Chewing Staffie

[I love Tiggy]

Hi My two year old female staffie goes for months without chewing anything and then she'll go through a pair of shoes in seconds. i'm wondering what to do to try and stop her if that is at all possible.

She seems to know its wrong as whenever i show her the shredded shoe etc she moans and puts her ears back etc. It is also only ever my things as well. I have been told that it may be that she regards me as her master and is after my scent or misses me?

She is also due to come into season within the next month - could that be it? I'm having her spayed after that so could that calm the chewing?

Her previous owners had her in a cage which i have gotten her out of and she is free in the house, but i am wondering whether i should put her in the cage after one of her shredding sessions or would that be the wrong type of action?
I hated her being in the cage so don't want to use that unless i have to as she is the most wonderful little girl and gets sooo excited when mummy returns home from work.

I have heard of seperation anxiety - could that be it? What could i do to help her out with that? Could it be that she needs more outdoors time??

[chelsea78]

hi there, it must be the breed of dog i have a 7mth male he goes through stages of being good then chewing what ever he can get hold of, i have now had to put him in a cage when im not about because it was getting to the point i would close a door on him but still be in the home and he would have shredded somink and i was getting very wound up coz he was ruinin my home, you always hear of dogs that like to chew and they turn out to be a terrier, i no not all terriers are the same hopefully they change as they age. yeh a season does change animals behavior so hopefully that is all it is with your little girl

[kaztuz]

Since we had our staffy 7 weeks ago I have been doing lots of research on dogs behaviour, etc.

Try reading Jan Fennell - The Dog Listener and if you have Sky, watch Cesar Millan - The Dog Whisperer on Sky Three at 6pm. They basically use the idea that dogs are pack animals and therefore you need to show them you are the leader of the pack and the reason they do certain things is because they believe they are leaders and not you.

When we go out we put our 8 month old staffy in the kitchen and remove anything that she can chew because the first few times we left her she demolished two pairs of shoes. I have also forgotten to take my slippers out twice and shes had them too, even though she has several toys and hide bones to chew on of her own. She can also jump up on to the table so everything comes off there too, and she is fine when we do this. We also leave the radio on for her. We were going to try her with a cage too when she first chewed our shoes, but we didn't need to as long as we removed any chewables out of her reach when we went out. She definitely is better when the radio is left on as the house goes all quiet when you go out. We give her a couple of treats on her bed to occupy her mind as we leave and don't speak to her or give eye contact immediately before going out, sounds harsh but works, and never leave food for them to eat whilst you are out.

Staffy's are big chewers and can get bored easily so they need lots of exercise, stimulation and plenty of toys to chew.

She really needs a minimum of an hours walk a day preferably more.

Hope this helps you.

[I love Tiggy]

Thanks very much for the replies so far. I'll have to watch dog whisperer and see if i get any tips.
It's just odd how she can go for weeks/months without doing owt and then boom, she's shredding again