BehavioRx Case of the Month
for October 1996

A Most Expensive Chewing Problem
"Let the Client Speak"

Dear Mr. Campbell:

At your request, I am writing you about my experience implementing behavior modification techniques with my dogs for their destructive chewing... You have my permission to use part or all of it in any literature you may be publishing:

My two-year old dogs, Annie (American Cocker Spaniel) and Chelsea (English Cocker Spaniel) exhibited several episodes of destructive chewing and digging on household furniture and carpeting when no one was home during the period July to November 1995. This behavior was nearly absent during most of December 1995 when both household members took some vacation and were therefore home a large percentage of each day. However, when we returned to work in January 1996, the behavior recurred with greater frequency than in the past. The dogs damaged nearly $3,000 worth of furniture and carpeting. My veterinarian referred me to Mr. Campbell, whom I consulted by phone in early February 1996.

I would add that because I do a great deal of reading about dogs (I've received Dog Fancy and other assorted dog publications since 1983), I understood as a long-time dog owner that certain responses were not productive in addressing behavior problems. Therefore, neither household member ever used the kinds of responses one might expect most people to use. For example, the dogs have never been hit or scolded and we have not elicited any kind of outward emotional response. (Well, l must admit that the first time it happened, I discovered it and I was somewhat shocked. I recall that I stopped abruptly when I saw sofa stuffing sticking out; I stood momentarily staring at it with my eyes wide open and walked out into the yard alone to collect my wits.) our typical response thereafter was to enter the house and greet the dogs as usual then put them outside while we looked for any indiscretions and picked up the pieces in their absence.

Mr. Campbell instructed me on three primary techniques to try: (1) learn to earn, (2) ignoring the dogs five minutes before leaving and five minutes after returning home and (3) use of alum on the furniture of interest to the dogs. As busy professional women who wanted to fix this problem with as little thought as possible, we began using only one of these techniques (#2). The results were immediate. This behavior, which happened on the average of 3 times per week prior to the consultation, stopped altogether.

As of this writing in mid-June, the dogs have still done no more damage to the furniture or carpet. However, since mid-May, when we come home for lunch on Mondays only and occasionally on Sundays after church, we would discover the cheap comforter with which we'd been covering the sofa's wounds" on the floor with bite holes revealing its fiberfill. I realized that my housemate and I had grown inconsistent with the ignoring procedure. Now, provided we take care on Sunday and Monday mornings to do the ignoring techniqe, we don't find desecrated sofa coverings when we return at noon.

But another problem with Chelsea led me again to the phone to call Mr. Campbell. He provided numerous suggestions to address this new problem. Among them, he reiterated the learn to earn technique. I've thought a great deal about why he may have reiterated the same technique for such different problems, and the light bulb went on! The ignoring procedure was important because it calmed the dogs' separation anxiety. But the learn to earn technique establishes human leadership from the dogs' perspective and is therefore important in resolving and preventing all dog behavior problems.

Therefore, my new challenge is to love my dogs enough to do the work it takes to be consistent with this and other leadership-establishing techniques. I wish the same for all dog-owners.

CG, Corvallis, OR

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