Hey all - the teething redirection method is working well for most household items (switching out what he's chewing on for a chew).

I'm curious where some people draw the line for boundaries - i.e, if pup chews *anything* besides chew toys do you always redirect?  Or are some things in bounds?

Example - Chuck has discovered an old towel and door mat and goes nuts with them. I dont care about losing either one, however, I worry about the general precedent set by a non-toy textile item being in bounds for chewing and playing with.  

Happy hump day!

pretty much i wouldnt let him chew on anything that is of the same texture of something that you dont want chewed, cause you would just be sending mix signals, if you dont care about towels then okay but dont get mad if he cant figure out that it was a good towel and not that bad towel

You should always correct chewing if it is not an approved item in all ways. If you have an old pair of sneakers and say, "Okay this is yours. You can chew on this." You unknowingly just gave permission for all sneakers to be chewed on. Also, watch out for dishrags. There have been many cases where dogs eat foreign objects such as dishrags, socks, furniture stuffing, ect, and have to undergo surgery to remove the items because they are blocking digestion. That is why it is very important to keep and eye on what your pup chews on, so he can stay safe and healthy and learn to respect your rules.

Sigh, I thought that might be the case. I would like to let him roam more of the house so getting over that will be important :/

Big thanks for the feedback!

No problem. I would really like mine to have more free roam of the house, but sadly it is just not in Okami's nature to be allowed that freedom at her age. She has free roam in a decent sized living room during the day to hang out with me and my daughter, and at night she has free roam of the bedroom before crate time. My daughter is 4 so I had left over baby gates that do the trick to keep Okami in one room at a time. They however make gates specifically for dogs that actually have hinges and what not so you don't have to trip over them (something quite common in this household, I may upgrade soon lol) They even make ones for dogs that have a tiny door for cats to come and go as they please.... lovely things that they make these days I say!

lillith87 wrote:

No problem. I would really like mine to have more free roam of the house, but sadly it is just not in Okami's nature to be allowed that freedom at her age. She has free roam in a decent sized living room during the day to hang out with me and my daughter, and at night she has free roam of the bedroom before crate time. My daughter is 4 so I had left over baby gates that do the trick to keep Okami in one room at a time. They however make gates specifically for dogs that actually have hinges and what not so you don't have to trip over them (something quite common in this household, I may upgrade soon lol) They even make ones for dogs that have a tiny door for cats to come and go as they please.... lovely things that they make these days I say!

You've described my exact situation with Chuck, dining/living room area during the day, bedroom, crate for sleep. I actually got one of those gates with a cat door...problem is Chuck is cat sized for now! He darts into the cat room any time he gets a chance to to get cat food, it's a struggle, I have to close it when he's out.

Now to try to not get him to stay away the welcome rugs and towels...(he is potty trained except that he deliberately pees on the rugs...)