Hey folks-

My six year old daughter wanted a puppy for her birthday so we took her to the shelter and she picked out a Catahoula that looks to be purebred (I imagine he's a cross of some type) and anywhere from 6 mos. to a year old according to three different vets.

Anyway, his problem and ours is that he is a chronic chewer. I'm not talking about the occasional shoe that gets gnawed on but literally anything he can sink his teeth into. We've bought him Kongs, so-called indestructable chew balls, rawhides, pigs ears, everything we can think of but he still tears anything and everything up. He chewed the webbing off of a pool lounge chair, has figured out how to get my pool deck box lid open and has destroyed every pool toy we own, he lays under the bushes and chews on the trunks until they fall over and die, he's chewed through more hoses and extension cords than I can count, and the final straw-this morning he chewed through the wiring on my trailer!

He knows exactly what he is doing. If I walk over to a bush he has chewed on or any other object of his desire he turns and slinks away...all I have to do is get near it and he's gone!

I've successfully trained several working stock dogs and have extensive experience with animal behavior so it's not as though I'm completely inept.

At first I suspected that this was due to boredom on his part so started taking him on my daily four mile run and I also make my daughter spend at least a half hour a day playing with him but I've noticed no change in his behavior. In fact, it was after our run this A.M. that he took his frustrations out on my trailer. I assume now he's doing it for the attention.

He's crate trained, where he happily spends the night, and during the day he's in our back yard which is a fenced acre of land with extensive landscaping, lots of trees and a pool, where BTW he flops himself during the heat of the day.

I'm not nuts about the idea of building a dog run/kennel and I can't spray my entire backyard with bitters or chili powder so unless I can find a feasible solution he's going to have to find a new home.

Enough of my rant, now please let the suggestions begin!

Regards,
Scott

He's chewing because he's a puppy. Puppies chew. It's instinctive, part of exploring the world and part of dental development.

He'll grow out of it.

In the mean time, you should talk with a vet or a trainer, get some expert advice. Yeah, $$$. That's part of the cost of taking care of a dog.

He'll grow out of it. Exercise and attention are important factors in reducing the chewing from boredom. You sound like you're making some inroads if he realizes he's not supposed to chew -- and behavior suggests that he understands that.

But instinct is difficult to overcome. A kennel or fenced in "run" on an acre might be useful down the road for when you're "out" and need to leave the dog unattended.

Thanks for the input Randell, but I think this is a little more complex than just an age issue.
I've had a lot of puppies and never experienced anything like this!!

While there's no questioning the value of a good vet's advice I have to say that they are not always the best resource for information about training small animals (and trust me, money's not the issue!). I say this because I was married to one for umpteen years and while she was very good with animal behavior, I can't say the same for the majority of her colleagues.

In all of my other experiences with chewing puppies I've been able to re-direct their focus to a chew toy or other play routine, but not this time.

Anyway, thanks again!

Regards,
Scott

I've got one, also mostly Catahoula, that showed up at our house, even had a collar on which indicates that he wasn't a "throw-out", that is the same way. He's well past the puppy stage too. His final straw was when he chewed the anti-lock brake system lead off my son's new Ford truck. $150 later and it is fixed. Picked it up from dealer yesterday. Supposed to have a friend coming over today to pick him up and give him to a hog hunter where he may have a short lifespan if he's not a) a hunter or b)quick on his feet. I hate to shoot him. I'm getting old and soft and really hate to shoot a dog I've been petting for a while, but he's gone, one way or another. Nice looking dog, but I'm not going to attempt any more training him to not chew, he knows and I've got better things to do than spend serious training time dealing with a neurotic dog. I like dogs but people don't realize, there's a helluva lot more dogs than there is time in your life to spend on a bad one.

I'm not sure of the cause, but you aren't the only person that I've heard of with this issue. I think a kennel is your only option at this point, but even that won't necessarily work. I know another guy with a GSP that has this same issue. He built a kennel out of chain link, and the damn dog has chewed through the chain link. She hardly has any teeth left at all and is only 3 or 4. I'll also say that Catahoulas are very well known around here (they are our state dog and I'm currently sitting 80 miles southwest of Catahoula parish where they were developed, and I've had a couple, no mas por favor) for being hard-headed and mostly work on instinct. Trainability? Not so much. Good luck.

Randell, your first post on this thread wasn't helpful and your second was just stupid so do me a favor and please ignore this discussion....

Gato and Daniel thanks for your input. I'm coming to the conclusion that this is a breed issue. Unfotunately, there's a little six year old girl here that's gonna have a hard time understanding that, but such is life, eh?

Anyway, thanks again.

Regards,
Scott

BTW Daniel, what does GSP stand for?

Just curious

gsp = German Shorthaired Pointer

PS: My "chewing" dog is gone, hopefully to a place that he can be useful. I feel badly for your daughter, but get her a new one and she should be ok. I hate to recommend lying but it might be better if you took the dog back to the pound or wherever and told her it ran off. You'll have to decide that one.

Aaah, thanks Gato! Yes, working dogs can be a chore to deal with, no doubt.

Glad to hear you've found a (hopefully) home for your dog.

Since having children I view pets from a totally different perspective; they're essentially livestock and must bring some sort of "value" to the table. When they become more nuisance/work than pleasure then a change has to be made. It's not necessarily a failure on anyone's part, but more of a bad fit, IMO.

Anyway, I think we'll put the word out and see about finding him a home that will accomodate his behavior, cause God knows, he's making me miserable!

Oh and BTW, my daughter is coming around to the idea that he may need a new home, too. The problem is she now thinks a pony might a good replacement....little girl's got me wrapped around her finger.

Again thanks for the input!

Regards,
Scott

Your daughter definitely already knows how to trade up. Have fun with that pony.

I had a schnauzer mix for a short while when I was young. Damn thing barked all night, every night. Dad said it ran off one day and it didn't bother me a bit, wasn't any need to ask any questions.