Dog keeps destroying couch

[sirbeastmom]

This is the second couch in just as many months that my dog has destroyed. They’ve been freebies, so it’s no financial loss, but dang it’s annoying!

Dog is roughly 2 years old, mostly mellow, well socialized, healthy, has plenty of good chew toys, and is exercised plenty (though I guess he could always exercise more).

He’s perfectly behaved when I’m home (so I can’t catch him in the act), and doesn’t seem to have any separation anxiety. With the exception of the occasional dirty sock (yum!), he doesn’t chew anything he’s not supposed to…except the dang couch, which he DESTROYS.

Last couch made it about three months with nary a bit of interest from him, and then I came home one day and it was gutted. I lived with a destuffed couch for a month (dog didn’t tear at it again after that one day), and got a new couch yesterday. This one made it less than 24 hours before getting gored. He really really loves destuffing things.

How do I keep him from seeing the couch as a giant toy? Do bitter sprays work?

And no, he’s not crate trained. My work hours are too long.

[csaper58]

Do couches smell like food, or someone else’s dog? Powdered Alum is sold on the spice isle at many grocery stores, sprinkle on the next sofa to make it taste BAD.

[Bicoastal]

[QUOTE=sirbeastmom;7666525]
He’s perfectly behaved when I’m home (so I can’t catch him in the act), and doesn’t seem to have any separation anxiety. With the exception of the occasional dirty sock (yum!), he doesn’t chew anything he’s not supposed to…except the dang couch, which he DESTROYS.

Last couch made it about three months with nary a bit of interest from him, and then I came home one day and it was gutted.[/QUOTE]

Gutting the couch in one day suggests anxiety to me. Maybe one day something spiked his anxiety, like a delivery guy on the street, a thunderstorm, etc. Or maybe it is recreational like you say.

Keep the couch away from the dog if you can’t keep the dog away from the couch. Partition it off. Warning: he may destroy something else if he can’t vent on the couch. Can you confine him at all?

Do you exercise & train him before you leave for the day? Food puzzles, boredom busters, frozen Kongs, etc? How many hours can he be left alone before he starts couch deconstruction?

Metal-framed futons may be in your future .

[kasjordan]

Gate him in the kitchen/laundry room/wherever…someone coming by to walk him once or twice a day might help…it does sound like a form of separation anxiety to me.

[SuckerForHorses]

I’m sorry, but if you’re hours are too long for “crate training” perhaps they are also too long for him to just be running loose if he’s destroying your couch?

I would crate him.

[kasjordan]

As a side note, you’re setting yourself up for obstruction surgery he needs to be contained in some way for his own good.

[sirbeastmom]

Thanks for the responses, all.

To answer a few of the comments:

I’m sure the couches smelled like other animals/food/all sorts of interesting things, since they both came heavily used from pet homes. Maybe that’s why all his interest is focused on the couch instead of other furniture? I have a bunch of chewable things—pillows, rugs, shoes, baseboard, chair legs, curtains—and he only gnaws on the couch.

We did have a wicked hail storm the other day, so that may have spiked his anxiety. And who knows what may have set him off the first time.

He gets jogged a couple miles every morning before work (runs alongside my bike), has a handful of Kong toys to play with, gets to run around outside when I get back, and goes for a 30-minute walk every night.

If he had chronic separation anxiety, wouldn’t there be other signs of it? Like I stated above, there’s a bunch of things in the house he could chew on but he chooses only the couch.

[Justmyluck]

Set up a video camera and watch.

[jherold]

I’d bet it’s the smell of the other pets. I’ve had perfectly housebroken dogs pee in a the house because years previously the other owners dogs had gone there. (And it was years because the people we bought it from lived there for 10 years and did not allow pets in the house). I try buying a cheap new fouton and see how it goes.

[Bicoastal]

[QUOTE=sirbeastmom;7667345]
He gets jogged a couple miles every morning before work (runs alongside my bike), has a handful of Kong toys to play with, gets to run around outside when I get back, and goes for a 30-minute walk every night.[/QUOTE] (underlining is mine)

These are all good things! With the kongs, have you ever stuffed them with some special delicacy (canned food, peanut butter, baby food) and frozen then given to pooch? A pup-sicle!

My food hound will whine, mutter, and bark as his frustration builds at not being able to get the food out of the kong fast enough. Frustration channeled into something we can both live with :yes:.

IF it is sep anxiety, it may manifest in other ways once the couch is unavail. Or maybe your pup is obsessed with floof [stuffing] and OMG couches have SO. Much. Floof. How long have you had him?

My pound hound developed sep anxiety after settling in. He went at window and door frames. Exercise, OB, conditioning to separation, and time solved it. Now he can’t wait for me to leave so he can get his goodies (frozen kong, wobbler, saucer, etc).

[jetsmom]

I’d try to limit his access to things that can be destroyed. gate him off in kitchen/laundry room? Or get a bunch of scat mats and place around couch, but he may start chewing a chair, etc.

[Riley0522]

Putting the flame suit on, but it sounds like the dog isn’t happy being left alone for x hours a day while you work. Maybe try doggie day care or find him a home with someone who’s around more? All dogs are different, I’m sure there are some out there who are more independent/solitary and prefer being alone.

[Lazy_Palomino_Hunter]

First off, why not pen him somewhere he can’t reach the couch? A bathroom, kitchen, laundry room, anywhere you can safely baby gate him. As other posters have said, couch-eating is a $$$ obstruction surgery waiting to happen

[QUOTE=Justmyluck;7667559]
Set up a video camera and watch.[/QUOTE]

^ This.

We can suggest a million things that may or may not help. The real truth of the matter is, unless you know what he is actually doing when he is alone it is impossible to come up with a solution.

The couch de-stuffing might be because it smelled tasty and that’s all. Or it might be that he generally spends the day engaging in non-destructive anxious behaviors like obsessively pacing, and one day something happened to spike his anxiety, he went at the couch, and it has now become a learned response to anxiety.

[independentlyawesome]

[QUOTE=SuckerForHorses;7667259]
I’m sorry, but if you’re hours are too long for “crate training” perhaps they are also too long for him to just be running loose if he’s destroying your couch?

I would crate him.[/QUOTE]

Hm, no. Plenty of people work 12-14 hour shifts. No dog should be crated for that long (excluding medical reasons of course).

Some sort of confinement is likely necessary though, to puppy-proof the place.

It doesn’t sound like the OP’s doing any training with the dog, though. Mental engagement is just as necessary as physical. Maybe even moreso.

[Marshfield]

I can’t stress enough the importance of crate training your dog. It really is a doggy life skill. He needs to be comfortable staying in a crate for when the day comes that he has to be boarded or has to stay at the vet for a few hours.

[Riley0522]

[QUOTE=independentlyawesome;7670181]
Hm, no. Plenty of people work 12-14 hour shifts. No dog should be crated for that long (excluding medical reasons of course).

Some sort of confinement is likely necessary though, to puppy-proof the place.

It doesn’t sound like the OP’s doing any training with the dog, though. Mental engagement is just as necessary as physical. Maybe even moreso.[/QUOTE]

I think that’s true, but plenty of people work 12-14 hr shifts AND crate and make other arrangements so dog can have time out of the crate while they’re at work. I just don’t understand how people advocate for keeping a dog alone and loose for however many hours and let it A. destroy your house and B. potentially endanger itself eating whatever it can get into. The dog isn’t really anymore stimulated alone for 15 hours with the run of the house destroying things than spending 15 hours alone in a crate where it can’t destroy things/get a possible obstruction or poisoning (I am not advocating for leaving a dog in a crate for 15hrs, but the current situation just isn’t safe).

I would invest in a crate and dog walker or doggie daycare, or rehome this dog who clearly isn’t happy being left alone all day every day.

[toady123]

Two things I think of:

Noise or event (e.g. thunder) that caused stress and the behaviour - you mention hail so that could be it.

As other have mentioned, smells that could be irresistible. Could there have been some food/crumbs or something else interesting tucked within the couch?

My dogs are PERFECTLY well behaved 99.9% of the time. I literally have toys from the day we got them that are still practically pristine (they play with them, but they are not big chewers).

They have never chewed furniture, gone through a garbage, counter surfed or anything. But every 6 mos to a year they rip a dog bed to shreds. We are still mystified as to what causes it (my best guess is that they get roughhousing and get overstimulated and start demolishing it before they realize they’ve even done it LOL). They are terribly guilty after the fact :).

[Woodsperson]

I have a serial couch destroyer and not cheap ones either. She only destroys the sofa in the living room and not the den. Has never touched the furniture in any other room. The best fix was sending her to college with my daughter for several years. Now that she’s back I think I have at least temporarily solved the problem.

I have a battery operated shock pad on the sofa which works most of the time. But the most important thing is that she always has a rug or a towel in this room to chew on. When something bothers her she attacks the rug and not the sofa. The bitter spray ons didn’t work at all. In fact the dog would lick them off of the sofa.

[TrotTrotPumpkn]

I had a doberman (after the puppy stuff was well over) go for years until she destroyed our very nice leather sofa one night. I’m sure it was anxiety. We got home a little late one night.

She’s also the dog I spent 3k on obstruction surgery and complications on (later–not from the couch–got a hold of a sock). She never did fully recover digestively.

[Arcadien]

My youngest routinely destroyed couches until she was 3. Maybe he’ll grow out of it? I work long days too, and my dogs seemed much less stressed by it when I installed a dog door so they have access to house AND half acre fenced yard all day. Don’t know if that’s an option but it helped my guys. I consider my sofa’s & recliners disposable - every 6 mos to a year I look for new ones. Always free! You’d be shocked what people in fancy developments are giving away, because its the “wrong color” or something stupid… Good luck!