Does anyone know how to keep a puppy from ripping apart my comforter

to get at the fiber-fill goodness inside? I'm not too upset because I needed a new one anyway, but she's obsessed with fiber-fill and she'll do anything to get more. I scold her every time I catch her in the act, but it's not working.

I don't really want to spray the whole thing down with Bitter Apple because my older dog sleeps in the bed. The pup is still doing the kennel thing at night.

Problem solved.

there is a learning curve here.

:shrug:

Fill it full of something yummy and see if she likes it. Maybe it will distract her.

lots of squeaky toys, canvas toys, and a whole other dog to play with. Lack of toys isn't the problem, it's her fiber-fill addiction. The comforter is the only toy she can't have. The whole reason I took her in was because my older dog has epilepsy and she needed a playmate (which worked BTW).

Everyone says I should lock her in my office with me, or put her in the kennel all day, but I don't believe in locking dogs up. I didn't do that for my other dog and she never went after the comforter.

Good Dog U is on early Sunday mornings. Sometimes they have pretty good ideas on how to handle behavior problems. Never punishments, only training through rewards, which is the only way to go.

my parents must go through 4 a month to keep their dachshund happy.

Give her the old one and close the bedroom door so that she can't get to the new one. (This is actually a bad idea because she'll think that comforters are toys.)

Instead: Buy her a load of fun cloth toys with squeekers, Greenies and raw hide to keep her busy.

otherwise you are just barking at her and she might think it's a game. Hopefully you are using the word NO! when you scold her. You need to assert your dominance over the dog now when she is a puppy.

She knows I'm displeased, and she knows why I'm scolding her. The allure of puffy white goodness is why she does it. I'm sure she'll eventually outgrow it, it's just annoying now.

They have a very short attention span and do not know what they are being punished for.

being handed a DIFFERENT thing to chew on, with approval and lots of petting.

Dealing with an 11 week old puppy here too.

And I do the high-pitched yelp thing when she bites too hard. That definately works.

When my late Rottie was a pup he liked to chew things up too. Chewed a pair of brand new Clarks clogs that were right next to a pair of old sneakers. But did he go for the sneakers that I didn't care about? Noooo. Had to be the Clarks. You need to get the puppy lots of good chew toys so she can have something to be occupied with. That and wait it out. They do like to chew things a lot at that stage. Rather than scold her for chewing the comforter (that can confuse her) reward her when she starts chewing the chew toys. Tell her "good girl" and things like that. You need to let her know it makes you happy when she plays with her toys and that she is being very good. That is more effective than letting her know you are unhappy with her chewing on the blanket. Sometimes they don't really understand why you are yelling at them. Positive reinforcement tends to work better. Try to be patient. I know its hard!

Fold up the comforter and put it inside the plastic cover each morning.

Now why didn't I think of that? Duh..

On Edit: Let's hope it doesn't cause her to start ripping apart the the futon.

whilst getting a new one for you and the older dog. Then remember to put this new one in a place where she can't reach it. I still have to put my shoes somewhere my mastiff can't reach cause he thinks they are toys.

Would you allow that, too? The same principle applies. Give in to a kid or a dog and you'll have an undisciplined kid or dog.

Are evil puppy haters....:cry:

stuffed toys... like your run of the mill stuffed animal?

My dog Punkin had a little stuffed crab that she loved... she ripped all the fill out of it, and played with the carcass for several months....then when there was nothing left but one sad little crabby leg, she carried that around too... :)

I had three pups in the house. I need a new leather jacket (the one they chewed the arm off of was 20 years old and had a lot of memories)

They chewed my power strip cord until they hit the white wire, then they lost interest.

They have destroyed three dog pillows so far, one is still chewing so that isn't a final tally.

They love chewing on wallboard- they arrived during a house rehab.

Just about anything they can get they chew on.

would probably help. She can satisfy her de-stuffing urges on them, and if you catch her at the comforter, scold her and then turn her attention to the stuffed toy and praise her when she takes it. Might help in establishing that destroying toys is ok but not comforters/sofa cushions/whatever. You might want to get one started by putting a rip in it so she gets the idea that they're full of stuffingy goodness just like the forbidden comforter...

I've found that sometimes scolding at the forbidden thing rather than at the dog can help, too--gets across the idea that the thing they're messing with is bad.

I have the cutest picture of our dog as a puppy gleefully disemboweling his stuffed godzilla--too bad it's not on the computer here. Even after all the stuffing was gone he dragged it around everywhere for months.

on behavior modification for pups...

1. mama dogs discipline pups by barking or nipping, you can't nip, but you can make a noise loud enough to startle the pup when caught performing the behavior you want to change.

It has to be overly loud and overly acted. i.e. if dog is chewing your finger too hard, act REALLY hurt, OOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!! Make sure it is actually before it really hurts you, set the bar pretty low. Puppy will be shocked, just like she would be if she bit a litter mate too hard while playing and really hurt them. She'll learn what's too rough that way.

You can do the same with potty training, a sharp really loud NO! midstream will startle and probably cause a bigger mess in the beginning, but puppy will much prefer the praise and love given when she goes in the proper location; and will ask to go outside when the urge comes.

Again, same with chewing non chew appropriate items. The key is catching them red handed (toothed?) and making your response over the top and loud. Then offer an appropriate chew toy and praise praise praise! You can also set up play sessions with several items spread out on the floor, right in front of you, some being her toys and some not, let her choose and say NO or GOOD DOG depending on her choice. Puppy will learn which are 'hers' and which are not, let those that are be just hers and no one else's.

2. if this doesn't work alone, you can add a water bottle (set to stream) in addition to your acting skills. I think this is self explanatory. works for cats too.

Have fun! (it is really fun overacting the hurt bit, my pup got really concerned and licked my face every time she 'hurt' me)

train a poochy.

I was just saying I'm dealing with our new pup, an 11 week old, in just the same way. I'm also teaching my daughter how to help and how to be consistent with Lola's training, so it's a good experience for her too.

Lola is responding perfectly to her training and is so eager to please and give us love. Last night I let her sleep with me for the first time and got up to let her pee on the paper, which she promptly did, so that routine might work fine, since I wake up often in the night anyway. She liked it much better than sleeping in the bathroom alone, that's for sure.

Lola however, is all of 3 lbs of fluff, being a pomeranian...

had ever been the one to train our pets as kids! flea slept with us from day one, at six weeks old, 8 years ago, I can hardly sleep without her now. She was the size of my palm then, she's 8 lbs now. She spent alot of time in the blocked off kitchen before we got her fully potty trained, chi's are notoriously hard to train in that regard. She learned sit, stay, come, up, speak, down, and over pretty quickly though. :-) Her mama is so proud!



She owns me, really!

But mostly when she bites me too hard while playing. I'll try it with the destruction too. She's also learing alot from her big sister, even though she's a bit odd (She's more human than dog). I've never met a dog quite like her.

I went as far as setting up a mirror at a 45 degree angle so I can see into the other bedroom across from my office. I'm not quite in the habit of keeping an eye out at all times. She's sneaky and gets into trouble very quietly.

Here's a pic of the little devils..

OMG THEY ARE SO CUTE!

We trained our dog with a shake can, which is a coke can with 15
pennies in it, with the opening taped up.
Several cans around the house are handy.
Keep the can out of sight when you shake it, so the dog
won't associate you with the noise.
Also, if you can, immediately
redirect the dog to a chew bone/toy.

If you do have to restrain her to a particular area and can't stand the thought of a kennel, maybe try one of the gates that lock into a door that keep toddlers from going in or out of a room.

I've never been to a garage sale yet where I haven't seen one of those so it's easy to find them used CHEAP.. They're always in the papers under the "misc." section of the classifieds.

If you do decide on a kennel, you don't have to go with an airline or cage style! Places like Walmart (etc.) usually sell the big metal octagon-shaped "pen" styles.

It would be just like putting her in a play pen.. :-)

had like a mouth and just touch him and calm down. Start with a leash
and ensure he totally surrenders. Once he sees you as a calm asertive pack leader he will respond.

calm our hyperactive dog.

totally surrender. My dog is assuredly an Alpha dog, but she submits most of the time to my and my dh. I would hate to have broken her spirit that much. I like my dogs with a little personality. She sometimes likes to be left alone and lets us know when that is, but she also enjoys pleasing us. She knows the tone of voice that says 'danger' or 'NOW', and obeys, but sometimes she'd rather sit in the sun than come inside, that's her perogative.

A dog's master doesn't get bitten. An owner may when a dog decides to be the boss.

Ask any dog.

(just kidding)

Pets HATE it!

Works every time!

Or do I just make her a hat? :tinfoilhat:

Actually, you lay pieces of foil randomly on the comforter, sofa, chair, or on carpet where you don't want the dog or cat to go.

This really works!

Sometimes it doesn't and I am not sure you would want that on your comforter...but basically good luck, dogs are pretty stubborn if they find something they want to chew on!

I will admit, cats are far less of a hassle than dogs.

when you're not in there w/ her.