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You are all making some VERY strong arguments in favor of adopting a slightly older adult dog.

 

I lucked out with a former Puerto Rican street dog who, at 18 months, had had LOTS of time in the wild to chew, fight, chase, and hump whatever took his fancy. A quick snip, a soft bed, a warm meal, and he's happy to lie peacefully about all day. Chewing would never cross his mind.

 

::Contented sigh::

 

Mary

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I'm truly sorry about your floor. It's awful right now, but you will find a way to get it fixed, and 16 years from now you will laughingly barely remember the floor as opposed to a lifetime with a great dog.

 

Trust me, I've got a 17 year old right now that pulled up all the new linoleum one afternoon at about that age. It's funny now, and also bittersweet, because I'd give an entire house full of shredded flooring for 17 more years with her.

 

Just this afternoon a coworker who doesn't usually wax poetic about dogs told me about discovering a tucked away work bench had been badly chewed by a dog that has since passed away. He said, "When I saw all that damage... I actually felt happy to think of the fun she must have had chewing it. Boy, I still miss that dog."

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I've taken a closer look at the damage this evening and it doesn't seem to be as deep as I first thought. It still jumps out at me but the wood should darken some, hopefully making it not so noticeable. If only it wasn't in the middle of the living room.

 

I never really even got mad. I was too stunned. And many of you have said you'd give anything to have your dearly passed BC back to make just one more mess. Well, that's the sentiment I'm embracing. It is only a floor. Lewie is my precious. Guess that says it all.

 

Thanks again for sharing so many amusing antecdotes. I really appreciate it.

 

Here are a few pics of Lewie's handiwork:

 

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And many of you have said you'd give anything to have your dearly passed BC back to make just one more mess. Well, that's the sentiment I'm embracing. It is only a floor. Lewie is my precious. Guess that says it all.

 

Goofy dog! :rolleyes: But who can resist that face? Is there anyway you can put a small rug down over the damage?

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Goofy dog! :rolleyes: But who can resist that face? Is there anyway you can put a small rug down over the damage?

 

Yeah, I'll probably do that. Now I really wish I would have gotten the large (can you say cheap?) area rug for the living room. Much cheaper and easier to replace a 5 x 8 rug than floor boards.

 

Oh well, a good lesson for Mom, for sure!

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I almost wonder if he did that by accident. If he was getting really into chewing the bone, its possible he could have been missing it and getting the floor at the same time depending on what the bone looked like and how big it was. When I watch one of my dog's chew on a bone, he puts his head a bit to the side and the bottom canine on one side scrapes along his blanket as he's chewing it because he's chewing on the bone with his molars, not the canines. He's not a real careful dog...in any way.

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http://www.bcrescue.org/bchorror.html

 

I know some of you probably contributed to those.

 

A friend of mine bought a VERY expensive leather sofa and came home to find that the dog had dug through the sofa to get the ball underneath.

 

Robin

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So sorry about your floor. It seems that they seem to go for the things that mean most, somehow! I have lovely oak floors and when it seemed that we might have to have them replcaed less tha a year after they were fitted on account of a plumbing issue, I nearly went into meltdown. Is there any chance of an insurance claim on your household policy or pet policy if you have one?

An oldie but a goodie, so worth repeating :rolleyes:

He ate my wedding shoes, and wrap, the night before.Then he switched attention to shoe laces, ruck sack straps, etc. He still was allowed at the ceremony but squeaked with excitement all the way through. Teething was the absolute worst time. Obedience in all other respects has been exemplary.

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You could probably replace just the planks he chewed/scratched. Shiner does things like that too, he's chewed three comforters, one was completely ruined, the others I use anyway, and a quilt my mom made, my tempurpedic matress, very pricy, but I still use it, sheets, wires, the biggest thing, the carpet, and countless little things like pencils, stuffies, socks, shoes. He's a good dog, chewing is his only vice. I don't hesitate to crate him. I'm home all the time, but I've been having headaches, so if I need to lay down for an hour or two, he goes night night for a little while.

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I'm going to wait a while before making any kind of repair/replacement to the floor. I'll eventually contact the local flooring store that got so much of my money did the install to see what they suggest. I'm hoping the kid will grow out of (sort of) the massive chewing stage. The area rug idea is looking better and better. :rolleyes:

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Well, needless to say, I've been watching Lewie like a hawk. Last night the little darling started chewing the floor again, same spot. I scolded him and put a small rug over it. I am DEFINATELY going area rug shopping after work.

 

What can ya' do? *sigh* Still gotta love 'em.

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So sorry about your floor--

 

in the meantime, I'd rub a little tinted paste wax onto the scratches. Johnson paste wax with a cherry tint in it.

 

I work at home a couple of days a week & I'm beginning to realize that I need a better routine on those days. D, my 4yrold bc drives me crazy, when I know she mostly naps when I'm at my office. When I'm home she rarely settles down, is at me constantly--paw, face on the keyboard (once she erased an entire page of text). So I'm realizing that she needs formal down time, away from me during the days I'm home.

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Sorry to hear about the floor--but think about the silver lining--at least it wasn't something that could have caused a blockage that you'd have had to have operated out of him.....

 

After the MANY pairs of chewed shoes, pants pockets, holes in fleece sweaters, the time Pippin turned on the stove while trying to reach who knows what and we returned to a smoke-filled kitchen and heart palpatations, the two library books (at a cost of $80 each to replace), varied paperback books, the antique rocker, the floor gouges from dropped bones and claws getting a grip before launching....I thank my lucky stars that nothing they've eaten (knock on wood) has resulted in a too-expensive trip to the vet....oh, wait, there was the bag of Hershey's dark chocolate that one of them got out of a closet; the rising bread dough; and the kitchen sponge swallowed whole...but those weren't that expensive....not really.

 

Most of this was also while we were AT HOME presumably supervising the little dears.....(not the kitchen stove or the chocolate....). The reason we don't watch TV is that we now look up about every 40 seconds to do a quick check of what everyone is up to. It does definitely get better as they get older and their palates become much more discerning.

 

Shall we talk about the damage caused by the cats....? :rolleyes::D :D :D

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Shadow ate the legs on the chairs and the table, not too expensive, but annoying. But she also ate the windowsill, and part of the kitchen cupboards.. which are ~250 years old and completely irreplaceable. Luckily shes mostly content to shred her bedding and unstuff her toys. She did try to eat my blankets at one point, and a book, but when mommy screams NOOOOOOOOOOOO Shadow listens hehe. Usually she just plays by herself, she likes to throw her toys up in the air then catch them. Needless to say she has around 400,000 toys =D

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I'm having fun reading everyone's stories! :rolleyes: It's comforting to know we've all gone through this with our dogs. I was very spoiled by my first dog Ripley (an Aussie). Aside from some minor damage as a puppy, she never did anything and was perfect in the house. Then I got Yoshi. Before I figured out the solution to his separation anxiety, Yoshi managed to go through several crates, including this one (I still don't know how he got out of that opening; he's a rather large BC):

 

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I tried confining him in larger areas like the kitchen and bathroom. He chewed and scratched three doors (in two different rented houses) and part of a wall, ate some CDs (this one really had me worried because of the sharp edges, but turned out okay), pads of paper, unopened microwave popcorn bags, phone books, etc. He even managed to turn the food processor on once, in his efforts to get a banana that was foolishly left on the back corner of the counter. He knows how to open all the cupboards in the kitchen, including the lazy susan, so I have to be careful what I store in them (I don't want to use child locks because I think he might scratch or chew at the doors to open them). I leave the trash in another room now and all the appliances are unplugged.

 

Thank goodness, we seem to be past all of this now. It took a year, but I've found the routine that works for him in the morning and turned my leaving into a positive thing (I've also learned that he just cannot be confined in any way when I'm gone). Part of this routine involves leaving him with toys like this orange ball from Petsmart. You put dog food in it and they push it around all over to get the food out. When you're feeling sick, you might try something like this toy.

http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2751743

 

I also hide treats around the house for him to find, which would be another easy way to occupy your pup when you aren't feeling good.

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This topic has been a riot. Border Collie puppies can be described in one word, EVIL. I guess we got off lucky, chewed up carpet and a few window sills. I have told this one before on the board. While I was half asleep in the recliner and Ruger right next to me on the floor, he was chewing on the widow sill. I heard him chewing but it took a few seconds to sink in. I smacked him right on top of his head without even moving my body. He was that close.

 

I didn't trust Ruger until he was about a year and a half. During that time, if we were gone he was in the crate. These pups are just evil.

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This topic has been a riot. Border Collie puppies can be described in one word, EVIL.

 

In all fairness, most puppies will get into mischief and many will cause destruction if not properly managed. Labs are notorious for chewing throw walls and floors.

 

Then again, when Quinn was very little he seemed more coyote puppy than dog to me. I think because he was so bad, he ended up causing less damage than any of my other puppies. I couldn't take my eyes off him for a second until he was about 5 or 6 months old. Things steadily improved from there on but I was careful to give him his freedom in small increments.

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