# Pup driving us mad. - skirting board chewing!



## Lintel (18 July 2018)

Now 10 months old GSD is sending us CRAZY he is INTENT on chewing the skirting boards. He has bones... toys... kongs that are only provided(bar one bone) when he is shut away during the night or day for a couple of hours. Is he interested.... nope. Skirting boards make far better fun.
We have sprayed them with antichew... sour apple... VAPOUR RUB! But these measures only seem to last a day or so. 
Is there anything more permanent? Are we doing something wrong here?
He is well exercised both in mind and body at the minute to try and prevent this- all be it some more days than others but the days he isn't as tired I could forgive the chewing and self blame but right now is driving me mad!

Any thoughts? More permanent measures... sprays... chew toys? Ideas?

- I won't crate.. he is so blooming big even the xxl crates aren't big enough in my opinion. Here is the rather large sh'''t himself - lying down while we waited on our chippy!


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## CorvusCorax (19 July 2018)

If you don't want to crate, buy a couple of metal play pens and section off the skirting board. 
I'd choose crate over a foreign body getting stuck in his throat. Have you looked into airline crates?
Giant breeds need to be flown on 12 hour flights and they survive ok. Although a GSD isn't (or shouldn't be lol) a giant breed.


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## Clodagh (19 July 2018)

He might just be finishing off his teething, although I would crate as CC says.


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## JillA (19 July 2018)

I know they are currently out of favour but I stopped one chewing with rawhide chews - more flexible than bones or a Kong. Have you tried them? For teething dogs the "give" in them seems to be preferable to harder surfaces


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## Antw23uk (19 July 2018)

Give him a log or branch from a fruit tree or willow tree. Make it a big one  All our puppies have had branches when teething and they really do appreciate it when silly toys are simply not enough! Why are you so anti crate? They are great for an extra training aid!


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## CorvusCorax (19 July 2018)

Jill my newest one came with a love of pressed rawhide bones, so I too am reluctantly purchasing them 
My older one has no sense of self preservation and will chew/crush until something is destroyed or gone, so I can't imagine what sort of damage he would have done with a branch. I gave him frozen carrots when teething.


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## Pearlsasinger (19 July 2018)

We have two big Rottweilers who share a double crate when we are out, They often choose to sleep in there when we are all at home, so they obviously feel comfortable.  I don't understand your reluctance to crate train your GSD.  I certainly wouldn't want them to chew wood in any form, think of the damage that can be done by splinters.


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## MissTyc (19 July 2018)

At 10 months his teeth will be setting, and that HURTS. We did use puppy pen panels to block off areas we didn't want damaged (in our case, plants. Thankfully he never took against the hard furnishings) just to prevent it from becoming a habit.  

You can buy lumps of non-splintering wood for dogs to chew on in most pet shops - if he already has a taste for wood, then redirecting him to a more appropriate type might help. You could also throw that lump into a hot bowl of bone broth or beef stock to get some flavour on it, then into the freezer for a tasty, soothing chew ... Yak milk lumps were a firm favourite here during teeth - they're hard, take a serious biting, and also have a flavour. By about 8-9 months my terrier decided that all chews should have a flavour or they just aren't worth it ... 

I note you say the sprays aren't putting your dog off for more than a day. That's because it's only preventing him from chewing the skirting while he can taste it; it's not actually breaking the habit. So I'd def keep spraying the skirting every morning as long as he has access to it. It needs to taste bad every single time, not just sometimes! (but preferably be inaccessible until the habit is broken)


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## MotherOfChickens (19 July 2018)

you can buy chew roots for pups although having used them, a determined chewer will still ingest quite alot. I still let my two chew sticks-they dont tend to swallow any now and its good for their teeth. I am not sure wood is less digestible than rawhide  frozen kongs are good too.

I dont find the XXL crates big enough either-both of my dogs have whelping crates, the metal panel type ones which come much bigger and look somewhat more attractive imo. they dont have a roof although you can get covers fpr them, not having a roof hasnt been a problem for either of mine wrt geting out, although both could very easily. I sympathise, my setter chewed through skirting boards and put a hole in an interior wall when he was a pup.


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## blackcob (19 July 2018)

Dog Health do an enormocrate - though not to the same quality standard as their smaller heavy duty crates (I can understand why, it'd weigh a ton!) - https://www.doghealth.co.uk/collections/cages-crates/products/xxl-giant-dog-cage


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## Lintel (19 July 2018)

Where he is kept there isn't enough room for a large crate as he has the run of 3 different areas- small porch, small hallway and small utility area all at the front door where we go in and out. Putting a giant crate would mean we would have to walk over the top of the crate to get in, OH wants to keep him in that area rather than crate elsewhere in the house. He was crwted initially so i am Defintley not anti-crate. We haven't tired rawhide will give it a go and the branches! If that fails the panels to go round the skirting sound a plausible idea.
I so hope it is just the end of teething as he has been a superb pup to have this seems to be the only vice that he has begun the last week or so.
Thanks all!


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## BBP (19 July 2018)

I have this for my collie (7months) Its 1.2m high, 2m long and 1m wide. I then used two panels from a shorter puppy pen and wired them over the top as a roof to prevent pogo puppy from jumping out. But it means for a dog his size he can choose between sleeping on his bed or on the cooler Lino which he often prefers. It would be a decent sized crate for a dog the size of yours. I have a teeny tiny house but still managed to fit it in!






Edit: just saw your latest post, this probably wouldnt fit the bill in that case!


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## MurphysMinder (19 July 2018)

Unless he is really hugely oversize you should be able to find a crate plenty big enough,  and that is really going to be the best solution.   He will grow out of it and then if you prefer you can stop using a crate,  but my two,  aged 10 and 6 both still love their crates,  and will both pile into one given half a chance.


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## Clodagh (19 July 2018)

Lintel said:



			Where he is kept there isn't enough room for a large crate as he has the run of 3 different areas- small porch, small hallway and small utility area all at the front door where we go in and out. Putting a giant crate would mean we would have to walk over the top of the crate to get in, OH wants to keep him in that area rather than crate elsewhere in the house. He was crwted initially so i am Defintley not anti-crate. We haven't tired rawhide will give it a go and the branches! If that fails the panels to go round the skirting sound a plausible idea.
I so hope it is just the end of teething as he has been a superb pup to have this seems to be the only vice that he has begun the last week or so.
Thanks all!
		
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That does sound like a crate would be difficult. Pen went through a brief chew-the-skirting stage when she was uncrated at about 7 months, but she is also a stress head. Luckily our house is so decrepid that a chewed skirting board is the least of our worries. I wouldn't leave a dog alone with rawhide, I never use them but OH got a bag full of rawhide bedtime chews (small ones) and all three inside dogs have had small chokes on them.


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## SusieT (19 July 2018)

If you let him get into the habit now you won't get him out of it so you need to either spray daily, close off the bit he wants to chew on or have a pen or crate for him.


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## oldie48 (19 July 2018)

I got hot chilli powder and made it into a paste then painted it on anything that Stan wanted to chew that wasn't allowed. it stopped him immediately. when he had got through that stage i just washed it all off. Worth a try?


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## paddy555 (20 July 2018)

oldie48 said:



			I got hot chilli powder and made it into a paste then painted it on anything that Stan wanted to chew that wasn't allowed. it stopped him immediately. when he had got through that stage i just washed it all off. Worth a try?
		
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similarly I used colmans mustard and that worked.  When he had designs on the Welsh dressers I bought plyboard panels and made a false front for the dressers which stopped any damage. 

Mine is not getting on well with a crate. He is 7.5 months large GSD and finds the crates too low to sit upright in. He has been crate trained since a pup but I wouldn't like to leave him in one and definitely not for several hours. Even with pleasant things like meat etc inside his crate he wouldn't go in out of choice. He will walk in if told to but that is it.


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## paddy555 (20 July 2018)

oldie48 said:



			I got hot chilli powder and made it into a paste then painted it on anything that Stan wanted to chew that wasn't allowed. it stopped him immediately. when he had got through that stage i just washed it all off. Worth a try?
		
Click to expand...

similarly I used colmans mustard and that worked.  When he had designs on the Welsh dressers I bought plyboard panels and made a false front for the dressers which stopped any damage. 

Mine is not getting on well with a crate. He is 7.5 months large GSD and finds the crates too low to sit upright in. He has been crate trained since a pup but I wouldn't like to leave him in one and definitely not for several hours. Even with pleasant things like meat etc inside his crate he wouldn't go in out of choice. He will walk in if told to but that is it.


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