stop this?

Sounds like you are taking great care of y our pups. Also sounds like they are being puppies. Look at it this way. Your pups will be clean and healthy when they are adopted. When my daughter bought Squirt home from the flea market for fifty bucks, she had fleas, tics, and had to be wormed immediately. So they are doing some damage, I don't th ink that should be surprising. Squirt has to be monitored constantly, or in the crate. Crate?

I'm not adopting my pups out? I absolutely love them and would never give them up over something like this.

I was just looking for some tips to break them of this habit.

lol, I got confused too.

Do you give them access to all of their toys all the time? Maybe you can try and rotate them. If you leave them all out all of them time the pups will get bored and want to find other things. If you only give a select few and rotate them on a daily or weekly basis, they will be more interested.

Makka I could try that.. I buy them new toys on a weekly basis and make sure to get a variety of textures. It just always amazes me how much damage a 5 and 8 lb dog can do!

Sounds like you have cute little termites

I have one XL termite

If your can't always watch them can you crate them with a toy?
That way they won't be eating you out of house and home when your not looking. You could take them out every 30 mins for exercise and a bathroom break. I'm not saying crate them ALL day or something.. just when you can't watch them.

I would definately try that. While it seems good to give them all of their toys, they get bored too easily because they are always there. Make sure you keep the ones they can't play with out of their sight.

Also, it could be an idea to get a variety of toys, which sounds as though you might already have. Try and give them one of each from 3 catogories: Comfort, Interactive and Mental Stimulation (like the Buster Cubes).

Okay I'll try it! I have them in an exercise pen, but Emma will just keep jumping out. She actually just hurt her back paw by climbing the wall

ahh puppies... you gotta love them!

The excercise pen gives them access to the cupboard doors? Can you block the cupboards off as well with something like a board maybe? You might be able to buy something. How much space have you got?

Makaa.. I use the exercise pen mostly just when I'm not home. Sometimes they'll be fine for weeks with no chewing, then BOOM! They've chewed up everything! They never chew objects like shoes or anything like that. Just woodwork mostly. I guess I'm just worried that they won't learn chewing = bad.

Well, I think that they can learn to differentiate between what is appropriate to chew and what isn't. I am definately not an expert as I am still in the process of teaching Gordy.

When you catch them in the act of chewing something they shouldn't be chewing tell them NO and direct them to one of their toys. Let them know what is okay and what isn't. Do you do much training with them? You could start training the command 'leave it' and apply it here.

I do a lot of training with them. So far Bentley knows sit, wait, up, down, let's go, watch me. I'm still working on heel and leave it and his leash pulling issues.

Emma's more of a challenge. She's very strong willed and stubborn. She knows sit, that's about it. But, she's an EXCELLENT walker. She never pulls the leash. I have a sneaking suspicion that she's doing most of the chewing. She's pulled apart the zipper on her dog bed cover and she can actually demolish toys in a matter of hours sometimes. When I was giving her rawhide bones she was the best, but because of the choking hazard I stopped giving her those.

Is there anything similar to a rawhide that's less dangerous?

I would also suggest a crate when they can't be supervised. That's so frustrating....I feel for you. We went through that when CHloe and Jackson were pups.

Thanks Dena. I just get frustrated because I read all the books and try to do everything right! In this area it seems as if nothing I do is good enough.. but i'll continue to try! I'm glad to know that it gets better

I just found this site, it has some good tips:

"Puppies going through teething problems find some relief if they have dog chew toys to chew on. Avoid giving your puppy objects to chew on that are similar to objects you don't want him to chew on, such as pieces of old clothing. Your puppy won't understand the difference. Puppies with teething problems will welcome these chew toys:

* Hard rubber balls
* Puppy teething rings
* Frozen dog treats
* Nylon or rawhide bones"


"When your dog is home without human supervision, you may want to keep him in a restricted area of the house. Choose an area without wooden furniture legs or other tempting chewable items, such as the laundry room. Make sure that nothing is dangling that he could pull on and chew."

"Consider applying bitter-tasting coatings to color-safe chewable surfaces such as wooden furniture. The taste and smell of these substances repel some (but not necessarily all) dogs from chewing:

* White vinegar
* Rubbing alcohol
* Bitter Apple (a product available at pet stores)"

http://www.odordestroyer.com/news/story42/how_to_stop_dogs_from_chewing.html

Thanks for the tips! I have nylabones and teething rings. And I use that bitter apple spray.. which they must not mind because they chew right through it. I'm going to go to walmart tonight and see if there's anything i can use to cover my woodwork with

Good luck!