chewing due to anxiety Lyndsey

[Lyndsey]

Morning, we adopted our 5yr old retired male greyhound a week before lockdown (we were due to adopt him anyway the home bought the date forward due to the threat of lockdown) He fitted into our routine brilliantly but like with many others he's been affected by having my husband off for 5 months and who now has returned to work. He has started chewing our wooden table, bookshelves, curtains and the sofa when we leave him - whether it be for an hour or 6, there is no logic to it as it doesn't happen every time. We have him gated in the room in which he can do least damage but he can open the gate (can't work out how) and get in the living room. Does anyone have any opinions on trying to crate train an older greyhound ? He has many a chew toy/ food toys but won't play with them when we're not there so any advice or help would be appreciated ?

 

[greysmom]

I'll Be Home Soon by Patricia McConnell

This short booklet will walk you through how to deal with Separation Anxiety step-by-step.  Available as an ebook and in paperback.

Get a couple of Kongs - the black kind for hard chewers - and work on getting him used to using them while you're home as a treat.  You can freeze them so they take more time for him to work on with squirt cheese, canned dog food, peanut butter, liverwurst - whatever he likes best.  If he's not interested in the Kongs in the beginning (many are not) simmer them for a few minutes in some broth to get rid of the rubbery smell/taste.

[HeyRunDog]

In addition to the advice given by greysmom you could try spraying the the objects he's chewing with bitter apple.