Hi all

I've just spent a long time searching through past posts but didn't see anything on this. I apologize if the question has already been asked and answered.

I have a nearly 6 month old pup who is doing great in every respect (obedience-wise) except he is destroying the fenced-in area of the back yard. He gets enough exercise and play time and attention and isn't left in the back yard for long periods of time and he's never left outside when we aren't at home. He likes to chew on stuff and he will chew on the damndest of things: rubber hose, cactus, plants, sticks...you name it

When I catch him in the act of ripping stuff up he is stopped and corrected and he seems to get it. However, the behavior continues and I am VERY concerned he's going to hurt or kill himself chewing on crud in the yard. I am also not happy with the destruction of the yard.

My question: Short of building an outdoor kennel, would an e collar be effective in stopping this kind of behavior? Is using an e collar for this type of problem the "escape training" I've read is so bad to do with a dog? I had already planned on getting one AND Ed's DVD on remote training...just not this soon or for this particular problem.

Any advice would be appreciated!

Thank you

Sarah,

My pup used to chew rocks like bubble gum; an e-collar fixed that in one day and she has never gone back. She is a chewer too! One trick is to realize that chewing is natural and expecting a dog to stop chewing is a pretty high hope IMO. One thing to do is have appropriate chew items available for your dog like a kong for example. You can also make the appropriate items more interesting than the non-appropriate items. If you use a kong stuff it with peanut butter or something like that.

Thanks for your reply, Bradley!

He LOVES to chew so he has plenty of toys inside...but not outside. So maybe it's time to try some "outdoor only" toys and see if that cuts down on some of the destruction.