SAVE MY FURNITURE..WHATS LEFT OF IT!!

We have a 1yr old Husky(Mackenzie) that has clawed our furniture on the back side..and chewed up the cushions to where the foam is all over the floor..and now he has chewed up our remote controls! He has destroyed 2 of my recipe books!! What is causing this behavior... We leave him inside and lock him up in the utility room when we are gone. We do make sure that he has something to chew on..we give him bones for chewing and also has a rubber bone to chew on which he doesnt. Yes, we use baby gates to lock him in utility room and place anything that can be chewed out of his reach. We do have a back yard which we have found him digging and even placed electrical wire so he wont dig under the fence. I would like to leave him outside during the day but my fiance is afraid he will get out..
Will he eventually grow out of this behavior?
Getting very frustrated with Mackenzie

 

Boredom and separation anxiety come to mind.

How does he eat the furniture when he is locked in the utility room? If you are home when he is eating it, that is a lapse of supervision on your part.

I have heard Huskies can be challenging dogs, so hopefully someone with more Husky experience will post with ideas. A 1-year-old is still a baby.

What I can tell you is that while you are home, you need to supervise him. He should be confined to the room you are in, using baby gates or by tethering him to you with a leash. You can use things like Bitter Apple to discourage chewing, but some dogs don't care. Watching him and correcting him when he chews is better - startle him into stopping (by making a loud noise, clapping your hands, telling him NO or something like this) and then take whatever it is from him and GIVE HIM SOMETHING that he CAN chew on. That part is very important. You need to tell a dog what he CAN do, not just what he can't do.

Make sure he has plenty of toys to curb his chewing instinct. Things like a stuffed Kong is a good way to keep him occupied, especially if you stuff it with something like peanut butter and freeze it. Just make sure you adjust his food portions accordingly so he doesn't get fat!

Make sure he gets plenty of exercise. A tired dog is a good dog. Take him for walks, play with him at the park, play fetch, play hide-n-seek. Train him. Tricks and obedience make his mind work and helps to tire him out. Get involved in a dog sport if there are any trainers near you.

If he has separation anxiety issues, do a search on separation anxiety in this forum for ideas on what to do. Also, this book is a good reference: http://www.dogwise.com/ItemDetails.cfm?ID=DTB667


Jamiya

 

Besides him being a puppy. The huskey breed seriously loves to run wild. Many huskeys that end up in shelters is becuase they escaped their yard. Its what they are bred to do. Your dog is so board with being in the house. If you can't watch him he needs to be in a kennel or dog run. Where he can't damage things. Take up jogging or get one of those attaching things for a bike to let him run on the side of you. They need to get out and run.

 

I have a husky and although I have never had a problem with her destroying things, besides the trash. I can tell you they are master escape artist. She is more than likely bored to no end. Huskies need things to do, places to run, an outlet for all their energy. While Jasmine is home she has plently of chewys, as she does not like toys. She is given run of the house. But she behaves so this is not a problem for us. When we are home she spends most of the time in our fenced in back yard digging up holes and god knows what else. We take her on walks and that helps get some of her energy out. If we have not taken her in a while she is horrible about pulling cause she wants to go. I think what is also great for us is she is never alone more than 4 hours with the way our schedules go.
Now when is snows, she acts likea puppy again and is not content unless she is outside romping around. So she hates it when we have to leave her and sometimes will get into some things she is not supposed to.

All I can say for you is to try and find something your dog can do while you are not there. How long is your dog alone a day. If it is a long period of time you may want to see if someone can come over and walk her or let her out in a fenced area. If she is behaved you can get her one of those things that looks like a clothes line you attach a cable too and that lets her run. I would supervise her for a while on this though cause mine is a master at breaking anything attached to her. The one thing you really need to remember when she is outside, especially if unsupervised is huskies have a great sence to run. And they will given any chance. They also have a lousy sence of direction so may not be able to find their way back home. They are also diggers so if you have a fence it need to be a few feet underground as well.

Good luck to you all and they are wonderfull breed but yes they can be challanging!

 

spitz breeds are sensitive little doggies and will trash everything if you leave them alone for too long wiht nothing to do. hehe one of my remote controls is mangled from when kuma was a little pup. she managed to kill the buttons that tune the tv grrr. she also chewed up a rug. ripped the nose off my precious teddy bear [the bear is fine!]. ripped a pillow in half. scratched the wood off a door. and that was when she was tiny! she moved onto bigger and better things as she got older, such as ripping whole doors off and pulling gates apart. shes fine now though after alot of training and amitriptyline.

 

Have you tired to spray bitter on the stuff you have ? I wiped Ivory dish soap or orange smelling dish soap on wood door trim anything that can be wiped off after they grow up. Separation is not always the answer. Kara is 10 years old and with me all day. She well take apart any thing any time she has the notion to do so and look you in the eye and smile about it afterward.
Just the other day I was working in and outside in my wood shop, I had to walk past her each time I came in and yes I would stop and talk to her and pet her. She can't run any more so we play on the floor in the spot she lays down at. Between on of my trips out to the barn for five minutes she took off the door trim around the back door and was very happy about it.
Kara's list :
3 couches
2 carpets
5 base boards
3 lamps
6 pillows
8 -9 steaks
two sections of wall hole 4'x4'
1 front door
4 AA batteries
1 goldfish
1 bed leg
plants lost can't count
Yard is used by NASA for test driving rovers in and out of giant holes.
Enough paper towels to go around the block twice over.
Separation anxiety maybe from not having something to destroy but not from us. Keep in mind she is never alone, two other guys are always with her.
We have considered and exorcist over the years but they are to afraid to get near her. She bends her head down and stares into there eyes and smiles, they run...
But we still love her.

2pyrs :lol:

 

Pyrs: you're too funny. But I do believe you. :shock:

 

I have total sympathy for you. I had the same problem which brought me to the message board seeking advise. I have two pits that destroyed a whole living room of furniture (just for starters.)

My husband and I stood out front talking to my neighbors one day for about 20 minutes, and when we came in, Grace was trying to pull the love seat out the back door. She would have made it but the love seat was too wide for the door.

Now we have new furniture that we will be paying on until the year 2007. They are never left unattended with it at all. Even though with training, they're a lot better, still don't want to chance.

It will get better with some training.