destructive chewing

[Melissa Fontaine]

Hey-I have 2 cardis, both 10 mos. old, with radically different personalities. My girl, Tegan, is very dominant. My little guy, Tucker is a "scaredy dog" but super sweet. My problem is that if I take my eyes off of them even for a short time, they chew everything they can- my kitchen table looks like a pack of beavers got ahold of it, the undersides of the bed, chairs, etc. is torn to pieces. They have every chewing toy imaginable-nylabones, kongs,etc. but persist in the destruction. I know it is boredom, but I need a strategy to get them to stop. THANKS!

[tandemgal]

Melissa,

deleted by T-Gal

[corgimom]

Bitter Apple does work. My Cody was not a big chewer, he sometimes, liked
to chew on the throw rug when he was younger - I even sprayed the spray
on some spots on the rug and it worked. Try it and try to re-direct them with
a fun toy instead - or freeze some yogurt in a kong that will keep them occupied for a bit longer. What about putting some ice cubes in their water bowls to occupy them a bit. Sounds like they need to release some energy also.

linda

[Chip's Mom]

Chip is not a chewer either but he initiated the footboard on my brand new bed the other night. It now has a new design. Whenever I look at it, I think of Chip. LOL I will try the bitter apple also.

Bonnie

[Jeni D]

The bitter apple worked for me too. Dudley has a bad habit of chewing his leash, especially if we accidentally leave it on the floor, so we sprayed some on the areas he chewed and no more chewing. I would definitely give it a shot; it couldn't hurt that's for sure. You can buy it almost anywhere; we got ours at Petsmart for I think 7 dollars.

[Fluffypants]

Good idea to keep them busy with a Kong. Bully stix are also great to keep them occupied for awhile, as well as any other toy that you can hide food in (buster cube, treat stick, etc.). It will keep them distracted, trying to get the food out, and burn off some energy as well!

[darci]

He he we have a Egan and now a Tegan...........lol

[Michael Romanos]

The "a la naturale" ways of stopping a dog chewing are: Not to let them get bored often enough as to promote activity you don't want. Then, when catching a dog about to or actually in the act of chewing or biting into furniture, clothing etc, to immediately present them with an alternative such as an object that they can get stuck into. All these toys your Corgis have are practically meaningless in preventing them going for other things instead because they are not consistently getting the message at the time of the misdemeanor, and a conglomeration of toys presents a nothing result - much like a rich, spoilt child having so many things to play with that the child ignores them all and gets into mischief instead.
Corgis need real chewing objects - as an occupational thing and to satisfy their needs. Also it is useless admonishing your dogs after the event. They don't know what you are on about - should you be doing this. So it won't stop them doing whatever they had been doing, on other occasions

[KatC]

Abby was a very destructive chewer even though she had countless nylabones and chew toys. Some Very Antique furniture is now not quite as valuable as before. I sprayed StopChew (probably similar to your Bitter Apple) on everything of value and kept most of the rooms barricaded off.

The good news is that she stopped chewing furniture when she was about thirteen months old. However she will still help herself to articles like mobile phones, spectacles etc if they are within reach and totally destroy them.

This picture shows how she occupied herself (with an unsprayed item) before sunup one morning when she was still in the furniture chewing phase.

[Michael Romanos]

KatC and Abby - you're both naughty girls. Fancy having good furniture and a Corgi at the same time. Help, I must have done something right or just been damn lucky. Put all six Corgis I've had together and the several who have stayed for lengthy visits and they have basically damaged nothing of note.