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Could you try gating her into a "safe" area, like your kitchen? Somewhere there are far fewer things to chew!
I'm not sure if it's normal for a 1 year old doggie to do that or not... our puppy does it but he's only 5 months and I am very hopeful he's going to grow out of it soon!
Wow, that's hard without the crate. Some dogs are just chewers. Our Boston has been since he was a puppy. He's 2.5 now and he no longer chews my shoes, or other things around the house when we are home. But if something were in his crate (like a blanket, pillow, stuffed animal) he would tear it apart and eat a lot of it! We can not yet trust him to be out of his crate when we aren't there for this reason. You can try Bitter Apple (makes things taste bad), but I don't think you can spray everything in your house with that.
Our dog is a year and a half, and she chewed EVERYTHING until a few months ago. Cell phone chargers, shoes, empty paper towel roll (I have NO IDEA how she got ahold of that one...), the collar on DH's leather jacket... the list goes on. So yes, I think that's pretty normal, especially depending on the breed of dog. Some breeds are more chewy than others. :)
We crate our dog, and she sure sounded like she had been abused when we put her in there! The first few weeks were AWFUL... she would cry and cry for hours into the night. I'd come home for lunch and she'd still be crying. No puppy "likes" being crate trained, but if you really feel like you can't do it (can you tell I'm a HUGE proponent of crate training?) then I agree with OttoawBride. Find a "safe" place, like the kitchen, where you can corral her in when you aren't home. Do your best to make sure the only things for her to chew on are her toys. Something I found that really helped is the more we played with her with her chew toys, the more she would play with them on her own.
Good luck! I swear raising a puppy is more work than a newborn!
We're going through this now too and also don't crate. I make sure to keep our bedroom and bathroom doors shut so there's limited amount of damage that can be done. She has a select amount of toys to chew on and is at the point where she knows it, we're just working on follow through right now because teething is in fullllll swing.
Whenever she is chewing on something bad I say "NO" and replace it with a good chew toy and then give her some love, but I can only do this when I'm home so...... I think we might have to step it up a bit and start putting her tennis balls in a nice flavorful sauce (she hasnt' been able to chew through them yet) so she stays focused on them because the last few days I've left junk mail on the counter and have come home to ripped up pieces of paper.
I think the behavior is normal...at least when it comes to my Molly!! She is a little over a year now and chews A LOT!! We give her chew toys and bones, but they don't do the trick when we are gone...we went for a bit without crating her to see if she matured and it seemed to be fine so long as we put everything away, but then we noticed she chewed on the corner of an end table...I am pretty sure it has a lot to do with her breed because she is an Old English Bulldog and they do chew a lot...our MinPin used to be fine when left alone and wouldn't really chew on things (except a stray pen or pencil)
We went back to crating and it's fine....if you can't crate I would also suggest the safe place idea or a closed off room.
Chewing can be a puppy thing, although some dogs do enjoy chewing on things later in life, too. As far as why she is chewing on things other than the toys you got her, the answer is probably "because it's so much fun!" In her eyes, all of these things probably are toys, since she doesn't have the same hangups that you and I have about what is and is not appropriate to chew. My dog is 10.5 years old, and he will occasionally chew on things, or just generally "get into" them. He seems to enjoy chewing and shredding paper, and has also tried out chewing lint rollers.
To keep him from getting in to things, I (like you) keep things he could get into cleaned up. He is not crated, either (it seems to exacerbate his anxiety, oddly enough). There are rooms in which I can't have everything up at all times, like my office. I keep him out of those rooms while I'm gone by closing doors and using baby gates. If my whole house is a mess (it happens to all of us from time to time...), I baby gate him into my bedroom (which is kept dog-proof at all times). I've found this works well to keep my dog (and my things) safe. It's almost like baby-proofing- you just have to make sure things are safe from the dog, by looking at what he'll get into from his perspective (so, things he can reach, things that are chewy, or things that could be food in some far distant reality).
Thanks! We do keep all bedroom and bathroom doors shut when we leave, so that keeps her out of stuff in there :) I like the idea of coralling her in the kitchen or other area of the house - we'll have to look into baby gates. It might be hard though, as our condo is all open from one area to the next...hmm. Luckily, she doesn't chew on furniture, chair legs, walls, rugs, etc. I was just talking to a co-worker about this and he said their dogs chews everything! But, he has grown out of a lot of it :)
Miss Snowflake - We came home one night and found that Derby had chewed up a loofah & I still can't figure out where she would have found one of those laying around! Hilarious :) yet annoying too!
@quiche - One time Zoe got ahold of my birth control... NO IDEA HOW since I keep it in my purse! That was a fun night, let me tell you... taking your 2 month old puppy to the vet ER at 6am is NOT FUN. But trust me, they do grow out of it! She hasn't chewed anything in months other than her toys and bones. :)
My Mom's dog loved to chew everything in sight, and from what I have read, they are just seeking out the attention they aren't getting from the two of you while you are gone for the day, and she is taking it out on your possessions. If there is anyway to gate her off or get a dog sitter, that would be an option. But my mom eventually had to start replacing things because she couldn't get Max under control.
If you won't crate, (crates are awesome, btw, because once an abused dog gets used to it, it can be a safe, secure place for them), try an X-pen. They are often larger than a crate, and some brands can even be expanded, either by attaching two of them or inserting extra panels until you get the size you desire. This might work well for you since your home is so open.
Here's a link to get you started if you're interested: http://www.petsmart.com/family/index.jsp?categoryId=3263937&sr=1&origkw=xpen
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Hi Bees~
As a lot of you know, we rescued & adopted a dog appx. 2 months ago. She is great and makes us happy and laugh every single day :) There is only one problem, she chews things when we are gone. Right, this is normal behavior...but we make sure to give her a Kong or a bone or something right before we leave. She also has her toys and everything else, but we'll come home and find that she's decided to chew a magazine/remote/paper/etc. SO, we have obviously remedied the remote thing by, ahem, cleaning up after ourselves :) But yesterday Mr. Q got home after dropping me off at work & found that she had chewed a plastic cup and 2 lint rollers (I am slightly obsessed with cleaning up hair). It was a mess!
Obviously, our main goal is to make sure there isn't anything around that she can grab with her little mouth, but I am just curious as to why you might think she does this & if it is just a puppy-ish thing? I mean, why not play with your fun toys that you love and chew on when we're at home? She's around 1.
Thanks hive!!
ETA we do not crate her & will not do it - it seems as if she was abused in one at some point or another and it just stresses her out.