Chewing Walls and Digging Carpet

[TarHeel]

I keep my 5-month old Cairn in the kitchen when I leave, and recently I came back to find a hole in my wall! I think he licked it until the drywall was soft, and then chewed into it about 1/2 inch! I live in an apartment, so this is really a problem. I've noticed him doing the same thing while I'm at home, but I always stop him immediately. Does anyone else have puppies eating the wall? And is there a way to prevent it?

To make matters worse, he likes to dig holes in the carpet. I tried to glue the little carpet strands back down, but he goes back to that spot to dig again! Any suggestions on this?

Don't worry, little Baxter also has his sweet moments...I think he's just going through a severe version of the "puppy stage!"

[bradl]

During these puppy months (up to a year or 18 months) I'd suggest an ex-pen or crate during the day. If you're going to be away more than 4-5 hours, the ex-pen instead of the crate.

Every puppy that we've had has left us at least one bald spot on the family room carpet when we left them unsupervised for a bit. Haven't had the pleasure of a wall-eater although if there was a mouse in the wall I would admire their perseverance if not their handiwork.

edit: I dont spel two good

[wags]

You've described my bathroom wall. Thankfully, he stopped months ago and didn't eat us out of house and home.

[CathyAnn]

Sally........we HAVE to meet someday!!! Your responses are always a scream!

My dogs have also "licked" the walls. No idea why? No holes, though.

Digging in the carpet....yep, had that, too. But again...thankfully, NO holes, just a few threads pulled out. I believe our two are going after crumbs of food dropped on the carpet. Our youngest always digs right next to the sofa where we sit. And seems to be more inclined if we have just been munching on something.

We yell, "NO diggin" as soon as we catch them and they know EXACTLY what I mean when I say that!!

I would agree with Brad....way too young to have access to find trouble. I would keep Baxter confined while you are gone, as well.

Cathy

[Carolinasmom]

Where is the carpet that your dog is digging? The reason I ask is that my cairn dug up our carpet about a year ago but it was alongside the door and she was after a mouse that was trying to come in. If your dog is digging near a door, you could set a mouse trap outside the door, where the dog can't get to it. We caught several mice after our carpet incident! It was quite an expensive way to let us know there was a potential problem!

[Guest Tototoo]

Welcome to THIS OLD HOUSE

Pups are real hard on houses! They make drywall patch in small containers for "renters use", just put it in the hole real good and sand it flat and paint over. You can buy it at any hardware store and they will even tell you better than I could on how to make it look good. Then I too would strongly suggest a cage. I bought a octagon kids play yard at Walmart that works real well. All day is too long for a pup to get into mischief. Even 10 min. at our house is too long!

With digging I know its gotta be hard in an apartment or that, but this might help. We have young kids and I noticed one day as they were playing in the sand box, Toto was digging too!!! Maybe if you have a park near you that has a sand box you could fill the need by hiding a cookie in the sand.

K

[Scully'sMom]

Once again, I thought we were the only ones with a Cairn that enjoys carpeting. (Thank God, no walls though) Scully will go underneath our bed when we're getting dressed and you hear this "digging, digging, digging" like she's going to China. We yell "No digging!" and she stops. I found one small spot on our bedroom rug when she was younger, about the size of a quarter where she chewed it.

I can't say enough how glad I am that I found this forum. I thought we had bought a demon dog but I'm glad to see she's normal like her pals in here!

[kayharley]

Madison chewed a small piece out of our wool dining room carpet a couple months back....about the size of a quarter. So far, that's been it (knock wood, knock wood) But the digging I find hysterical. She'll do it when allowed on the couch or our bed. I watch with such interest because it's such an intense activity for her....yes, like going to China or at least looking for an imaginary bone. I can't find it in my heart to tell her to stop because she is enjoying it just so much although my older Cairn looks on as if to say, "What an idiot!"

[toomanypaws]

Unfortunately I can relate to this post. My oldest, Kiara was a perfect pup which made all the more reason to get another. Abbey and Kiara did so well together that I'd leave them babygated in the kitchen and breakfast area when I ran short errands. Everytime I came home, they seemed to have been good. Well, you can imagine my shock one day as I was cleaning to notice these little teeth marks in the walls. Upon closer examination, I found Abbey had another area on the wall where her bed is that she must have licked until she could sink her teeth in. At that point, I got on my hands and knees to better check out the area that Abbey had access to. The kitchen and breakfast rooms are tiled with the babygates blocking openings to carpet. I found that Abbey was able to get at the carpet by the babygate that went from the breakfast room to the dining and living room area, an opening we never use. She managed to fray a couple pieces she pulled on that I trimmed and glued back down. I was able to move the babygate in so that it's on the tile and Abbey can't reach the carpet now. As for the walls, I first filled the gaps w/ spackling and let that dry and then repainted them. Abbey went back to her crate when I'm not home. Abbey is almost 11 mths and seems to have outgrown this chewing she did at 5 to 6 mths.

As a glutton for punishment, I still couldn't resist bringing baby Hannah home to our family. She is now almost 5 1/2 mths and has yet to chew, BUT she will do that digging thing. When I'm in the shower, I will hear her start digging on the floor at the corner of the tub and wall. Also, she's my "go everywhere w/ me baby" (Kiara cries in the van and Abbey throws up ) I'll be driving and have her harnessed, kind of like seat belted and she'll start digging on the seat. She stops when I tell her to and I've learned to bring something for her to play w/ to distract her from that.

I too am glad for this forum.

[Brodie's buddy]

One of my Berners,(Bernese Mnt Dogs) used to chew the wall. I finally had to put tabasco sauce in water and spread it on the wall.(I knew I was going to have to spackle the hole and paint any way) Sounds cruel, but nothing else worked... after she chewed it , I think only 2 times, she stopped and never did it again. There was only 1 spot of the wall she did it on though. Vet said could be a deficiency of some sort.

[wheezie23]

I made the mistake of thinking I could trust Zoe to have the run of the kitchen area while I was working only to come home to shredded window sills! She had chewed them so well that there were chunks of wood missing! I did put an end to that by spraying cooking spray along the window sill and then sprinkling it with cayenne pepper. She tried to chew it once more and never did it again! But I did learn a valuable lesson and won't repeat it with Tucker. They cannot be trusted alone. Tucker stays in his crate when I'm gone (I don't work anymore) running errands.

Thela

[grillywarren]

Oh, my goodness Such stories! Grilly has never eaten a wall,

but there was a car incident!

It wasn't really his fault. It all started about two years ago, Grilly

was less than a year old. My husband and I went to pick up our turkey

for our Thanksgiving dinner. We decided to try the "fresh" type of turkey.

We went as a family to pick up the "freshly killed" bird, and of course the

Grillman came with us. The minute my husband put the turkey in the trunk...

Grilly went wild! We laughed and thought...isn't that funny. We went

home, took the turkey inside and never thought of it again...until...

the next night. Grilly and I went to get pizza at the local pizza shop. I

went in and picked up the pizza (which was ready) Grilly the angel

waited in the car. Well, when I got home and opened the back doors to let

my little man out....I saw his handi-work. Or should I say teeth-work!

My little love had chewed up the back seat, back head rest, and the

door handle on my brand new BMW. The leather was totaled!! $2,000 worth of damage!

(He was fine, he han't swallowed anything! Thank God) After it happened

I couldn't figure out why he had done it! Was he insane? Was he always going to

eat leather? Then my hubby and I remembered the darn turkey!!!! Grilly

must have picked up a leftover turkey smell, and went for it! Who can blame him...right?

Gotta love those Cairns!!!!

[CarCarDawn]

Hi! I have never ever had a problem with Riley chewing anything! Maybe he really isn't a Cairn??!!! I always have something for him to chew on - - whether we are traveling in the car, staying at someone's home or just relaxing at home -- - he will sit down and chew and chew for minutes at a time. We leave our shoes out and everything - - maybe I am just one of the lucky ones!!

[Guest Tototoo]

Just remembered a remedy my mom told me about. Might make it so they won't chew and it won't stain the walls. Mix tide and water into a thin paste and spread it on the wall or whatever. It won't hurt them, tastes awful and might even clean the walls You can barely see it too and it does work. We've tried it for dogs and horses and once they get a lick, they won't go back.

K

[Eliz222]

Boy, Grilly sure can be the devil!! Your story made me laugh, but I'm sure it wasn't funny at the time!

Finch has been very good about not chewing up too many things. She loves Q tips and I have to keep those hidden in the trash can. Scout, when she was younger, would chew my daughter's shoes. She did get a few of mine, but mostly Sarah's. She wouldn't chew the whole thing up, but just enough to cut the strap in half! Cairns sure are lucky we love them so much!

[Carolinasmom]

Carolina has signed all our fence posts in the back yard...with teeth marks. She's this sweet 6 year old cairn until she sees a squirrel in our yard, (I feed the birds so we have lots!) She then turns into the Tazmanian Devil! She races out the door with this scary, evil growl until she gets to the fence post. She is so mad at the squirrel that she bites the post, growling the entire time, acting like she's trying to tear the post out of the ground. Her whole body shakes as she tries to shake the post! Every fence post has teeth marks about two feet up for about a foot. I swear she's going to break a tooth someday!