Hello, Is the behavior happening while you are not home? If so, I would confine her somewhere away from the clothes while you are gone. At the same time, if she is food motivated, stuff a hollow chew toy with dog food and a little bit of liver paste or peanut butter (watch out for too much sodium and do NOT use a peanut butter that contains the sugar substitute xylitol - its extremely toxic to dogs). When you are home, keep all clothes cleaned up except clothes you are using for training purposes. You can use a device such as Snappy trap, placed in the middle of clothes. When she moves or touches the snappy trap, it will make a snap noise and jump up, surprising most dogs. Be ready to come in and remove the clothes right after so she can't go back to investigate - and will assume the article of clothing jumped at her, to deter her from the clothes. Remove access to your clothes accept while training for at least one month, while encouraging her to chew toys by adding food and treats to her own toys. https://www.chewy.com/ht-pet-snappy-trainer-pet-deterrent/dp/134209?utm_source=google-product&utm_medium=cpc&utm_content=ht-pet&utm_campaign=20211552226&utm_term=&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiAmZGrBhAnEiwAo9qHiRfJxmDv66gXiWft1OKmIxFo0KQX1J8tROwonSm0LyL7DUqjEIXWYRoCSq0QAvD_BwE Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden

Nov. 27, 2023

Hello, While keeping clothes out of reach and drawers closed (you may need to use those baby proofing additions on lower drawers, I would also pick out specific underwear that you are okay being ruined potentially, and leave those ones out booby trapped, so the deterrent is related to the underwear itself and not just your presence. The easiest thing to try first is to take a pair of underwear and soak it in lemon juice or white vinegar (lemon will bleach anything it touches - so vinegar is often my first go to). Let the pair completely dry out after soaking but don't rinse the vinegar or juice off. Leave these soaked underwear lying around on hard surfaces (in case they were to get chewed and wet and leak with the unusual chewer), like your kitchen, bathrooms, ect... Keep these underwear set out in new locations often until pup is no longer interested. Most dogs will find the vinegar taste repulsive and after several attempts to chew over a couple of weeks, decide that underwear isn't fun to chew anymore. Make sure to provide pup with a better alternative like a dog food stuffed kong, to chew instead, so they don't pick something else unacceptable like your shoes next. Second, if you have the rare dog who doesn't mind the taste or likes it, and chews anyway, I would purchase something like a couple of scat mats or snappy trainer traps (fake mouse traps that snap together to startle but won't close on your dog) and set the underwear on top of those hidden items, to surprise pup anytime they go to chew the booby trapped underwear. Keep all normal underwear locked away so training is consistent and they learn that underwear is always unpleasant to chew now, keeping a couple of booby trapped underwear out at all times for a few weeks until pup has gone a couple of weeks without attempting to chew any. Make sure you use the fake snappy trainer traps if you need one, and not a real mouse trap that could harm pup. https://www.chewy.com/ht-pet-snappy-trainer-pet-deterrent/dp/134209?utm_source=google-product&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=12646124820&utm_content=ht-pet&utm_term=&gclid=Cj0KCQiAtvSdBhD0ARIsAPf8oNmrcfjXE8WAgN1D_3Oi93rKIcwo4huAA9jSAU9-_we0-4Dfl6nPX6EaAjDyEALw_wcB Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden

Jan. 10, 2023

Hello, I would use a combination of methods to address this. First, I would keep all the clothes not being used to train him to leave them alone picked up and out of reach. Second, choose some clothes you're okay with potentially getting ruined and either soak them in white vinegar then let them dry, or spray them thoroughly with bitter apple, and leave those items in pup's reach as booby traps, so that the taste will deter him. Third, teach and practice the "Leave It" command with pup. After practicing with treats, specifically practice with clothes items and reward with a treat that was hidden behind your back only when pup doesn't bite or touch the clothes at all when tempted by dropping or wiggling the item. Leave It method: https://wagwalking.com/training/train-a-shih-tzu-puppy-to-not-bite Finally, when you are not home and at night, crate pup until they have broken the habit. In order for your proactive training to work, like Leave It, pup needs to consistently not be able to chew something without intervention. The more consistent way to do that is often by crating pup unless clothes are the only possession of yours that pup ever chews and you can 100% be sure to have all clothes picked up while not home or asleep. Crate pup for at least six months, where there needs to be three months of pup not chewing anything they aren't supposed to. When pup is consistently doing well for that long, then you can gradually give freedom out of the crate again if pup is ready for it by leaving for longer and longer periods and looking around when you get home or spying on pup with a camera, to make sure they didn't chew anything they weren't supposed to. Start with 5 minutes, then 10, then 15, then 20, then 30, then 45, then 60, then 1.5 hours, then 2 hours, then 3 hours, then 4 hours. If pup chews at any point during this transition, go back to crating for one month before testing freedom again. For dogs who are only chewing one specific item and not destroying a variety of things due, it can sometimes be an option to spy on pup with a camera and correct pup on a remote training collar when he goes to chew the item. Before doing this, I would teach Leave It and reward for leaving clothes items alone and correct with the remote training collar with you present if pup chews it in your presence, so pup will understand clearly not to chew the item and why they are being corrected, before setting up a scenario where you spy on pup and correct while pup thinks you are gone. This option tends to only be good for the dog who is chewing something specific, like a pair of leather shoes but doesn't chew your other things, opposed to the dog who is chewing lots of different items, and needs more generalized training with leave it, bitter apple, and removing access to those items for long enough to change the chewing habit. For any dog, I recommend also providing appropriate chewing options, and making that option more exciting, like stuffing a hollow chew toy such as a toy with treats or kibble. Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden

Dec. 13, 2022