Eating Drywall

[winnie]

Honestly, I'm not sure if this post belongs here or under Health & Medical or Training & Behavior.

 

Our 8 y/o grey Celeste has recently started chewing on the drywall in our bedroom. We've had Celeste for 5 years. This is the first time she's ever chewed on anything. She has certainly never bothered the drywall before. I know it's her too because I stopped her the other night from chewing there. When I came home today, the hole was even bigger.

 

What would cause this sudden behavior? What can we do to stop it?

 

[MerlinsMum]

Does she cry, pace or get anxious when you leave? I have known dogs with separation anxiety that have done something similar to this.

 

Or it could be boredom. Does she get a long walk in the morning? I would try to see if a good amount of exercise with her before you leave for work fixes the problem.

Edited July 13, 2011 by MerlinsMum

[winnie]

It's definitely not seperation anxiety. Celeste has always been a confident dog - never had any issues with SA even when she was our only greyhound. There have been no changes to her routine in the past year either. This seems totally out of the blue for her.

[Guest DylanGospel]

Ours will gnaw on the walls when he gets extremely bored. It's nothing as large as yours, however. Is your dog an only dog? We now have three and haven't had a repetition of the behavior since the last dog joined our household.

[winnie]

Ours will gnaw on the walls when he gets extremely bored. It's nothing as large as yours, however. Is your dog an only dog? We now have three and haven't had a repetition of the behavior since the last dog joined our household.

 

Nope. Celeste is one of four. She is the alpha and gets along well with her sisters.

[TheFullHouse]

Angel Andy loved drywall. We had to repair so many holes from him chewing the walls. He was the most laid back, easy going boy but loved the taste of drywall. I tried Bitter Apple and everything but it didn't stop him so I guess I'm no help.

[Hubcitypam]

Might it be something like pica?

[Guest greytkidsmom]

Kebo licks the walls in our bedroom. He did it so much at our previous house that he licked a hole in the wall. We eventually moved his bed away from the wall so he couldn't reach it. It seems to only happen if he is laying with his head towards the wall. Its like he opens his eyes and thinks "hey, there's the wall, let me lick it." I'm guessing its boredom. Who knows though, with his doggie sense of smell there may be something there we don't know about. We just tell him "that's enough" when we hear him and he doesn't stay in that room when we are gone.

 

Do you think you could put something like an ex-pen or baby gate or piece of furniture in front of the spot so that she stops the habit?

[winnie]

Kebo licks the walls in our bedroom. He did it so much at our previous house that he licked a hole in the wall. We eventually moved his bed away from the wall so he couldn't reach it. It seems to only happen if he is laying with his head towards the wall. Its like he opens his eyes and thinks "hey, there's the wall, let me lick it." I'm guessing its boredom. Who knows though, with his doggie sense of smell there may be something there we don't know about. We just tell him "that's enough" when we hear him and he doesn't stay in that room when we are gone.

 

Do you think you could put something like an ex-pen or baby gate or piece of furniture in front of the spot so that she stops the habit?

 

Well, the wall she is going after is right outside our master bathroom. So, definitely not a spot that we can easily block off. Celeste's bed isn't there, but she does like to lay outside the bathroom when either DH or I are in the shower. I'm pretty sure this most recent damage happened while we were at work today though.

 

Celeste is a licker. She loves licking feet, the couch, etc. For awhile, she was on a kick of sticking her head under our bed and licking the bedframe. Yeah, that was fun trying to sleep through.

 

Might it be something like pica?

 

I was thinking that. The reason I put this in food/dietary was because I was wondering if there was something missing in her diet that perhaps led to her eating the drywall. Celeste has been on the same food though for quite awhile though before this started up.

[heartdogs]

Annie did that when she was staying at my DDs. Nere un my house she hasn't tried that, she wanted to one day but when I said NO she stopped. This poor girk wanted to be my dog so badly when she bounced back but at the time my house was too full but now she's home here & except for my princess girl Ebony still being here. Sorry no good ideas for you to try.

[cleptogrey]

try mixing alum(found in the spice section) w/ water(elmer's glue consistancy) and coating the area until you repair it. the taste is worse than bitter apple and is non-toxic, a trainer friend told me about it. the only time i had a dog eat dry wall was when he was accidently locked in,(the wind blew the door closed),better the wall than jumping out the window in that case.

 

i am a tad crazed when things are destroyed and hit the object and loudly say BAD...the dogs look at me like i'm crazy, the object is BAD and usually do not return. i get very dramatic w/ that bad object, DH runs and hides. so, coat it, it's a bad object, repair it and move a piece of furniture in front of it and keep your fingers crossed that you don't have any other BAD sites.

 

think of it this way, if it was a hole in the yard that your pup was digging...would she return to it and keep on digging? if it's fixed, out of range and a thing of the past hopefully she will leave it.

Edited July 14, 2011 by cleptogrey

[Guest BrianRke]

I would suggest using the bitter apple spray, that has worked well in my house. Never heard of the alum/water mixture. I'll have to check that out sometime.

 

Isnt alum that stuff that I used to see on the road runner cartoons that made things shrink?

[NancyB]

Is she scratching the wall too or are all the the marks from her teeth? Could there be mice in the wall?

 

Isnt alum that stuff that I used to see on the road runner cartoons that made things shrink?

OMG! LOL There was little mouse with the hat was always getting into it and his lips would pucker up! (it was a really old black and white cartoon)

[winnie]

I believe all the marks are from her teeth. We were able to successfully block off the area with DHs laundry basket. t's a bit of hassle to climb over it when using the bathroom, but we're managing. We'll fix the wall eventually... when we get around to all of the other projects that need doing. I don't think there are mice in the wall. This wall is along my closet - outside of the master bathroom. I've never seen any evidence of mice there. Thankfully, Celeste hasn't been bothering any other walls in the house.

[Guest 4dogscrazy]

I have one coo coo who has done that. She gets into a trance and just keeps licking, usually it's hardwood floors. But one time she did chew a small hole in the wall above her bed. It was the middle of the night and I honestly think she was half asleep. I heard it and stopped her. I assumed her track/farm kennel was wood and she chewed on that too (like horses will) out of boredom. Its almost like a trance though. I chalked it up as par for the course, my rottie rescue ate everything I owned. Everything.

[AEB]

Might it be something like pica?

 

This was my first thought; you might want to test for intestinal parasites. Also, I'm not sure when your house was built or what kind of sheetrock was used, but there have been problems with Chinese drywall in new homes and I assume it's worse to ingest it than it is to breathe so I understand wanting to stop the behavior swiftly. As for the alum suggestion you might want to check what quantities are safe for dogs- I think it's ok for humans to consume in small amounts only, but am not sure of this. I will say that Kevin will do the same thing with floors/furniture next to his bed. He just suddenly decides to lick/taste them. It's happened a few times. He usually just doe this once though (thankfully!). Good luck!

[winnie]

Our house was built in 1985. I have no idea what type of sheetrock was used or where it is from.

[greyhndz]

This just caught my eye, because Gigi is eating my house, room by room.

 

But interestingly, she never did this until I had a paint job, using Benjamin Moore paints. Strangest thing., Almost always, the holes are adjacent to the dog bed she happens to be in. I've got plexiglass on all the walls in my bedroom, but then she started eating the hallway, then the dog's room downstairs. I keep saying that when she grows up I'll have it all repaired, but it's been 4 years now, and... She chomps all the way down to insulation.

[silverfish]

Renie used to do this. For her, it was always worse when she suffered any anxiety - she was a pretty confident girl (a PAT therapy dog), and definitely the boss between her and Jim, and then her and Jack, but she did need to relieve any anxiety by chewing. I got her a smoked bone (good quality, non-splintering type) and that helped. Bitter spray also worked, but you must keep spraying again every couple of days, because it does 'wear off'.

 

She was also lazy. Moving her beds away from any available wall would solve the problem.

[winnie]

Well, Celeste has now moved onto the corner of our guest bathroom. We keep a dog bed in there (when we don't have company, of course) since it's the "hide out" for our thunder-phobic dog Bonny. Well, now Celeste is going in there and chewing on the wall while laying in the bed. Since we can't block off the entire house, I guess it's time to invest in some bitter spray.

[silverfish]

If she has a favourite bed, or favourite place to sleep, I wonder if it would be possible to rig up something to fit behind her bed to stop her rolling back her head and chewing on the wall? It's exactly what Renie used to do! We simply moved her bed to a place where she couldn't reach the wall - against a metal radiator worked quite well, and was nice and warm for her, too.

[JAJ2010]

Did you ever find a solution to this? Sunshine ATE a hole in the wall last night while we were sleeping.

[Guest Scouts_mom]

My Tia did this. I'm convinced that she just liked the taste/texture of drywall. I would spray all the walls at her level once a week with bitter apple and that seemed to keep it mostly under control.

[winnie]

Nope... never did find a solution other than blocking off the area Celeste was chewing. She only has the one spot thankfully and leaves the rest of the house alone.

[JAJ2010]

I read online that you should get the aerosol deodorant spray and use that on the walls.I just tried that since it's cheaper than bitter apple.

 

So far so good. Although I'm hoping I made such an impression when I caught her that it solved the problem on the spot. Lol