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When does the chewing stop?


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Zorro is just turning 14 months now and is showing no signs of stopping his destructive behaviors when I'm not watching. I'm still containing him so he can't practice the behavior when I'm gone and just waiting it out until he grows up. Is there anything I can do to hasten the process? He never does it in front of me and 99% of the time is sufficiently stimulated and has things to chew on when I'm gone. I've tried a few test runs outside of containment to see if he will still chew and he does every time. I'm (and my wallet) is worried he may not grow out of it...

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What is he chewing up?

 

I have a 7 year old that will still 'chew to destroy' fleece toys, squeaky toys, wubbas, frisbees, etc. if I happen to leave them out or forget to close the closet door where I keep them. He can not destroy a black Kong.

 

Therefore, he never has free access to toys, and toys are hidden in a closet. His only access to toys is when I pull one out to play with him. At the end of playtime, the toy is put back in the closet.

 

Luckily, he does not chew on anything other than his toys - i.e. no chewing of rugs or furniture.

 

I did not give him free access to the house until he was about 18 months of age. Until then, he was crated when I was out.

 

Good Luck.

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Micah quit being an absolute piranha at about 8 months, but couldn't be trusted loose in the house without direct supervision until closer to 18 or 20 months. Gideon was gold once he got out of the absolute piranha stage at 8 months, but he was always calmer, much calmer.

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He chews things I around the house. When I'm out of the house it's definitely a stress-coping behavior. There are instances that I can generally leave him out of sight in the house though (i.e. when I take a shower) and 99% of the time he just lays down and waits for me but sometimes he also chews things in those instances.

 

I've caught him in the act before too and he gets really startled without me even acknowledging him. This surprises me because I never gave him any adverse reaction as a small pup that would make him think he had to hide and chew things away from me. I generally just stuck a toy in his mouth.

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Gidget and I have a deal, she can chew, I just request her to chew inside toys inside, outside toys outside, and to only chew her things. Problem with this theory is, sometimes outside toys are so much fun they end up in the house, her and Orion both are experts at sneaking in quite large pine cones, the other problem is bottle caps! If a visitor happens to drop one on the floor and leaves it, I end up having to retrieve it out of her throat. So that had to be added to our "leave it game" problem solved, or I hope.

 

She must bring a toy to bed or no one sleeps, every night I ask her if she has a toy, she will look, if not she will run and get one, kind of cute.

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  • 5 weeks later...

Callie sleeps with her lion, a blue dinosaur, and a hard chew toy (chew toy is interchangeable, the soft toys are not). If we lock her in the bedroom without one or any of the three, she'll fuss until we let her get them. She also brings her favorites to bed by herself most of the time.

 

She's only destroyed one household thing...She recently ate a bare hole in the carpet and then returned to the scene of the crime to lick it some more. She stays away from all of the furniture and mostly away from our belongings. She'll sneak chew things like shoe laces occasionally and we'll only find out later when we try to tie them and they come off in our hands (happened to my husband at the gym).

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