With all this talk about elf, er, elk meat, is it time for everyone to re-read the (yes, true) story of Dogs in Elk??? If you have never read this old 'chat list' discussion, be sure and empty your bladder first.
Wood Chewing
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Hiya
I'm now into 6 weeks of owning my B's & I love them dearly. Things are slowly progressing to better days. One thing that I thought would stop with time is their constant chewing of wood & anything of plastic that they can find.
I have a wooden breakfast nook bench & table in my kitchen which is where they do most of their hanging out when I'm home (otherwise they're in their crates). They have taken to chewing the joints of the table where the table legs meet & the seets of the bench. I haven't found anything to stop them from doing that. I've tried bitter apple no use
result: He licks it & she continues to chew :eek: they also want to chew the plastic wheels off my baker's rack UUUGGHHH it's just endless. They've chewed off the plastic safety plugs from the outlet & I've had to literally dig into their mouths for fear of them swallowing it.My husband now needs to put a metal plate over the outlets..so much for electicity:D
Any help??
PS-and they are NOT puppies C3PO is 3yrs & Topaz is 2 yrs.
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lol, my dog thought "bitter apple" was a condement! what I did was use a squirt bottle. he attempted to chew an old wooden entertainment center - I squirted him good w/ the water bottle, along w/ a stern "aht-aht!", and that put an end to it. *obviously I don't recommend squirting water around an electrical outlet! for that, I'd block it as best I could while training LEAVE IT.
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Most B's do slow down a little with chewing as they get older. Abbey's chewing habits have changed now that she's nearly 3. She finally realized that no matter how hard you work, you can't make a dent in the bathtub. The toilet seat's a different story. The old one got too uncomfortable to sit on, and we've had the new one a few days now. Give her time. I have found you can't let your guard down with a basenji, because that's exactly what they want you to do. Mine has been good for a long long time and hardly ever does anything naughty in the house but yesterday she punished me for going to the post office by removing the weather stripping at the bottom of the front door while I was gone. I tried bitter apple on her favorite chewing targets when she was younger and it did work for her. The problem was she just found a new favorite to chew, like the ends of the couch. She has always been very stubborn and responds to commands only if she felt like it. No, stop, and leave it mean nothing to her, but for some reason WAIT appeals to her and if I catch her in the act of chewing something I can yell WAIT! and she stops chewing and waits.
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I heard of a couple different methods rather than the bitter apple. There's a mixture of water/vinegar you could try and for wires and outlets try a very strong mentholatum salve. If you don't mind the smell, if that works on the plugs you could rub a little down on your wood as well. My B doesn't chew too many things she's not supposed to but I've heard they really hate that. It's understandable considering it burns my eyes if it's too close so I couldn't see it tasting too good.
I would definately try the squirt bottle though as well.
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With Bitter Apple, I have found that if they don't respond to it at first. Hold the mouth open, and squirt a big dose of it in there. Dogs will rarely want to be anywhere near it after that.
A little aversive? Yes…but better than destroyed belongings.
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Thanks!
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spitfire THANKS! It looks like the mentholatem worked
my poor table will not be chewed down to hobbit size HA!!
