As you all know we got Annie (rescue) in June. She is about two. I spent all summer home with her and Baxter and things worked out pretty good. When I went back to teaching I started finding a few shoes chewed, some of John's baseball caps chewed, tissue boxes chewed, etc. Well the situation is getting worse, Monday I found a baseball cap chewed and a brand new pair of my shoes chewed up.I don't want to be hard on her because I think she might have been abused, but I did yell a bit. The funny thing was that as I sat on the couch with Baxter I found a piece of the shoe in HIS mouth!! So is it a game between the two of them, is Annie instigating it and Baxter joining or is Baxter finally showing some resentment??? Oh, this morning I found my 180.00 special plastic contacts on the floor, case chewed, but think I can save the contacts. What do you think??

Hi Pat...it's Linda from State College. We crated our 2 new dogs until they were trustworthy (about a year) and now when we're gone they only have access to the tile family room and the kitchen. Good luck, Linda

Good advice about the crating and about the limited area otherwise.

Sophie would chew my shoes when she was first able to be out. It was always my stuff, never hubby's. She especially loved whichever were the new athletic shoes. I finally got smart and put them away in the closet where she could not get them.

We make sure that she gets a peanut butter kong when I leave in the morning. Luckily, I am only gone a long time on Monday and Wednesday, so the other days she gets more play time with mom.

My daughter reports that her special undies (no longer manufactured) suffered a dog-chewing event by her foster girl when left alone with an opportunity to get them.

I guess they just love our special things.

Regards,

PJ

They do love to chew our most personal items. In addition to contact lenses, add glasses, retainers and hearing aids. Don't leave any of these items out on countertops or bathroom vanities or night stands.
Rosalind

We have a similar situation with Izzy. He loves paper & things that have our scent on them. Our job is to keep the treasures out of his reach. Our shoes are in the closet with the door closed. Clean clothes are put away and the hamper lid is always closed (they love things that have our strong scent on them)and the paper is out of his reach. When we are gone, he is in an ex-pen that is the size of our living room. The ex-pen protects our P.C./t.v/dvd's & furniture . He has access to our yard. I always throw in a kong filled with treats for him to work on.
We have gone through basic obedience class and have started the next level. I feel that the more you work with your dog, the stronger the bond is between you and the dog gains confidence.
Hope this helps. Closed doors, trash cans with lids and baby gates work wonders too !

You probably aren't going to like my suggestion: crate Annie when you aren't around - this is for her safety as well as the well-being of your shoes and hats :-) If not a crate than an expen - some place where she can't do anything naughty or get into anything (today your contacts tomorrow your prescriptions)...

The other thing is upping the exercise she's getting - she might need more activity now that you aren't home stimulating them as much - you can't rely on Baxter and dog to dog play to get all of the juice out (so to speak)...you might also take a bit of time every night to do some training - nothing big - just some tricks maybe - get that Lab brain of her working too.

BTW: Teller escaped his crate two weeks ago and shreded phonebooks. Actually shred implies that there were pieces big enough to pick up :-)

Erica