Carpet Chewing

[Bobfraser]

My 6 month old BC, Ellie has started to chew on the carpeting. She typically is doing this when no one is around so disciplining her is difficult when I cannot catch her in the act. Has anyone else experienced this and if so is there something to put on the carpet to discourage this?

[Sue R]

I think that the single most prevalent answer here would be for you to crate her when she can't be supervised, giving her safe things in her crate to chew on. She is probably teething some of her rear adult teeth and chewing is often a way pups deal with the discomfort of teething.

[D'Elle]

Definitely crate her when you are not supervising. She is just a puppy. The best way to change behavior, especially in a very young dog, is to make it impossible for the dog to continue with the thing you don't like, while substituting something that you do like.

since she is a chewer, get a wire crate, not a soft fabric one. Give her a variety of things to chew on such as a hoof, a frozen Kong with stuffing, and so on, until you find what she likes the best. Be very very diligent about the crate. If you are going to leave the room for one minute to go to the bathroom, crate her. (or take her with you) In other words, treat the whole thing as if the carpet-chewing is deadly dangerous for her, and don't give her any opportunity to continue to chew. This is a self-rewarding behavior and cannot be extinguished if she is given any opportunity to continue it.

[WickAndArtoo]

I agree with everyone above! We had a carpet eater, it was his only behavior that kept him In a crate for 15 months. He was never allowed unsupervised, he went in the crate or came with me into the other room etc. Very hard habit to break and they can be VERY SNEAKY. Wick would do it while you were in the room and very slowly pull it up and if he saw you look he would stop and pretend he was just sniffing around.

[Bobfraser]

Thanks for the advice. Ellie sounds a lot like Wick. I have caught her a few times downstairs and she immediately quits and gives me the ears back-I'm not doing anything wrong look. She sneaks upstairs and that is where she is getting into trouble so I guess it's the crate for her.

[WickAndArtoo]

Haha it's so funny and cute when they get caught naughty girl ! They are just too smart for their own good. Also just to mention it ... We tried the bitter apple spray when Wick was a puppy.... I mean we drenched the carpet in it... It worked for about .03 seconds and then he just went right back at it (this of course was before he got sneaky).

[GentleLake]

Mine doesn't chew carpet so much as the foam backing under the portion of carpet that hasn't been torn up yet and on the bottom of the mats I use in crates.

 

Yeah, same sneaky behavior, same I'm innocent look when he gets caught. I poured Siracha on the edge of the carpet in hopes it would deter him. Turns out he likes hot sauce. Licked every single drop up and kept on chewing the carpet backing.

[Bobfraser]

I thought about cayenne pepper in her favorite areas but turns out she grabbed some hot Takis from my son and ate them up so that idea went up in smoke.