Cairn or Beaver?

[MikeC]

Ok, how many of you fellow forum members have Cairns that may have had a beaver or two in their lineage? Duffy has taken to chewing on the my kitchen and dining room chairs and has taught Miki my Westie! Now I have two of them gnawing away. Fortunately I can hear them when they start so I am quick to stop them. I have tried the various sprays but nothing works. Any suggestions?

Mike

[bradl]

There is a bitter apple furniture paste that, while messy, is more effective than the plant spray. Beyond that, the usual - observation, distraction, or physical prevention of access (leash, barriers, etc.) until they get through the beaver phase.

[Guest Darcy's Mom]

The two cairns we had before Darcy were diggers and chewers in their puppy years. They completely chewed the entire corner off my kitchen cabinet. Out of desperation, I put a dab of hot sauce on the places they were chewing. Not a lot, just enough for them to get the taste. Needless to say, that phase was cut short and they decided chewing on chews or on other toys were better. Probably wasn't the best alternative, but I didn't know what else to do at the time.

[sanford]

This topic came up in Obedience Class. The trainer said putting bitter apple on the object doesn't always work...It depends on the dog.

She advocated dipping a stick, or small dowel into the bottle and swabbing it quickly in the dog's mouth, just once, each time. The dog soon learns to stop doing what its doing. Eventually just picking up the bottle is enough to deter the behavior. I've never had to try it, but it sounds OK to me.

[Tuff&Tippy]

I have a beaver, and carpet eater, or what ever she gets her teeth on. I have had to resort to hot sauce, on the carpet once. She backed off and sneezed a bit but it hasen't been chewed the carpet since. I have a wicker laundry basket she has started to chew, but since that is a fairly easy thing to replace I just tell her no when I catch her. I hated to do that but I can't afffod to replace the carpet to often.

[Teri9672]

Teona is absolutely part beaver

She's eaten the baseboard trim in 2 places. Chewed on the bottom of the tv cabinet in the bedroom. She also ate a hole in the couch.............

She hasn't done any of this in a while, so maybe she's out of that stage.

Tabitha was a good girl and never chewed on anything when she was small. She just loved her toys.

[jansop]

Booker chews my fingers if I'm not careful.....jan

[Brody'sMom]

Have you tried bully sticks?

Edited in an attempt to make the photo smaller!

[toomanypaws]

My middle cairn, Abbey was my beaver. When she was around 5 mths, I thought she could stay in the kitchen while I ran short errands. I was so pleased to see how good she was doing. I started leaving her longer until one day, I noticed these little teeth marks in the wall. After a quick search, I noticed more! She had bitten through the wall in one spot down to the drywall. I know this is not written in any training book, but I picked up Abbey and showed her what she did and told her "NO!" I quickly gave her a chew toy and said "Abbey's". I know, everything I've read says dogs have short attention spans and won't remember what they did if they aren't caught in the act. Well, Abbey did seem to understand not to chew the wall. I kept her right next to me as I used the spackling stuff to fill in the wall before sanding and painting. All the while she watched, I made sure she had an appropriate chew toy that I'd reinforce was hers. I did crate her when I ran errands for a short time after that. Then Hannah joined our family and Abbey never touched the walls again. Maybe it was the distraction of Hannah, but I no longer have a beaver in my house.

The funniest part of all this, while I was correcting Abbey, my oldest cairn, Kiara was listening and had her ears glued to her head too. I had to keep reminding Kiara what a good girl she was. My youngest, Hannah has only chewed a paper towel roll. It's amazing to me how they all are so different.

[MikeC]

Thanks to all of you for your comments and suggestions. Last night I resorted to an old remedy, the "money can". It seemed to work. Duffy stopped and Miki went and hid under the bed. Will see if this puts a stop to it.

Mike