[eeeeeek]

My pup loves to eat her beds.... Do you have any tips? I’ll tell her to ‘leave it’ and she’ll leave it for 5 minutes and go back to chewing. I’ve tried time out and things like that, but she still loves chewing it. I think part of it may be a teething phase, but it is so annoying!

 

[cowpony]

My pup loves to eat her beds.... Do you have any tips? I’ll tell her to ‘leave it’ and she’ll leave it for 5 minutes and go back to chewing. I’ve tried time out and things like that, but she still loves chewing it. I think part of it may be a teething phase, but it is so annoying!

When Pogo and Snarky were at that stage I held off on getting nice store bought beds. Instead I made a big sack out of some tough upholstery fabric I got on sale. Then I put some old worn out clothes in the sack, tied it shut, and laid it on the floor for them. They were perfectly happy to flop on it instead of a real dog bed. Every few days there would be some mishap: they'd untie the knot and pull all the clothes out into the yard, or one of them would puke on the bed. No problem. Everything went in the washer, then back into the sack, and the pups were back in business.

 

[Basil_the_Spoo]

Take it away for a day or two.

Last week, Basil put bite marks in her bed pillows and flung them around like a toy, so I took them away for a day or two until they become uninteresting. It's because she's bored and not sure if they're a toy or not.

Same thing happened with toilet paper when Basil was a pup. She destroyed one roll, so the next roll I had to keep out of her reach, now she isn't interested in them anymore.

 

[PeggyTheParti]

What alternatives does she have to chew on? I found it helpful to give Peggy lots of “Yes!” options: Different sizes, smells, tastes, textures.

I also stuck with very simple bedding until she was old enough to be trusted. Here was her standard puppy set-up:

After a while we added blankets. Then a proper bed.

 

[DNi]

Loki was around 8 months old when we saw this behavior, so I'm not sure if the method applies, but our trainer suggested the following: When he started chewing/tearing the bed, respond with an "Oops," move it out of his reach, and wait for him to lose interest in it to put it back down again. Rinse and repeat over one afternoon. It worked pretty quickly, we've had very few instances of him chewing on the bed since (usually when he's overtired).

 

[Brownie_mom]

Ruger loves to play with his daybed. For some reasons it does not bother me. He likes to dig in it, drug it around or turn it over, clime under and run around with the bed on top of him. This is actually pretty funny. So far I do not see a visible damage to the bed. And yes, he loves to clime in and relax in it.

 

[PeggyTheParti]

My foster GSD would drag her blanket from her crate and across the room. I put it back over and over (and over!) again until one day I decided to just let her have her fun.

Turns out she just wanted to lay on it where she could see me.