# Please help with my dog pulling up my carpet.



## insomniac116 (Jun 24, 2008)

My dog is about 6 months old now, and i've just about had it, i love her to death and i couldnt imagine going to sleep at night without her there to give me them kisses. Or wake up in the morning to her licking my face.

But i have spent so much money on repairing my carpet, i have tried everything and i just cannot seem to get her to understand, she chews at the edges of the carpet where it meets tile. And she just completely rips up the carpet. there are two problems with this.

1. She can very easily be hurt by the tack strip.

2. I just don't have the money to keep getting this fixed. this is the third time now.

I understand this is partly my fault due to me getting distracted on the computer, and not noticing it until after it is done. But i also work from home and need to be on the computer alot of the time and cannot keep an eye on her 24/7 and it is not fair for her to have to be in the crate 24/7 She has plenty of toys, she has my other dog, who is 4 years old to play with. So this is not out of boredom, i just cannot figure out what to do.

Sorry for rambling anything to help is GREATLY appreciated.

Thanks.


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## Pepper (Jan 27, 2008)

Tie her too you when you can't be watching her.


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## pamperedpups (Dec 7, 2006)

Each of my seven dogs has six other dogs to play with. They have a mound of toys. I work from home. They get frequent breaks outside and will play and play amongst themselves. We also go on long walks, train for Agility and Rally O, and play with a flirt pole. Even with all of this activity and attention the dogs are often bored. Most of them can usually handle it and will simply take naps. A few of them are younger and will turn to destructive behaviors if I can't be there to watch them. Prevention works. Those dogs are crated for their own safety and my sanity as tying them to me isn't possible. They work on a stuffed Kong or nap in their crates until we can play or train together.


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## TooneyDogs (Aug 6, 2007)

When you can't watch her either crate her or confine her to an area where she can't do any damage. The 2nd part of this is showing her the safe things to chew....Kongs are great.
You said it's not boredom but, didn't elaborate on how much mental stimulation and physical exercise she gets (and needs) every day (toys and the other dog don't count).


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## BobSD (Feb 1, 2008)

I am almost 100% (There is always an exception) sure that what I am going to say, it is temporary, my dog acted like that until he was nine to eleven months of age. He was so bad he was eating on the siding of our house when I was talking on the phone. Just do not buy replacement things until then, once attending obedience class your will see a world of difference, just like a son having gone through boot camp(military) you will be amazed and very pleased! Just hang in there and you will have the best dog in the world!!!!

Oh, what pepper said is not a joke, the monks at NewSkeet (spl?) do that with there GS pups, they are so well trained puppies, it must have God's intervention.

To make myself more clear, they leash the dogs to themselves.


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## BetterDog4U (Jan 14, 2008)

IMHO I think your dog is BORED out of it's mind .... 

Almost all dogs need to be exercised (walked or run) everyday and all needs to be mentally stimulated all the time or it will become distructive.

If i miis a day with Neka she will just pace the floor back and forth to the back door. If I miss two she will start getting ino things. After three she will start tearing up stuff in the house. 

If we walk a minimum of 45 mins per day, I have no problems at all. She is a perfect lady!!!!!


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## BarclaysMom (Aug 24, 2008)

As you've found out, there is no rest when you have a 6mth old pup loose in the house  So confine him in a crate, or in an exercise pen, or tie him to you or to something nearby. Give him appropriate toys to chew on. Ours was very much into carpet destruction until he was about 9 months old. He tore up the carpets at both ends of the front hall, the master bathroom, and the office, and shredded the bathmat. I blame it all on MY lack of vigilence! When I got serious about watching it it got better. 

As he got older I let him have more freedom, and he started sneaking away to do damage to the front hall carpet again, and so I soaked the edges in bitter apple. One taste of that and his interest in carpets waned. He hasn't chewed on a carpet in over a month (a big victory for us), and has moved on to approved toys, including rope toys which he can pick apart - which seemed to be his favorite thing about carpet destruction. 

Once he's gone a bit longer and we're sure the carpet chewing phase has passed we'll get the carpets fixed.


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## clonewars222 (Oct 5, 2008)

Use Bitter Apple... that's what I use. Dogs don't like the taste/smell of it and they don't bite it/pull it anymore. Bad thing is it doesn't last that long (maybe like an hour). But the dog will probably learn fast that they're not supposed to pull on the carpet anymore


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## winniec777 (Apr 20, 2008)

Our dog also chewed carpet and moldings when she was a pup and bored + unsupervised. Knowing she was likely to do it again, we waited until after she was older/trained to have the repairs made.

Your dog is still very young--give it time. When I worked at home with our girl, she was in the room with me at all times and I kept one eye on her and one on my work. I gave her lots of toys to play with and attention about every hour, walks every 2. It was HUGELY distracting and sometimes annoying and it made for a very long work day, but we got through it and so will you.

Bitter apple is great (as long as your dog isn't among the small fraction that actually likes the stuff). Just be sure to use it every day, sometimes several times a day on the likely chew spots. And make sure you catch your dog in the act so she knows it's wrong to do it. What seemed to work with Poca is catching her, making a noise to indicate it was wrong (pick one your dog will learn), and spraying the area just chewed with the bitter apple while she was looking on. 

She seemed to learn to accept that we couldn't give her attention all the time when she hit about a year old. She started sleeping and self-amusing for longer and longer periods of time so that we could work for 4 hours, walk/play with her, work another 4 hours, walk/play, etc. Now she'll sleep all day if we let her.


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## BarclaysMom (Aug 24, 2008)

winniec777 said:


> Bitter apple is great (as long as your dog isn't among the small fraction that actually likes the stuff).


Bitter apple was a lifesaver with our older dog as well (when she was a pup), she was very mouthy, and so I put it on my hands - which had the side benefit of breaking my nail biting habit 

We had a puppy in our puppy kindergarten class who liked the stuff. The teacher pulled the sprayer out of the bottle and offered it to her and the little dog just licked at it like it was candy! So they tried different products until they found one she didn't like!


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## sherrymyra (Mar 24, 2008)

Yikes. At first I thought I had written this post.  I have finally covered up the area to keep Maggie away. I tried spraying Bitter Apple. I didn't realize it only lasted about an hour. So that is why it didn't seem to be working at all.  And I know it may be because she is bored, but it doesn't take much for her to be bored. I play with her for hours every evening. And yet she takes time to sneak off to tear up the carpet.


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## agility collie mom (Jan 26, 2008)

Rio and Savannah both liked to chew on the carpet at the bottom of the steps. I too tried the bitter apple which didn't work so instead I mixed a little hot sauce with water and sprayed the area they liked to chew. Stopped both of them. Just check to make sure that it doesn't show on light colored carpet.


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## poodleholic (Mar 15, 2007)

When you can't supervise, crate your dog, or contain (with baby gates) in an area where there's no carpet. Some dogs grow out've it, others don't. Bitter Apple may or may not work, as some dogs consider it a condiment! LOL


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## giovanna.0219 (Jan 12, 2009)

Oh yes i know this problem from my puppy too!
I had such a nice carpet and she destroyed it completely.
Now i just use a cheap commercial carpet and she leaves it alone. Finally 
But i guess dogs just love expensive things - at least mine has a very expensive taste


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