Drywall Destroyer and Other Randomness

So a month ago, Owen went through a crazy chewing phase (8 months old). Matt caught him gnawing on the wall. I found corners of everything chewed (including my brand new duvet and curtains - sweet dog). So we concluded that he was bored and/or teething somehow (maybe teeth were growing or his jaw?). We gave him more appropriate things to chew on and walked him for hours at a time. We seem to have gotten through this right? WRONG!

I came home today to find part of the wall chewed again. I was only gone for about 3 hours (very normal) and he was in the hallway penned up with plenty of fun toys. What is going on?

He isn't allowed upstairs unless we are with him (we have a random room at the top of a staircase). If we forget to block it off - he is up there and in less than 30 seconds he has pooped. He has not had an accident since he was neutered in December (grace for not being able to find the potty when on drugs). I thought we were out of the wilderness but this is weird. He is doing very well with commands so I am not sure if this is just a relapse.

Is he just jacking with us? Thank God he is a cuddly and sweet boy otherwise.

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Permalink Reply by Sam Tsang on February 9, 2009 at 6:46pm

I'm so sorry to hear that Owen's mom :) Years ago, Vienna also picked up carpentry as her side job, she would chew baseboards and drywall, I can't tell you how many inches of baseboard we've replaced. She chewed throw 3 wooden baby gates, various wall putty and paint. We tried bitter apple and other methods, what worked for us was simply placing something big in front of it, we placed her crate against that wall and the problem was gone, she grew out of her teething stage when she turned 1 and that was the end of it. Take a deep breathe, this stage shall pass :)

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Permalink Reply by Cha Yen on February 9, 2009 at 9:46pm

When Cha Yen started to chew on our walls/doors/furniture, we picked up some Bitter Apple spray which work just fine. I have heard though that it doesn't deter some dogs, so maybe you should try picking up a smaller bottle first to see if it works. Now that's she older she's seemed to have lost interest in the walls/doors/furniture, probably because we have a massive basket full of toys just for her!