Old Trainer: My dog chews every bed he has. How do I stop him?
Dear Old Trainer: Nifty, my 2-year-old mixed breed, is driving me crazy. His favorite activity is to pull his bed out of his dog house and shred it. He must love it because he’s done it over and over again. I’m sure your dogs don’t do this, but I need help.
Rita, San Mateo, Calif.
A: My dogs don’t do this? Ha! If only. Some of my best and smartest dogs spent their youth doing that very thing. Joker, my most trusted dog, chewed up every bed he ever had his first three years.
I have such a fine collection of dog beds riddled with holes I may take them to Antiques Roadshow when it comes to town.
It’s easy to cure if you catch the dog in the act, but that’s hard to do because they only do it when they’re bored, and they’re only bored when you’re not there. You can’t scold a dog for something they do while you’re gone or they think they’re being scolded because you came home.
If you do see Nifty in the act, put him in the sit position, roll up a newspaper and whack it on your leg, making as much noise as possible, and tell him, “This is not a toy, don’t you chew this bed, blah, blah, blah.” Point the paper at him between whacks.
If you don’t catch him in the act but the bed is mangled, use a variation of the same lecture.
Hold up the bed, whack the bed instead of your leg, and bore him with more blah, blah, blah.
The words are unimportant. You are showing him the bed belongs to you and you get mad when something happens to it. He begins to realize there is something special about the bed that is different from his toys. This one has a high rate of success among my readers.
One easy remedy is to remove the bed when you leave and only put it back in the dog house when you can watch to see if he starts to play with it.
The easiest solution is to quit using a bed and spread about a foot of straw in the dog house. Dogs love to sleep on straw and when it gets worn after a few weeks you just empty it out on the ground and it becomes compost. You can buy straw and hay at any farm and ranch supply store. Of course, you’re not actually training Nifty, you’re just outsmarting him, but at least you don’t have to buy more new beds.
Dogs outgrow shredding their beds, so when Nifty shows the slightest improvement, pet him and love on him.
Be patient and don’t get frustrated. Training is easy when you make it a game you both enjoy. When I have a training problem I tell my dogs, “I’m going to outsmart you and we’ll both have fun while I do it.” They relax and wag their tails because they read my body language and know we’re going to have a good time.
Dogs love to do the right thing and will try their best to do it if you are able to explain to them what you want. Figuring out how to do that is part of the fun.
And remember, the loving and petting on Nifty to encourage him is the most important part.
The Old Trainer has been a trainer for three decades and has rescued, trained, and placed more than 4,000 dogs. Send questions to: theoldtrainer@gmail.com