One Masochistic Pup

[LadynStFreknBed]

My 6-month-old golden retriever/ lab. mix puppy has taken a liking to chewing on glass! He will actually break glasses to chew on them. He has bones and chew toys, but seems to be much more fond of his new love of glass.

He's a big dog already. He's gotta be at least 75 lbs. and the size of a medium dog. So, though I have been trying to keep glass out of his reach, if my children leave a glass on the counter, it's a goner. His last victim was one of my wine glasses which he managed to get out of my china cabinet. Luckily, he hasn't learned about the concept of noise.. and we can hear him whenever he starts to break a glass and rescue him from his own stupidity.

Any suggestions?

 

[glynndah]

Perhaps a glass liberally drenched with hot sauce or bitter apple (you can find it at pet stores) and left "unattended".

 

[3113]

Switch to plastic? Poor puppy!

 

[BlackShanglan]

It's probably the texture he finds interesting, but this is a serious problem. I'd try both training solutions and, of course, keeping glass far our of dog reach at all times. In emergencies - and any ingestion of glass is one - I've heard that feeding a pet cotton balls soaked in oil can help. Evidently the cotton often binds up the glass and keeps it from slicing into the organs of the digestive tract. However, the cotton itself could cause a blockage, so it's an emergency solution and not something to be done regularly.

For training, I would make sure that for at least a week, he has at least one round of training per day, and that you continue really as long as you can doing this every couple of days to get the idea well-established. Here's are the steps I would take in training - which should occur at a time when you can give him your full attention for 10-15 minutes, and is best done when he's just had a walk and is calm from it:

(1) Put the dog on a leash.

(2) Place a glass in his sight. Begin with it far away, so that you have ample time to control him; gradually, over multiple training sessions, move it closer. Your eventual goal is to have him avoid it even if you put it against his nose.

(3) As soon as he even looks at the glass - well before he can touch it, and ideally before he can do more than just barely begin to get up or move toward it - correct him with a firm "No!" and a short, sharp tug of the leash. The tug should not be enough to hurt him or yank him sidewise - just enough to get his attention.

If the tug doesn't distract him from the glass, physically take his muzzle in your hand and turn his head to look at you and not the glass. The goal here is to communicate that the glass is never going to be a play object and cannot even be thought about as one. Getting him to stop looking at it prevents him from fixating on it and building up more desire to get it.

(4) Repeat this, undoubtedly many times at first, until the dog will lay looking away from the glass despite knowing that it is there. Reaching this point will be enough for the first session.

(5) In later sessions, continue moving the glass closer. If the dog makes a dart for it, step between him and the glass and use a loud "No!" Stamping your foot loudly, clapping your hands near his nose, or shoving (not slapping) his muzzle aside are also good corrections. In each session, the goal is to wear down his desire to get near the glass with firm, gentle, but unyielding repetition of the correction.

(6) Once the dog has gotten to the point of leaving the glass alone when it's quite close to him, switch to sometimes walking with him (on leash) into a room where a glass is already in his reach, and walking him past it. Each time he looks at the glass, give the leash a firm tug and tell him "No." Again, if he makes a dart for it, give the bigger correction.

(7) Once he's reliable with that, start leaving glasses in the room and walking away from him. Keep an eye on him and correct the moment he starts to fixate on the glass or move toward it. Work to gradually increase your distance and time away until you can walk out of the room and leave him, and still have him not touch the glass.

All of this will be even more effective if everyone in the house takes turns enforcing the rule. You want him to attach the rule to the glass and not to you. I'd also very much suggest training a "leave it!" command in conjunction with this; if he knows that there is a command for "leave that thing alone right now!" he will know what you want him to do about the glass when you use that command. "Leave it" is an important command for any dog's safety, and for owner happiness; God knows we were glad ours had a solid "leave it" when she went swimming and wanted to bring us back a dead, bloated fish she found. She dropped it on command twenty yards from shore, and we were well pleased with her.

Shanglan

 

[glynndah]

A pop can with a few small rocks in it, taped securely shut, makes an effective deterent, attention-getting noisemaker.

 

[rgraham666]

I've got a friend whose dog has decided to eat itself, starting with its tail.

 

[BlackShanglan]

I've got a friend whose dog has decided to eat itself, starting with its tail.

How much exercise and socialization does the dog get? That's the most common problem in animals that self-harm.