Dog Training & Health

[turtlecat3]

I have an approximately 1 and 1/2 year old Border Collie/Mini Aussie that I got about 6 months ago. She's a wonderfully behaved dog and incredibly intelligent and I've had very few problems with her. I'm training her for very low level service work for myself (mostly in house retreival-which is pretty much a normal dog "trick" anyway) because I'm ill with chronic fatigue immune dysfunction syndrome.

I know some of you are already thinking about the exercise factor but I live across the street from a dog park where she can run as much as she wants and I take her on daily walks (unless I'm homebound due to CFIDS for a bit, then I have ways to get her to run in the house.) She also has a 22 foot retractable leash and when I walk her I'll direct her to run one way then the other repeatedly so she can get worn out while I don't. She also gets tons of mental stimulation and is always visiting new places and learning new things.

Anyway, I'm having a problem with her starting to chew things that aren't her's.

She has a wide range of stuffed toys (I periodically hide some then bring them back out so she doesn't get bored, in addition to buying her a new one everytime a nice one goes on clearence for 2$ or less.) She also has a couple cow hooves and I give her different kinds of rawhide to make sure she always has something to chew on. She doesn't like kongs or similair toys.

She understands that her toys, rawhides, and treats belong in her beds and that she's not ever allowed to touch anything I say "Not yours!" about (my adaptation of leave it, except it means forever.) She never chews on anything that doesn't belong to her while anyone is watching her but she always acts guilty and scared when she sees people after she's chewed something up.

One week she chewed up a couple shirts and a heating pad months ago and I thought that maybe I had left them too close to her bed, but lately she's started chewing shoestrings and ELECTRICAL CORDS. I'm so afraid that she could electrecute herself!

I've never caught her chewing things up but I've punished her when I found the chewed objects because she acted extremely guilty everytime and she never does it around anyone, so she obviously understands that it's wrong.

We've had a great week, she's had plenty of time to run, we've gone on long walks, she's gone with my boyfriend and I to a petstore and a friend's house- yet I woke up today to find the cord of my expensive home massager chewed all the way through.

I have no idea what to do. I'm going to spray bitter apple on all cords in the house but because I'm disabled (I'm training her to fetch meds and I don't have the ability to "dog proof" my whole house) I feel she really needs to understand that her chewing behavior is not at all okay.

Any ideas?

[Jasmer]

If you don't catch your dog red-handed in the act then she actually does not associate punishment with the deed. The canine mind is not capable of that kind of mental leap, nor are they capable of the level of reason the human mind is, nor can they think in "what ifs" or in past or present tense. Anything committed to long term memory is due to instinct, repetition, or life-altering circumstance. She acts guilty because somebody knows she did something wrong and that somebody is therefore displeased. She picks up on that displeasure and is merely giving calming signals to make herself less threatening. She truly does not understand what she's in trouble for, though. She may know that cords are off limits, and that may be why she only does it when nobody's watching, but when caught after-the-fact she can't make the connection. As intelligent as canines are it is believed that they physically lack meta-cognitive thoughts (the ability to be consciously aware of what you do and do not know).

As for her chewing you could buy Bitter Apple spray. Most dogs and cats dislike the flavor. Alternatively you could put a thick layer of wet bar soap on all the cords in your house. That's also not particularly tasty. You could smother them with tobasco or something equally obnoxiously hot or sprinkle the area with cayenne pepper to discourage her so much as sniffing at the cord. Note that pepper and hot sauce can spoil and lose their effect and will need to be washed off eventually and possibly replaced.

Even though she chews them when you aren't around (because she likely DOES know it's not allowed) you can still perhaps curb this with obedience. When she so much as goes near a cord indicate to her that area is OFF LIMITS with a sharp, growly "no." Perhaps get her a toy or two with a similar texture. Something hard yet chewy like a dentabone or something may give her the same satisfaction.

[turtlecat3]

As I mentioned in my original post, I have now sprayed everything with bitter apple spray, that is a really good idea anyway though, thank you.

Honestly, I'm confused about her level of cognition. I've read different things about dog cognition that suggests that they may be much more intelligent than was thought even within the past decade.

One thing that strikes me particularly with her behavior is that she will act "guilty" or weird before I know that anything is wrong, so it isn't possible for her to be picking up on my attitudes and simply responding. I don't understand what could prompt this behavior if she doesn't feel that she's done something that she knows will upset me.

The toy idea is a great one, thank you! I did get her a rope with strings on the end that she can chew on- the middle of the rope is also covered with a somewhat thin layer of rubber so I think I may have gotten as close as I can to safely imitating the cord texture. So far she's still way more interested in her rawhide chews :-/ but it's the best idea I've gotten so far.

Thanks!

[meezermom]

Turtlecat, considering the breed you have, much of this could be boredom. The border collie types get highly frustrated if they are not kept busy so you need to keep her mentally challenged! If these dogs could, they would be doing Suduko!! They are highly intelligent dogs and coming up with creative things may be a big difficult. There are more interactive toys out there now that are similar to puzzles for these type dogs.....Use a food ball! Try hide and seek!