If your dog eats their bedding...

[3AndADog]

how do you stop them eating/chewing humans blankets/cushions?

Our dog is 16 months and allowed on the sofa - probably a mistake but other more pressing training needs right now. Anyway she chews on the cushions and the throws that we put down for her to lie on - we want a new sofa and some nice blankets for winter but just don't know how to prevent her trashing them. I want to keep her on the sofa. But she is SO attracted to soft or fluffy things.

Don’t let them chew them?
if they can’t do that they can’t come on the sofa?

make sure they have plenty of safe toys they are allowed to chew

How is she with plain cotton throws? Our dog couldn’t resist a comfort nibble on teddy bear fleeces or fluffy throws when she was younger but we replaced with the plain weave cotton ones and she wasn’t interested, so it broke the habit.

Stop letting her on the sofa? Or only allow her when you are there to supervise. The second she starts then she should be removed

You have to tell her no every time she does it. And redirect her to her chew sticks. But still if she's left alone with your sofa expect to come home to a room full of stuffing. Mine once chewed a whole sofa cushion AND a big cuddly bear we'd left on the chair as a gift for someone that was waiting to be given. We rubbed his nose in it, gave him a firm, clear telling-off and sent him to his bed, just like when we taught him not to urinate in the house. He didn't do anything like that again.

Lol at rubbing their nose in it, ridiculous advice so don’t do that 🙄

I'm still searching to find a chew that's more attractive than cushion corners!

Mine is the same, he has his own stuff to trash and the second he tries with couch cushions or my blanket etc. He’s either kicked off the couch (figuratively, obviously 😂) or he gets a time out out of the room depending where he is at the time.

It’s taken a while, but, he does mostly stick to his own stuff now.

I know it's not what you want to hear, but the only solution is not to leave her unattended with stuff she likes to chew. If that means kicking her off the sofa then that's what you'll have to do.

I'd be looking at WHEN she chews and, therefore WHY.

Destructive behaviour when left alone can indicate anxiety at being left. I'd want to rule that out, or deal with it, before anything else.

Ok sorry I didn’t give relevant details.
she never ever chews anything while we are out. I have a camera and she always sleeps in her bed nicely.
the seeking out fluff happens while I am there possibly as an attention seeking thing. I’ll be on the sofa right next to her and she’ll start chewing on a cushion. Then she won’t give it up without a really high value treat trade. I might be cooking in the kitchen and she’ll jump on the sofa grab a cushion and start trying to kill it. Then the game is extended with me trying to get it off her. It’s just annoying because I will kick her off the sofa but the o my way to stop it reoccurring over and over again is to take them away completely but we need cushions on the sofa and I need a blanket in the winter! Tbh I could ignore as the cushions are old ones and tatty and awful but I’m going to want new ones soon and we also want a rug but I know she’ll chew on the tassels/corners constantly. Same goes for curtains - we currently don’t have any at the big glass doors but when we finally get around to fitting some she will just chew and hang off the bottoms, like she does with my clothing if I wear eg a long cardigan. No amount of redirecting helps move her away from fabric if it’s available.

Then she won’t give it up without a really high value treat trade.

1. Prevention is better than cure. It won't be forever, but the more you can prevent her being able to chew, the easier it will be to stop her. Move anything you don't need out her way or use a baby gate to prevent her getting into the living room unless supervised.
2. If she gets a cushion etc then trade for a high value treat and trade immediately. Over time, you should find she just picks up the item and looks to trade it straight away rather than try to chew it. Keep that up and then, slowly, extinct the behaviour totally by asking her to do something else for the treat (.e.g get in her bed).