Pit pup is tearing up carpet

by William
(Lake County, Fl)

Our pup is 10 months on now, seems like yesterday all she did was run around our apartment and then sleep for hours. Now that I work through out the day, and my wife is in school all day, Mya (our red nose pup) will destroy the carpet when we are not around her, even while in the shower.

We have now put her in our bedroom (we moved back in with family). She will whine and cry for about ten mins and then she is fine till someone comes and gets her out while were gone.

My question is how can we get her to stop tearing up carpet and other stuff, shoes, bags, etc. We have an older dog (springer spaniel) and two cats (one old, one young). The young cat is her best friend they will play with each other anytime they are around each other its adorable.

Why is it that when we are not around she will do these things (even with her buddy out there to play with)? But when we are around she is calm as can be and just lays beside us.

Thank you so much - Mya's parents.

Gale's Reply:

Hi William

The short answer to your question of 'why' is that it's because she's a puppy. Chewing up stuff is what puppies generally do unless you arrange to have it otherwise. Her feline friend may keep her partially entertained. But, it won't satisfy her need to chew--something the overwhelming majority of dogs need to do.

It sounds like you have family at home during the day who take her out of the bedroom periodically while your gone. I would suggest you consider crate training. When no one's watching her, she's in her crate with a couple of toys she can chew on to her heart's content.

If someone decides to let her out of the crate, they should be responsible for helping train her away from tearing up the carpet or chewing on your personal possessions. Whenever she chews the wrong thing, it is taken from her and exchanged for one of her legitimate chew toys.

It's also important to be mindful of keeping possessions you care about out of her reach. With patience and consistency, she'll eventually realize that the world isn't her chew toy.

For more information, check out this article on Stopping Destructive Chewing. Good luck.