Extreme Chewing

[FieryPrincess]

Our dog has been chewing on our fence. Not just a nibble here and there. He attacks it. He rips off pickets - new or old. We have replaced the gate twice. He makes himself bleed and hurts his mouth in the process but it doesn't stop him going after the fence.

When we leave him in the house, he doesn't chew a thing.

He is an extremely friendly and docile dog (except for this). He is a chocolate lab/border collie rescue and we have had him for 4.5 years. This extreme chewing is a recent development within the last few months.

We tried tethering him to a tree in the backyard, but I hate that and the tether gets hung up on too much stuff.

We are looking into a muzzle for when he has to be outside.

We have another dog who has to be crated when left inside since she she is still half-puppy and will chew for boredom when left alone and out too long.

They are active dogs and they need time to run and play.

I am mostly worried about his mouth when he goes after these wooden pickets.

I would love help and suggestions. We did try an electric fence, but because we rent and where we had to put things, it wasn't very effective.

[spedkiddos]

Did the electric fence work? If so there is a portable wireless pod that you can move and change the distance it will cover. When the dogs gets to a certain area they will hear a noise then it will start to give a pulse to let them know they are getting too close, and so on as they attempt to pass the predefined area. You may want to look up the underlining issue to why he is starting this.

[FieryPrincess]

The electric fence was not a viable solution.

I think he chews because he wants to get out and go play with the other dogs that go by. He used to be the beta dog, but the older lab died last February. He has never displayed any hostility to the new dog. His sleeping place hasn't been moved - his favorite person is my daughter. Admittedly she is busier this year than last, but I was hoping that because the new dog is playful that they might enjoy each other the way he used to with our previous dog.

My first priority at this time is to try and keep him from getting hurt and he is hurting himself ripping up the fence.

[Ludwig]

My daughter had a Shar Pei who actually ate (yes ate... we found metal pieces in his droppings) our chain-link fence when she went to school. One day he apparently thought that she was in the house... he ripped off the screen door and then ate the back door to get into the house. In each case he none the worse for wear. Repair of the fence and doors cost the girl her allowance but other than that everything was OK. In your case I would think that the worst problem is having to continuously repair that fence.

[poundpup]

We have had issues like that with all the neighbor dogs, who would get into a tiff with ours as they were running up and down the fence, attacking each other through the boards ... a mad house. We built a second fence about 8 feet inward, made out of what I call ranch fence. You can see a section of it in the picture :)
It completely solved all issues of insanity. No more running up and down - no more muddy tracks along the fence, no more incessant barking at the neighbor ...

2126

[Night Owl]

cute pups, ugly fence!!!!:))

[dawglover]

cute pups, ugly fence!!!!:))

Cute pups, ugly owner.:))