Chewing up the carpet

[Valerie]

Hello, I just caught Barkley (my 2yr-old, rat terrier, foster for about 4 weeks) in the act of pulling on a snagged string of the carpet and there are some other spots a little more worn where I'm assuming he got to earlier.

I was thinking that he needed to chew so I gave both the dogs rawhide sticks. Is that a nervous thing? (he does have some quirks like tentative about coming inside) Is there some redirection I should use, pushing? Should I keep him in a crate when he's inside?

We were at the dog park earlier this evening so I would have hoped that burned off some of his energy, but maybe it amped him up?

My mom is considering adopting him but rug chewing would not be good where she is renting half a duplex.

How should I work on that? I do have the NDT book now but I'm only to chapter 4, still in the depth of the theory part.

[Jen]

Originally Posted by Valerie

Hello, I just caught Barkley (my 2yr-old, rat terrier, foster for about 4 weeks) in the act of pulling on a snagged string of the carpet and there are some other spots a little more worn where I'm assuming he got to earlier.

I was thinking that he needed to chew so I gave both the dogs rawhide sticks.

Hi Valerie,

I'm not a NDT trainer, but I will give you my POV - The first thing I like to do when a dog is chewing on a particular item , is to think of what about it makes it desirable? The texture of the carpet might feel good against his teeth and gums, it might make a noise when it is being chewed... then I would begin looking for a toy that he can chew with the same properties. No offence meant but I think raw hide chews must be quite dull compared to carpet they have virtually no texture once the chewing has started (they just get soggy). In Oz we have a range of toys called fleecy's (they are a fleecy rope toy) which would be a good start.

Jen

[neilsattin]

Jen has some good thoughts, though I would be careful about encouraging the chewing of anything "stringy" as that can be dangerous if it actually gets into the digestive tract.

As I've mentioned elsewhere - I like to reinforce "playtime" being outside and "relaxedtime" being inside. The more that Barkley understands that contrast, and the more that Barkley experiences stress RELIEF outside (through pushing/tug etc.) then the less inclined Barkley will be to look for that relief inside (which would be why he's chewing the carpet).

I have no problem with crate training - and put it in the category of "saving a dog from themselves" while you're in the midst of developing that contrast between inside/outside.

Generally dog parks, while they're great for socializing, and potentially physical exhaustion, serve to actually create more stress in our dogs. Your dog(s) will get a lot more out of 20 minutes of tug/fetchtug/pushing than they will out of 1 hour at the dog park, in terms of stress relief and EMOTIONAL exhaustion.