Many thanks for the reply. We crated our shepherd until she was 1, and she still sleeps in her crate at night but we removed the door so she can move about is she chooses. Riley was crated until he outgrew his crate, so at that time we thought it wasn't fair to him to be crated and Lexi free during the day. We were thinking with our hearts and not our brains. Since the wire cage isn't working, we will buy an extra large crate for Riley and try that.
Thanks again. Dennis Schulz ----- Original Message ---- From: lauren zeligson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [email protected] Sent: Saturday, February 3, 2007 8:50:54 AM Subject: [labradoodles] Re: Riley's Destructive Chewing I would suggest crating him - we have two doodles as well - both are crated - our girl is older - she doesn't mind the crate - our boy is younger and he doesn't either - and if he wasn't crated he would destroy our house while we are gone - crating is really important to their world. You have to do it. He is lonely and bored - bordeom is the #1 reason he is chewing. When you are home you have to give him things to chew - but more often than not he probalby won't chew if you are there -b/c he won't be bored. Try crating. --- In labradoodles@ yahoogroups. com, "magooandcompany" <imperialpaper2001@ ...> wrote: > > Our boy Riley is a 10 month old chocolate labradoodle. We also have > a > female 2 year old german shepherd named Lexi. We are having a > problem > with Riley chewing anything and everything and this all started about > one month ago. We tried to leave Riley loose in the house because > Lexi > was loose and we have never had a problem with her destroying > anything. We thought they would at least play with each other if > they > got bored. However, after he ate a sneaker, then chewed the frame on > our box spring mattress, we decided we better crate him. He has all > kinds of chew bones, hard balls, etc. in his crate. He has figured > out > how to unlock the wire crate, so now we are using a heavy duty > bicycle > lock to keep it closed. When he got out, he chewed a wooden cue > stick > holder that is mounted on a post in the rec room, the arm of our > couch (cloth), > a wooden coaster holder and a tube of polysporin. We have tried > using > a kong and putting Cheerios in it while he is in the crate and well > you > guessed it, he has chewed the kong to the point where he was breaking > it into little pieces and eating them. The same with a hard plastic > ball that had a hole in it for putting treats into. He destroyed it > as > well. He has chewed the arm rest in our van. > > The dogs are home alone for about 3 hours in the am and about the > same > in the pm. One or both of us is home at lunch at which time they are > taken outside for a play session for about 3/4 of a hour. Often one > of > us is able to stop in mid way through the morning as well to take > them > outside for a play. They get fed twice a day, about 6:00 am and 6:00 > pm. > > We love Riley dearly and we don't want to break his fun loving spirit > as he is such a joy when he is not destroying things. We would > appreciate any suggestions from anyone. > __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com
