Tobasco sauce as chew deterrant??

[cansleepanywhere]

My lab pup is getting to know what's good chew in the house and what isn't. Door frames seem to be a particular favourite. She's mostly supervised but we do have to go to the loo/bathe on occasion.

So far the only thing that keeps her off is if I smear a bit of Tobasco sauce on anything that takes her fancy. One sniff and she's gone.

What did you guys use? Bottle running low......

Don't have a dog personally, but I've heard of people using: asafoetida (a spice that tastes as pleasant as the name suggests), feverfew (a medicinal herb with a bitter taste), raw chilies.

Is there anything the pet shop can recommend?

I have a bitter apple spray from the pet shop to deter chewing, which is presumably harmless just nasty tasting. I'd be a bit concerned that tabasco might upset your dog's tummy or make her ill.

Just to be clear, she doesn't lick it. As soon as she smells it she backs off. I did try the bitter apple spray, had no effect. Think she actually quite likes it

Bitter apple spray made no difference to our dog at all, it's rubbish! I'd say if the Tabasco is working stick with it. As someone with not a skirting board or architrave un-chewed in virtually the entire bloody house, you have my sympathy!

We used tabasco and it worked a treat!. Chair legs were a favourite in our house bu ttabasco soon put a stop to that.

Hi, we used Vicks Vapour Rub it works really well and is great if you have a cold yourself as the whole house smelt

I wouldn't really recommend using anything like this as it is considered aversive. Redirect her to something she is allowed to chew such a a stuffed frozen kong, before she starts to chew what she isn't.

Why is she chewing?

Bored?
Stress Reliever?
Teething?

I would work out the solution to the reason why. You cann't put tabasco sauce over you whole house (and it is pretty nasty for the dog tbh) so find out why the need to chew

If bored, do some clicker training to tire out the dogs brain as well as just general exercixe

If stressed clicker training will help to build the dogs confidence as the dog is free to learn without getting a hard time

if teething get some great chews bones and give to your dog in a safe supervised place. Crates are great to be used at a time like this.

Also with the teething, (supervised) gnawing on a wet then frozen, knotted flannel/tea towel can help. It numbs their gums. Teething for a puppy hurts like teething for a baby.

Thanks for all the ideas.

She's chewing because she's on her own downstairs and we're upstairs. Letting her upstairs is not an option until she's fully trained. Kids have their toys up there and it's fully carpeted so any house training accident would be hard to shift.

I've given her dentastix (puppy version) and frozen kongs but she eats them faster than we can get back downstairs! I can't give her any sort of rawhide as I won't be supervising and although she has 2 puppy nylabones they don't interest her.

She's just turned 12 weeks so not sure if she is teething yet. Are there any signs I should be looking for?