Dog Biting Tires

[douglascrumback]

I have an Australian Shepherd(about 3 years old) and he bites tires(mostly when parked on our property and when unsupervised). and has recently destroyed a new tire of my partners. What do you suggest to stop this behaviour?

[KOPcaroline]

Hi there,

Have you tried putting something like tobasco sauce or citrus juice on the tires? Dogs usually don't like these tastes so it might deter him from chewing too much.

You should also try to just keep an eye on him from inside your house when you're there. If you see him go near the tyres, get to a window and give a sharp "OI!" or "no!" etc etc. If he doesn't listen, get out there immediately, get a hold of him and try tying him up away from the cars for about 10 minutes. I used this technique to keep my dog from getting into our compost pile at our house - any time I saw him go near it I gave a sharp command and got him away from it. If he didn't listen, I tied him up at his kennel for a few minutes. It seems to have worked really well - he doesnt seem bothered by the compost area anymore. This does, obviously, come with the assumption that you are home when he's doing the chewing, and not off the property completely.

If all else fails and he's actually damaging the tyres, which it sounds like he is, you may just have to block his access to them somehow - fence him out of that area of your yard or restrict him in some other way.

Hopefully starting out with the bad tastes and training while you're home will work - good luck with it. Keep us updated if they don't work, hopefully some other members have good ideas to try too