Help...destructive pet

Mc Love

I have a shih-tzu that is about a year old, and they cant stop eating stuff. If anything is left on the ground, its taken, rooted out, chewed on, ripped apart! And that even goes for stuff not on the ground, we had this foam mattress on a bed and she jumped up, tore off the netting, and then proceeded to rip through the foam!

I need suggestions on how to combat this?! Punishment clearly isnt working :mad:

andreac

Sounds like your dog is bored. What toys has it got to play with, chew toys etc? Have you tried a Kong?

I would also suggest crate training and when you cant supervise the pup you can put it in the crate.

DBB

Hi OP,
Could you give us some more detail?
Does this happen in front of you or when she's alone?
How long does she spend alone, usually, each day?
What punishment have you used so far? And when do you use it? When you catch her in the act, or when you find the damage already done?
What's her diet?
As Andrea has asked, does she have toys? If so, what sort of toys?
It might help us get a better idea of what might be causing this behaviour.

Mc Love

andreac wrote: »

Sounds like your dog is bored. What toys has it got to play with, chew toys etc? Have you tried a Kong?

I would also suggest crate training and when you cant supervise the pup you can put it in the crate.

Its my moms dog. So it ultimately comes down to her, but I will recommend the crate training. Yeah she has loads of toys, even ones for chewing.

DBB wrote: »

Hi OP,
Could you give us some more detail?
Does this happen in front of you or when she's alone?
How long does she spend alone, usually, each day?
What punishment have you used so far? And when do you use it? When you catch her in the act, or when you find the damage already done?
What's her diet?
As Andrea has asked, does she have toys? If so, what sort of toys?
It might help us get a better idea of what might be causing this behaviour.

No it wont happen when ever she is in front of us, although she does play with her toys in front of us. Normally when my mom is about during the day she is around her so, and for this week she has been alone for a good few hours but locked in kitchen, so no chances for getting into trouble.
We have used the rolled up newspaper and tap her on the nose when either caught in the act or after the damage has been done. Her diet is meat and nuts (dog food). She has cuddly toys and hard toys.

I have read that it might be due to lack of physical exercise, but sometimes she gets hyper after coming back from walk, but calms down after a while

Zapperzy

Does she get walked every day and for how long every day? It sounds like she is bored and is finding other ways to occupy herself. I would suggest a good long walk every day, or break that walk into a few smaller walks morning and evening. When you are not around to watch her then use a crate and give her a stuffed kong to chew (you can freeze them so they last longer if she is a hard chewer).

If you find a normal walk onlead is just not wearing her out enough then get out jogging with her or get her to run along a bike (obviously building up the length of time so you don't kill her out altogether on the first day).

What brand of food are you using? Some brands are full of crap that can affect behaviour in much the same way as feeding a child mc donalds and coke all the time.

And please stop hitting her with a newspaper. That teaches her nothing other than to fear your hand and the newspaper. Especially when you come home to find something chewed and you haven't caught her in the act, she may put on what you think are guilty eyes but dogs cannot associate you punishing her with something she done half an hour ago, they are just not built to think that way.