The contant chewing is driving me mad!!!

[SparklyGothKat]

We have a 10 month old staffy, who chews for england. He has chewed through the kids trampoline enclosure, my sofa, the walls, woodwork, and many other things. He has tons of chewy toys, ropes, kongs etc, but seems to enjoy ripping things. I have tried the 'praise him when he is chewing on his toys' thing, but its not made a difference. How can I stop him, we are supposed to be moving into a new house soon, and I'm worried that he will destroy it. help!!!

Sadly you can't stop him. It's a phase. He's teething. Have you been finding his milk teeth stuck in toys?

They chew more when they're left alone, but they pretty much chew all the time at that age. Put anything vauluable out of reach and hang in. You have my sympathy Sparks.

You could try filling the kongs with things like pea-nut butter, or cream cheese (not much though it is very fattening) and putting it in the freezer, it might make some mess though so watch where you let him have it.

Do you have a crate you can put him in when you can't watch him?

Also you can try any raw bones of any kind, chicken, lamb, beef, pork, (they must be raw though) for added strength freeze them first. You could also try putting a damp teatowel in the freezer (one you don't mind ripped up) just basically anything you can freeze, the cold will help his gums.

Last thing, prevention is better than cure, sort him a place out (like a crate/area) where he can be safely left if you can't watch him.

Meant to say whatever you give him, make sure you are there with him, pups can choke very easily.

He goes into a crate, when we go out, and at night, but as soon as you let him into the garden he starts ripping at the trampoline enclosure. I have brought a thing that goes into the ground which I then clip onto his collar, so that he can walk about but not reach the trampoline, but he barks when I put it on him. He loves to run about the garden which I would let him do, if he didn;t jump onto the trampoline and start ripping it up. He has bones, and the paste that goes into kongs.
Also in the morning DS lets him out of the crate and into the garden for a wee, but when he comes back in he starts on the sofa or whatever. I'm sure the vet said that he has all his adult teeth now, so surely he isn;t teething anymore.

His gums will still be sore because the teeth will still be moving about and settling in, also it sounds like he has gotten into a habit of chewing more than that he is doing it for relief.

When he has been out in the morning and comes back in, can anyone in the family do something to interupt the habit? It could be as simple as throwing a toy around for him, or a good old roll on the floor with him? If this isn't possible then he should be put in his crate, he can only chew things he shouldn't be chewing when you allow him to, i.e. no one is there telling him 'no' IYSWIM?

Have you done any bite inhibition training with him?

How much excercise does he get a day? (Be honest because this could be a major factor in it!!)

Have you taken him to a puppy training class?

Is he eating enough? You shouldn't be able to see his ribs but you should be able to feel them, almost as though he has a t-shirt on over them.

Is he left alone whilst you are at work or anything?

Sparkly, if it's any consolation, our Staffoo ate the arm off a Victorian spoon back chair. That was not a cheap day.
There is little I can add - this is just what they "do" and they do it for a living too. It stops and there is very little you can do whilst they are actually teething.
BUT I note that you said you buy the paste fo the kong toys. serious waste of money. One shop assistant tried to tell me it was vital as dogs were allergic to peanut butter. My arse! My vet bent double laughing when I told him. Buy hide bones and get some smooth peanut butter into all the cracks and crevices. There is nothing he will want to chew more. Raggers make great ripping toys and are safe for staffs. If you can bear to, coat all the surfaces he chews in chilli sauce. A wall may look odd with a red blotchy stain, but at least you will still have the wall!

loads of excerise, we normally take him for a 1 hour run, then he plays in the back garden all day.
what is bite inhibition training???
have phoned about for puppy classes, just deciding what one to take him too.
he eats 2 bowls of dried food a day and drinks tons of water, he has 2 water bowls in the house and 1 in the garden.
He is only left alone when we take the kids to school, and when shopping.

he also is still mouthing, is that normal for his age??

Well it sounds as though he is getting enough exercise, it should be roughly 5 minutes for every month of age (he is 10 months, so it would be 50 minutes of 'conducted' exercise, i.e. brisk walking/running) a run in the back garden is no problem.

Bite inhibition is quite an important part of his training, it will give him an idea of how hard he is biting and what he is biting. The idea is that you start off training him that biting is OK, then you slowly change tactics a bit and when he bites too hard you shout 'ow' and that ends the game, he will soon start to bite a little softer, you basically fizzle the biting down to the slightest touch of his teeth on your skin/clothes means you shout 'ow' and the game ends, eventually, he will be very careful where he puts his teeth. It does take time, I would guess from a young pup maybe a month or two (with on going training after that - pups cock up every now and then ) but since your pup is a bit older it may take even longer. The main thing is to be consistant, it is no good trying to train him not to bite you, and then kids/DH have a play about with him, teasing him till he snaps, it needs to be everyone involved and everyone knowing what is expected of the pup.

Go and sit in on some sessions of puppy class's before you take the puppy, always go for a class that only uses postitive reinforcment (i.e. treats, praise), never take him to somewhere where they advise hurting or scaring the puppy into doing things, especially with a Staff. Try to pick the class with the biggest range of dogs, big, small, differing colours, this will help with the socialisation. And if a class seems to be utter madness, with dog's jumping everywhere, owners sat having a chat while they should be watching the dogs, don't bother with it, it isn't going to teach your dog very much.

Food wise, the quantity really doesn't matter, it is more about how he feels to you, as I said you should be able to feel his last rib, if you can't then cut his food back a bit, if you can feel more than the first 2 ribs then give him a bit extra. Don't forget to keep checking him though, dogs loose and put on weight very quickly, the last thing you want is a fat puppy, it will do his joints no good at all.

The time he spends alone, is he in his crate?

And the mouthing will ease and finally stop with the bite inhibition training. Your trainer (which ever one you decide) should be able to give you much more info on the actual training.

oh we already do that, he knows not to bite down, he rough plays with DH and knows that when DH says 'enough' its time to stop.

and yes, when he is alone, we do put into the crate as he chews everyting if left out.

You perhaps need to take it a step further and stop all contact between his teeth and skin then. The pup doesn't understand that he can't grab your ankles when you walk past him, but he can grab your DH's hands when they are playing, to a pup life is playing, it is all a level playing field IYSWIM?

What do you do when you cath him having a chew on something that he shouldn't be chewing?

...catch

I have been doing the 'NO' then offering him his chew rope, toy (or whatever is nearby)

oh and praising him when he chews on his toys

Do you play with him then? Or just give him the toy?

We had a spray when our dog was a pup, which we sprayed on things that we didn't want chewed (the piano, mostly! ). It smelled of green apples, but apparently tasted bitter to the dog. Worked very well, together with plenty of nylabones, real bones, rawhide chews and other toys.

just give him the toy

My sister used a spray like that once, it was supposed to taste of bitter lemon, the dog just licked it off and then chewed!! LOL

where can I get this spray stuff

he is very good in the evenings when the kids are in bed, he just lies down and sleeps lol.

my puppie is 11m and has develpoed a taste for everything at the mo too . i have to go up the end of the garden and collect the large collection of house hold objects that she has gathered in the day . anything from hairbrushes, shoes,wood,deodrantlids,dd3toys etc etc . she also has no end of toys that are still in the same spot say after day , cant give any advice though sorry , just thinking it will end soon . she hasnt lost any teeth yet and has been vets recently

your not alone

The idea of giving him the toy and praising when he chews that instead is great, but you also need to start off by playing with him with it, the toy needs to be more exciting to him than the sofa is, and you are the one that has to make it more exciting.

I know it isn't always easy with kids, and house and everything else, so for emergencies use some chicken, hot dog sausages, even some nice liver, dogs love these and in their eyes that is better than the sofa, but when you possibly can you need to get on the floor and play with him, show him it is so much more fun to play with toys than it is to have a quick chew on the sofa and risk being told off for it.

Also you could try having a box, put all of his toys in it, except one or two, then when you need to get his attention away from the sofa, a 'new' toy can come out of the box, the old one can be put in the box after the game, but it means he won't be using the same toys all the time, and then he won't get so bored so quickly.

Pets at Home, pet shops on line anywhere really.

It may help to give him the idea that he shouldn't be chewing that, but the training still needs to bedone, otherwise there will be a day when you forget to spray around, or you run out or whatever, and he will straight away be back trying to chew again.

Muma3 my last post will help you to, your dog is seeing the things he steals as much more fun than his boring old toys that are always around!

If you don't get on the floor and show the dog what your idea of having fun is, they make their own ideas of fun up, and most of the time their ideas don't fit into what we want.

thanks for your help NJ. he is currentlt playing with one of his plastic balls. I am about to take him out.