Why is she chewing??

On Saturday, my OH took the dogs downstairs at 7:30am and left me asleep. He let them out to toilet, gave them their breakfast, and went out to get milk and bread for our own breakfasts. A funny grinding noise woke me up, and when I went to investigate, the wall had been either chewed on or clawed at It's a fairly random place, just above the dog bed.

The dogs are both used to being left for a few hours at a time (we took the time to build it up slowly, incase I have an emergency and need to go to hospital) and we've never ever had a problem before - not even when Ella was an only-dog. On Sunday, we went out for a couple of hours and came home to a chewed door frame Tonight, my OH was in the kitchen and heard a strange noise - Ella was chewing on my kitchen door! The other marks look like Ella's teeth, too, as Roux still has baby teeth.

I'm completely baffled. She's never suffered with SA (although we were all in the house and nearby when she decided that the door needed a bit of customising). We always leave plenty of toys out. All the damage is near to the kitchen door, but that door is always left open for the dogs to go out to the toilet, so it's not that she's trying to get out. She has all her adult teeth (I would have expected Roux to be the phantom chewer, as he is teething) and although Ella's walks have been reduced a little since we got Roux to prevent over exercising his baby joints, we're spending longer training and playing at home to tire them out.

I considered spritzing the area with a bitter tasting spray, but a few years ago I had a cat who chewed everything and my vet at the time said that a lot of the sprays were not as safe as they claimed to be - although things have probably changed since then. I just don't understand what is triggering this, and I'd rather understand why she's doing it, than to simply find a quick fix.

Any ideas?

The only thing I could think of (but it doesn't sound that likely when you say she's done the door frame as well) is whether she heard something behind the wall - maybe a mouse?

Otherwise, perhaps it is just a touch of boredom, maybe she is missing her longer walks despite the training/play time at home.

maybe she has mouth problems and is chewing to alleviate them,could be worth getting it checked?

I have a large public apology to make to Ella

Roux is the phantom door chewer I thought as much, given that he is teething, but my OH was convinced that he saw Ella chewing the door last night, and that the other marks matched her teeth. Turns out that what he saw was Ella chewing on bits of wood that were already on the floor by the door and I caught a certain young man committing the crime while I was in the kitchen this morning.

So Ella, I'm very sorry that we jumped to conclusions!

We've wiped some lemon juice on the areas that he's been chewing and he didn't look too terribly impressed but hopefully it will discourage him. I left them with their Kongs this morning, and we're thinking about getting a couple of spares so that while one is in the freezer, they can have the other.

that sounds sooo true to life, the well behaved older sister getting blamed for the younger brothers naughty tricks

Still, it makes far more sense that it was Roux, glad you got to the bottom of it.

I don't want to worry you, but on another board someones dog suddenly started chewing he walls, and as he didn't syop she had him checked by the vet. Well, he was in acute liver (or kidney?) failure and is very very poorly, has been at the vets for a few days, and she has not got the results yet. She did not notice from any other behsviour that he was ill. Better get your dog checked.

Was the medical problem caused by the wall chewing or vice versa? It would be very handy to know if that has been established.

Pups huh?? Don't you just love 'em!!

Both dogs were checked over by the vet on Monday and proclaimed the picture of health, so I think it is just "teething puppy" behaviour, although we're encouraging him to take out his chewing on something more appropriate than the house!

Ella went through a similar phase when she was his age and decided to customise the coffee table but it all stopped when she was about nine months old.

I will keep an especially close eye on him, though, and whip him up to the vets if I feel there is more to it than teething.

the chewing was because of discomfort and things not being right with the dog.