A wood chewing dog

Angela writes:

"We got ourselves a rescue dog, WAIT I am so rude! First, thanks for your dogblog!

Okay, a little backstory, rescue dog brought home at 9 months (him) and there was no abuse in his past, he just needed the right home and his mom and her boyfriend couldn't keep him around. Sad. But happy for us...

Fred has been awesome! I have been working with him on simple commands and he picks it up right away. He doesn't jump or bark a lot, and is so sweet and good. All he wants is to be right there with you. Which brings us to my question: I know he has separation anxiety, but why does he need to eat wood? He has eaten thru a large chunk of a tree stump in our yard, and is working on the bark of the small cypress in the side yard. I give him chew toys, and bones, but he prefers wood. This scares me a bit. He loves to be outside laying in the sun with a nice chunk of bark. Is this okay? How can I help him?

Thank you so much, again, am enjoying the blog."

Fred, the incredible wood eating dog, is not unusual in his preference for chew toys.  A lot of dogs like to chew wood for one reason or another, but it is not a behavior you want to encourage.  Splinters from the wood can lodge in the dogs mouth, across the throat, and between the teeth.  Or pieces of the wood can penetrate the esophagus or stomach causing internal bleeding.  I'm not a veterinarian so you're not going to get the correct medical jargon from me, but I did find this article written by a vet on the subject of all that can go wrong if your dog is a stick chewer.  You really need to read it if your dog has a preference for sticks and twigs.  Just a warning, the website can be a bit scary.  You wont want your dog to even glance at a tree again.

I can, however, help you stop the behavior.  Ready?

Restrict your dog's - or in this case, Fred's - access to wood.  Done.  No more stick chewing.

You all hate me right now, don't you?  On the heels of my last post here I am again that training a dog can be as easy as removing the temptations before they become habits.  Angela said, "He loves to be outside laying in the sun with a nice chunk of bark."  Well, that's kind of like saying, "But my toddler loves to play with his father's power tools."  It's up to you, the owner, to decide what is the correct behavior for your dog to develop.  If this is not exactly what your dog wants, tough tootsies for him.  If his sticks, or tree trunk, are kept from him he'll eventually move on to other things to chew.

Now, I know that it's not always as easy as removing a temptation.  Angela did mention that there was a tree trunk that Fred liked to gnaw on.  I think until Fred can be trusted not to eat wood anymore the trunk needs to be covered or surrounded with something. 

• The trunk can be surrounded by chicken wire (easy enough to cut to size) or covered in metal netting or stainless steel wire mesh (find at your local plant nursery or hardware store), for instance. 

• You could also try covering the stump in rough burlap and then stapling it to the bottom, leaving no piece of the wood showing, but this only works if your dog wouldn't chew the burlap either. 

• There are chew stops in liquid form that can be sprayed on the stump, like Bitter Apple, but to cover that much area you'd be spraying constantly.
   
• A trick that I picked up from the horse people I know is to cover any edible wood surface (or anywhere a dog might chew, for that matter) with Irish Spring soap.  Just rub the dry bar on the tasty surface and, viola, not so tasty anymore.

You've removed the enticing wood, now what?  Toys!  Lots of fun chew toys the dog only gets when he goes outside.  Toys that you will take away from the dog when he is no longer out on his own in the yard, because the toys should be special and exciting.

I've mentioned Kong's in the past.  I love those things, can't say enough about them.  But there's a lot of chewy toys on the market, you just need to find the one or two that your dog really likes.  Kong's, Bumpers, and Tire Biters are good, safe toys to leave with your dog.  If Fred's really bored then get him a treat ball, like a Buster Cube, and let him push that around the yard for awhile until he gets all the yummy treats out of it.  And, of course, limit his access to the outdoors if he cannot be supervised.

I hope that Fred loses his taste for wood.  It's going to take some time but taking away something he likes is so much better than a visit to the emergency room.

Comments

[doggy mama]

That Buster Cube is awesome! One of the dogs who we walk at the shelter is obsessed with chewing everything - she even chews through Kongs! - and the Buster Cube is the only thing she can't get her sharp teeth through. Great toy!

Jane (Doggy Mama)

[Julie Pippert]

What is so awesome (in a good and bad way) is how many times I need to be reminded that how my dog (and children) behave is within my control. I make it sound like I don't know or act like that LOL. But those stumbling moments are the ones where clearly I forget. This is great advice!

Kongs last about an hour with my dog. He's one who used to love to chew wood too. We got the Kaleidoscope Bone (I'm pretty sure that's what it is) and he LOVES that and it has lasted!

Julie
http://theartfulflower.blogspot.com

[FENICLE]

Just so you know...I have been reading your blog and learning some new doggy tricks!!! Our Parker is doing much better!!!!

THANKS!

[Bully Domain]

Very Intresting Nice Dog BLOG........I say
“A dog is not considered a good dog because he is a good barker. A man is not considered a good man because he is a good talker.”
http://www.bullydomain.com

[Kay Sullivan]

Please give me some advice, my dog of 7 years all of a sudden is chewing my window frames and the door frames when we have had company and had to put him in the basement with our other 2 dogs. My house is being destoyed but I love my dog so much I just can't let him go.

Thank you so much.
Kay

[snarfer]

We have a wood pile outside and our Boxer will select a small maple log to strip bare when we arent looking. It will take a lot of soap, but I think I'lll try the soap trick on him. Thanks!

[Hungrydog]

I like the Irish Spring tip. Thanks.

[Puppy Chewing Case Study]

The best tip that I've read when correcting a chewing problem is this: Bust him while he's doing it in order for corrections to make any sense). Let him walk around and sniff about for a few minutes without interfering or paying him any attention; if possible, you can leave the room (but make sure you can still see him). Dogs have an acute sense of being watched, so you can pretend to occupy yourself by reading the paper, doing some cleaning, etc. As soon as his jaws close around an inappropriate item, swoop down on him with a loud, scary "Ah-ah-AAAAAHH!" (this is a more distinctive and startling sound to dogs than "no", because of the pitch of your voice. Loud, piercing, higher-pitched utterances will do more than a low and growly noise). As soon as he drops the item, substitute quickly with an appropriate toy: and AS SOON AS he takes it into his mouth, praise him exaggeratedly and give him lots of petting and encouragement. After you've repeated this process a few times, he'll get the hang of it.

[Roy]

Awesome! Thanks so much! I'll have to bookmark this page so I can reference back to it while I'm training him. Thanks again.

[Flea Meds]

Blog is so interesting. Chewing the wood is really a Amazing and questionable too...
That should be diverted to some other food product... It is so cute,...

[Amy Buckman]

Ok, I read your post on eating trees and twigs. What if the wood is your expensive bedroom furniture and your one year old rescue puppy just can't stop herself? She's totally ruined the bottom corners of all our bedroom furniture. She did it when she was real little and then stopped, but all of a sudden she's started again. We adopted her at 2.5 months, she's never been abused and she's RARELY totally alone. Help!!