[Dave5862]

First-some background. Benji is my first Chi and will be 1 on Dec. 25th. He is 65% long hair with 12% Mini Poodle along with 7 other breeds in very small %. I rescued him and his sister from terrible living conditions as I was a member of a dog rescue at the time I started off as his foster, but later became a foster failure and I adopted him. He is really cute and doesn't back down from my 2 Mini Schnauzers at all even though they are twice his size. He has become very attached to me as he never had any love before I arrived in his life. This is part of the problem.
He is very mischievous and chews everything, especially if it has my body odor on it. He has destroyed about 3 pairs of shoes and slippers, and a couple of my c-pap masks and will take a bath towel off the rack to chew on it. I am not into capital punishment but the process of taking bad things away and replacing them with a chew toy (all of which he loves) is not making much of a difference. I have never had a Schnauzer puppy go this late into a teething chewing frenzy but was wondering if you had any ideas on how to stop this behavior or am I just needing to wait another month before he outgrows it. Right now, as always) he is within 5 feet of me taking a nap, if I go to another room he follows and takes a nap.

 

[LizC]

Remove what you can from his reach, such as towels on the rack. Other than that you need to continue to be persistent, say "no" in a stern firm voice, tap his nose away from what he's chewing and give him something he's allowed (don't forget to praise him when he takes it). Eventually he will get it, plus he will learning what "no" means and that will come in handy in other situations.

 

[robertjames666]

Although Chihuahuas are very energetic and destructive I suggest to have a unreachable shelf, where you'll store your shoes. Chihuahuas often get bored easily and i think this may be a reason why Benji chews a lot. By the way there is an image of my dog chewing on my shoes :

 

[LizC]

Chihuahuas are no more destructive than any other dog. It is the owner's responsibility to teach the dog what it is and is not allowed to do.

 

[Dave5862]

Well, I guess I should have mentioned in my 78 years I have had many puppies but this is my first Chi. I know all the training tricks and putting everything out of harm's way. My question was do Chis have a tendency to be an aggressive chewer past 1 year? All of my puppies til this lovable chewing machine were over the chewing thing by 10-11 months and were much easier to train. Benji is by far the most stubborn student I have ever had and loves to go outside but I can count on at least 1 accident a week, minimum. My Schnauzers were literally house-trained within a week with an accident maybe 2 times and then no issues. I am getting just a tad frustrated at the lovable, cute guy!

 

[LizC]

In every breed there are going to be dogs with issues. I'm on my fourth chi and everyone had their own unique personality and none of them had a destructive nature. Puppies chew, that's what they do, with training they understand what they aren't allowed to touch. I now have an 8 month old chi, the perfect puppy, house breaking was a breeze, sleeps through the night, is fine being left alone and so far has not destroyed anything.

Hang in there, just like people some dogs learn quickly, for others it takes a while

 

[Dave5862]

Hi Liz, thanks for the comments. I am happy to report Benji has learned (for the most part) to chew on his toys. He has learned the Leave It command rather well. He is a little sneak and will still get hold of something he should not but if I give him a toy to replace it he is happy, til next time. lol
I do believe that the potty training issue is due to his first 9 months of life. He was a rescue and I was a member of the rescue team that picked him up. He and his sister were in a very small cage with a cardboard bottom that was full of feces and urine. We wrapped the pups up in a towel to carry them out and put them into our crates. I was going to foster Benji and when we got home he got a nice warm bath and placed in a nice clean crate with a soft bed and some water. He slept a long time.
Happy to say he can sleep the night away and has graduated to joining me and his 2 fur buddies on the bed. I have an alarm that sounds if anyone attempts to leave the room but so far so good. I wake up about 3 (I'm an old man ya know) and the 3 boys eagerly hit the backyard since I woke them up. I let them out first thing, feed them their breakfast and let them out again. I let him out every 90 minutes and the other 2 go along. And then we have an "accident". He comes to me often for pets and often sleeps at my feet and 1 of 2 things happen. 1-nothing and 2 I discover a "pile" on the carpet, often my nose alerting me. He doesn't care where he goes, probably due to his earlier months. I can see progress but oh my, it is frustrating. Did I mention I am a foster failure, he is so sweet I just had to adopt him.

 

[LizC]

Hey good to hear you're making progress with the chewing. Yeah I think you are right about his earlier days having an effect on potty training. Just keep at it and stay vigilant, especially when he hasn't done his business yet. Get him into a routine so you will know when he is more likely to poop and take him out.