my dog has started chewing my wooden fence into pieces...she's chewed thru the fence once already and continues to do it even when I've caught her in the act and disciplined her...I've also purchased an electric collar and tried to follow some of Howard's advice concerning when to use it to correct this type of behavior(don't let her see me, just correct without any "NO!" at all).

we play with her all day since I work at night most of the time and provide both physical and mental games/excercise everyday...I've caught her doing it only minutes after being let out to eat, and I've also caught her doing it after us playing with her and being with her over an hour training and playing with her toys.

I'm really scratching my head over this one...I really popped her with the electric collar today with her mouth crunching on the fence 2 clicks from the highest setting(started training with it on 1. Have graduated to 2 with hard correct at 4, highest being 7). She put her tail between her legs and crept up to me. First time in a long time that I've seen her actually get her feelings hurt.

she's not in heat, although I expect her to be next month...

I'm really scratching my head over this one...

Any ideas?

I have used jalepeno paste for horses that chew wood - take a coupe jalepenos, slice them up, put them in a pot with water, simmer on low with a lid on the pot. I wouldn't recommend this without a lid as the pepper oil can and will evaporate with the water on occassion if you happen to forget about it. Inhaling pepper mist is a bad sneezy affair. Paint the fence with the paste on the areas you know she likes to chew (bottom or top, specific area etc)

I've only used this method with one dog that just could not get enough of wood, it was his absolute favorite thing on earth. he'd be tuckered out, absolutely pooped and he'd still want to grab a chunk of wood and go to town. He didn't like sticks either, he liked lumber, cut wood. Probably because it was more satisfying, came apart easier on the grain than with a green stick. It worked well for him.

You can try giving her sticks and such to see if she is interested but depending on her intensity you might want a thicker one like a small trunk 3-4" in diameter. Green preferably as it is softer and splinters less/will last longer. Though if she shows a habit of eating the wood and not just chewing, disregard this recommendation

thanks Jennifer, I'll try that...I have tried cayenne pepper in the past and she didn't even act like it bothered her...she does like to chew, but I give her lamb or pork ribs a rack at a time and she chews on those for weeks but she definitely prefers cut wood...she's dug up and chewed to pieces HUGE, HEAVY pieces of landscaping timber that were as long as she is.

I'll try the jalapenos

I've had limited success with no crib paint for horses. Kinda like the pepper recipe above.

If you used the powdered Cayenne from the spice rack, that stuff is difficult to work with and for ground spices they generally have a shelf life of about 6 months, the more they are exposed to air the less potent they become. The jalepeno paste is like a kick in the mouth because when you heat a pepper (leave the seeds in, all of them) the oil is released.

I will say the only issue is that when it rains you need to apply more. If she only gets small enough amounts in one section or another it may not phase her and you might have to bait her with something to give her enough so she avoids the scent of it in the future. Just really slather it on an area she frequents and then give a nice light coat for scent on the rest.

She may be one of those dogs that likes spicy stuff, though. I've come across the bitter flavor lovers, too. Makes you scratch your head when your dog can tolerate spicy stuff better than you can.

Also - I just noticed.. you were outside with her when you zapped her this last time? You said she scrept to you - so she associates the correction with you. I would keep up with the Ecollar, especially if you notice the pepper not having much affect - but be out of sight. Does she still chew the fence even with you out there, in sight, watching her? Have you kept her on a long line and prong and corrected her, or were her caught in the act corrections you going to her to correct her/verbal corrections?

I wasn't paying enough attention earlier. I would still do the jalepeno paste as if it works it will be another deterrent for her, but I would start with a leash and walk her to the fence, if she shows interest in the fence - correct, if she doesn't/is calm etc, reward, if she ignores the fence after correction, reward. Graduate to long line, putting that distance between you but a correction still easily at hand for interest in the fence, then to the Ecollar out of site.

Do you think it is the interest in the wood, or the wanting to get out of the yard that is primarily driving her chewing? How old is she?

The last correction happened when I was out with her...we had been training on behavior stuff and then I had released her to just run around and do whatever...I was sitting outside with her on the cell phone and wasn't paying attention. I look up and she's going to town on a new piece of fence I JUST put up a day before. I dialed up the collar and zinged her. All the other times I've been where she couldn't see me in the house and there was not an audible "NO" given. When I train with her, the collar is on 1 or 2 if she's being hard-headed. We've only had it about 2 weeks now...she's 16 months old, btw.

I think I'm going to get an old spray bottle and give a coating to the place that she always returns to chew.

I'll tell you what's interesting is to watch her from inside the house trying to figure out how to not get caught by whatever is zapping her...she no longer looks like a dog, she looks like a wolf. Circle, circle, circle...sniff sniff sniff...look back at the house for me...repeat...get closer....repeat...look back at the house...

funny stuff

You may also want to take her out more often and try taking her to diffeent places like a park to work with her to let her experience the outside world more often.

If she starts doing this if she is unsupervised, supervise her more and/or don't leave her out unattended very long. She may just be getting frustrasted because she is out too long too. Redirect her chewing toward something else that she is allowed to chew.

Is there other animals or dogs close to you? Close to the woods?

I haven't had very good luck wih bitters, peppers or any of the cribbing solutions. Sometime they work sometimes they don't

I will agree with John in that their is often limited success with bitter stuff, some dogs really like it. And regular peppers such as ground/powdered stuff from the kitchen cupboard really has very little or no effect. The jalepeno sauce is pretty potent, however and unless you get a critter that really likes spicy stuff it seems to work quite well.

The recipe I use is 3 whole cut jalepenos and 3 cups of water, if you want more, add peppers and water in a 1-1, you can also add a small habanero to a larger batch but watch out it is really strong that way and handle with caution.

Just a thought but have you tried redirecting her chewing? I found kong stuffing inside of one of those tire chews worked great on redirecting my lab to something other than staring in the door.

She has two, count em, two stuffable Kongs, a Kong ball, a hard plastic ball with a handle, an over-sized ball with rope thru it for tugging, and a hard rubber chew with rope.

She's just super high energy...it's in her lines. Angelique knows of what I speak, don't you

We occasionally go to a dog park but she's gotten dog aggressive the last 4 months, so I only go if there's no one there. She's always on leash, but not every other dog there is...I'm fearful of going with other dogs able to get to her.

My daughter played fetch with her literally for an hour today non-stop and she just does not get tired.