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Our very lovely teenage tearaway German wirehaired pointer is going through an annoyingly destructive chewing phase. Unfortunately he's developed an interest in the outside telecommunications cable that connects us to STW and the rest of the interweb. I've explained to him that this is a pain in the backside, but being both a dog and a teenage dirtbag, he doesn't really care.
Anyone got any genius ideas for dog-proofing the cable? It's already installed and runs down the outside wall and through the wall low down, so any sort of wrap or shielding would need to be a split or spiral-wrap type of design. The other option is to cover it with a sheet of ply or similar, but if I can 'armour' the cable retrospectively, it feels like a more elegant solution.
Genius ideas welcome. I don't think the stuff sold to pet-proof indoor power cables etc will be tough enough btw.Â
Rub the pithy bit of a scotch bonnet chilli on it?
You can get spray on chew deterrent stuff. Can't comment on the effectiveness because our chap managed to work out what was allowed and what not quite quickly.
Apart from carpet slippers. They're fair game if left is stealing range.Â
You may armour this cable but you won't be able to armour all of them so rather than being preventative go for the cure. Don't allow him out unsupervised and when supervised outside he is redirected every time. So take something with you to lure him off and onto something else instead, maybe some natural chews or a toy in pockets constantly? He needs to listen when you're telling him whats not okay to do, you're just making a rod for your own back allowing him to be selective about what he does and doesn't listen to. Just my two pence.
train the dog don't mitigate against his behaviour, would be my suggestion. get a small kids water pistol, cover it with your hand and then when he starts having a go at the target, squirt him with it a couple of times but don't make it obvious you've done it. he will look at you, but just feign ignorance. he'll think the thing he was attacking retaliated. if my experience with my old spaniel when she was chewing the furniture as a pup is anything to go by, it'll be like flicking a switch.
bon chance!
You can get spray on chew deterrent stuff. Can't comment on the effectiveness because our chap managed to work out what was allowed and what not quite quickly.
Apart from carpet slippers. They're fair game if left is stealing range
The spray stuff - usually bitter apple - wears off quite quickly ime. Mind you, once you redirect him from something for a few days, he tends to forget he was ever interested in it. He's mostly pretty good and gets loads of mental and physical exercise, but he's hit a proper chew phase. It's not so much the cables he's interested in as the nailed-in clips that secure it to the wall, he pulls them out with his teeth, but the cable is right in the firing line.
You may armour this cable but you won't be able to armour all of them so rather than being preventative go for the cure. Don't allow him out unsupervised and when supervised outside he is redirected every time. So take something with you to lure him off and onto something else instead, maybe some natural chews or a toy in pockets constantly? He needs to listen when you're telling him whats not okay to do, you're just making a rod for your own back allowing him to be selective about what he does and doesn't listen to. Just my two pence.
You're kind of right and it's pretty much how we roll, but it's just the one cable. There are no other telecomm cables or any other ones he can access outside. He's never touched any wires or cables inside the house. It's just his fascination with the nail-in clips that hold it in place that puts it in the firing line, so if I can protect it, then it makes sense.
To be clear, he's not left to roam the garden unsupervised and his obedience is generally great - he knows 'leave it', 'drop it' and responds to verbal interruptions then gets redirected - but the consequence of a moment's inattention would be seriously inconvenient. The rest of the garden is fine, it's just the one cable.
train the dog don't mitigate against his behaviour, would be my suggestion. get a small kids water pistol, cover it with your hand and then when he starts having a go at the target, squirt him with it a couple of times but don't make it obvious you've done it. he will look at you, but just feign ignorance. he'll think the thing he was attacking retaliated. if my experience with my old spaniel when she was chewing the furniture as a pup is anything to go by, it'll be like flicking a switch.
You have to be a little careful with stuff like that, but I take your point - and GolfChick's - that the answer ideally is to change the dog's behaviour. Apart from anything else, it underlines that I need to work on his 'leave it' cue, so he understand's that it's not just a one-off thing.Â
How about removing the clips he's chewing? You can always replace them later when he forgets about them.
From the fear my brother's dog now has of the bottom corner of my dad's garden I'd recommend an electric fence.
If his interest is in the nail-on clips, could you remove them and hide the cable in some trunking instead? The usual plastic stuff's not tough, obviously, but might be different enough that he no longer sees the clips or cable? Of course, he'll probably just take to ripping that off the wall instead unless you get something like this, maybeÂ
https://www.screwfix.com/p/deta-tte-37mm-galvanised-steel-channel-2m/826VT?tc=SB6
I've know idea what your set up is, but could you just block access to the cable with bins or something? It doesn't have to be permanent just until he loses interest.
(when we got Randal...also GWP...we didn't want him going upstairs so we put a child gate at the bottom of the stairs....we.took it away after a month or so, and he doesn't go upstairs....its like there's a invisible gate there!)
I've know idea what your set up is, but could you just block access to the cable with bins or something? It doesn't have to be permanent just until he loses interest.
(when we got Randal...also GWP...we didn't want him going upstairs so we put a child gate at the bottom of the stairs....we.took it away after a month or so, and he doesn't go upstairs....its like there's a invisible gate there!)
Yes. that's what we've done temporarily, sheet of ply held in place by some old railway sleepers, 'management' basically. Our experience is that he gets into a particular habit for a few days, then forgets he was ever interested and just ignores. He went through a stage of chewing the seal on the composite back door, but a combination of interruption and redirection and shutting the door when he went for it stopped the behaviour in a couple of days, now he just ignores it. I guess what's thrown me a little i the high consequence nature of the thing, we really don't want to be sans internet for days.Â
Interesting what you found with the stair gate. We've always had one, he doesn't know what's beyond it and we're happy to keep it that way. He's eight months now, weighs 30-odd kilos and I don't particularly want to wake up to s sloppy wet pointer beard first thing in the morning, because that's absolutely how it would go. He's still crated overnight atm and very happy that way.
I remember you saying what a handful GWPs were when we first got the little chaos demon and you were quite right, but dear god they are just fantastic dogs, just a mad mix of intelligence, trainability, affection, loyalty, sensitivity and utter, goofball daftness. You absolutely have to keep your foot down with maintaining boundaries and engaging his brain as well as giving him enough physical exercise. My only regret is that we didn't get a GWP ages ago 🙂Â
Thanks for all the replies and suggestions. For now, the wall's blocked off with a sheet of ply, predictably - he's going through a chewing phase - he's started gnawing that instead. Cue lots of interruptions, redirections etc 🙂Â
Stick worming tablets to the cable. That will keep him off it.
mine chewed through a laptop cable that was plugged in. Never chewed any cable since. Â
You absolutely have to keep your foot down with maintaining boundaries
Many years ago I learned that "the disciplined dog is free" from a book somewhere. It has been our mantra since then and Ms Sandwich's when she had a dog. They all are creatures of habit though some breeds have stronger compliance drivers than others. Once it's all learned though they are all a delight. The current spottydog will not leave the office even if all the doors to the farm are open, tbf he is almost autistic in his habits.
I've know idea what your set up is, but could you just block access to the cable with bins or something? It doesn't have to be permanent just until he loses interest.
(when we got Randal...also GWP...we didn't want him going upstairs so we put a child gate at the bottom of the stairs....we.took it away after a month or so, and he doesn't go upstairs....its like there's a invisible gate there!)Yes. that's what we've done temporarily, sheet of ply held in place by some old railway sleepers, 'management' basically. Our experience is that he gets into a particular habit for a few days, then forgets he was ever interested and just ignores. He went through a stage of chewing the seal on the composite back door, but a combination of interruption and redirection and shutting the door when he went for it stopped the behaviour in a couple of days, now he just ignores it. I guess what's thrown me a little i the high consequence nature of the thing, we really don't want to be sans internet for days.Â
Interesting what you found with the stair gate. We've always had one, he doesn't know what's beyond it and we're happy to keep it that way. He's eight months now, weighs 30-odd kilos and I don't particularly want to wake up to s sloppy wet pointer beard first thing in the morning, because that's absolutely how it would go. He's still crated overnight atm and very happy that way.
I remember you saying what a handful GWPs were when we first got the little chaos demon and you were quite right, but dear god they are just fantastic dogs, just a mad mix of intelligence, trainability, affection, loyalty, sensitivity and utter, goofball daftness. You absolutely have to keep your foot down with maintaining boundaries and engaging his brain as well as giving him enough physical exercise. My only regret is that we didn't get a GWP ages ago 🙂Â
They are lovely dogs if you put the work in (not that it's work really)
He's looking gorgeous ❤️
They are lovely dogs if you put the work in (not that it's work really)
He's looking gorgeous
Aw, thanks. I often look at him and wonder how the tiny bundle of mischief we brought home six months ago is turning into this ridiculously handsome dog. He's very much a work in progress and is essentially a very big puppy still, but increasingly you get glimpses of the adult dog. He's starting to find his own off-switch at home and will wander off to his place bed and just settle, which is something we never thought would happen and the more mental engagement he gets, the happier he is. He's fantastic to work with in training terms and I love the way he goes from machine-like focus, if for example, we're playing search games or doing gundog stuff with him, to affectionate pup mode.Â
I know everyone thinks their own dog and breed is the best, but GWPs really are something else. Not biased at all, me... 😀Â
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Mine (cocker) ate the broadband dongle. I dosed it with Tabasco, which it turns out he liked (which led to him eating the replacement dongle), so the next dongle got the Dorset Naga.
He never touched another broadband dongle.
What you need to search for is cable capping. Plugs and screws fixes it over the cable. Tends to be used where drunks/vandals are likely to try and pull cable off the wall. Get black or metal so its UV resistant.
What you need to search for is cable capping. Plugs and screws fixes it over the cable. Tends to be used where drunks/vandals are likely to try and pull cable off the wall. Get black or metal so its UV resistant.
Thanks. In the mean time, I've cut down a sheet of ply and covered that section of wall with it. As a special doggy bonus, he's now taken to occasionally chewing the ply - cue 'leave it' and redirection - but that at least isn't going to leave us cut off from the outside digital world. We might even get a strategic bench to cover things up in the long term, but maybe not until he's through this particular chewing phase - yes. apparently it is a thing as their adult teeth settle in.
The 'problem' fwiw, is that whatever you redirect him to - and trust me, we have a lot of options, bones, chew toys, split antlers, more bones, moon bones, pizzles, rubbery things, non-rubbery things, coffee wood, olive wood, cows' ear, buffalo ears, other random animal parts - he will always prefer whatever it is you don't want him to chew.
I swear if you gave him a choice between prime steak and a piece of splintery old wood, he would choose the latter every single time. Because he is a GWP and that's how they roll.
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In case anyone's remotely interested in our domestic canine drama, putting some ply over the vulnerable section of wall managed the potential disaster of him gnawing through the fibre optic cable. He, in turn, took to gnawing at the ply for a day or so, but regular interruption and redirection mean he's now completely lost interest in it. That's kind of how he rolls and how he's managed.
The 'problem' here was about high level consequences rather than the dog being out of control or untrainable etc, in that we were 30 seconds of chewing away from having to deal with the ball-ache of losing our internet connection. My take, which may or may not be 'correct' in the context of the absurdly polarised world of dog training, is that it's generally easier to simply set the dog up for success by managing access to bad stuff rather than setting him up to fail. At the same time it was a good reminder to keep working on and generalising his 'leave it' cue.
On top of that, GWPs are quite full on, particularly as puppies. But he's also a teenager, pushing boundaries etc. Brilliant dog, but sometimes hard work. Future trail dog, lots of work to do 🙂Â
On top of that, GWPs are quite full on, particularly as puppies. But he's also a teenager, pushing boundaries etc. Brilliant dog, but sometimes hard work.
I have a 'strong willed' male working breed. He is 11 now but has never stopped pushing boundaries, he still thinks his ascension to alpha pack leader is just round the corner.
No issues like that here, we both know exactly who's in charge...I have a 'strong willed' male working breed. He is 11 now but has never stopped pushing boundaries, he still thinks his ascension to alpha pack leader is just round the corner.
... the missus.
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