How to stop a puppy from scratching furniture and appliances?
Puppies constantly scratch wooden furniture, appliances, crates, and sofas, often tearing fabric while attempting to nest or relieve boredom. This leaves owners exasperated and searching for durable covers or behavioral fixes that actually stop the damage.
What the numbers show
Counted from the threads quoted below. How we count
- The most recent one is from October 2026.
- This comes up 29.8× more often in r/dogs than across the site as a whole.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1Google for potential causes like boredom or overtirednessDid this help you?
- 2using blankets and various coversDid this help you?
- 3trying to find durable sofa coversDid this help you?
- 4Giving him old clothes and blankets with owner scent in his kennelDid this help you?
- 5Putting blankets on the couch cushionsDid this help you?
- 6Considering heavier deterrents like tinfoil or car matsDid this help you?
- 7leaving the dog in the yard while away from homeDid this help you?
- 8replacing inappropriate items with toys and dog chewsDid this help you?
- 9giving the dog destructive outlets like cardboard boxes with kibble wrapped in newspaperDid this help you?
- 10Building blockades or barriersDid this help you?
- 11Placing scratching posts or carpets around the houseDid this help you?
- 12Using catnip spray on scratching postsDid this help you?
- 13Spraying cats with water or deterrent spraysDid this help you?
- 14Buying alternative furniture materials like leatherDid this help you?
- 15Attaching wooden boards to parts of the furnitureDid this help you?
- 16closing doors (like the bathroom door)Did this help you?
- 17waiting for them to get better with ageDid this help you?
- 18Leaving toys, a kong, and everlasting bonesDid this help you?
- 19Leaving the TV playing when leaving the apartmentDid this help you?
- 20Having someone come by to walk the dog if out for more than five hoursDid this help you?
- 21Looking for a new place with wood floorsDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“While she was growing up with us, I didn't notice how obsessed she were with destroying things, from time to time she was biting so many random things in our house, I've made a list of things of mine that she destroyed:”source ↗
“Our staffy has a habit of making her nest on the sofa’s when we’re at work and no matter what we’ve tried in terms of blankets and covers so far, she’s ended up ripping the fabric of the sofa cushions.”source ↗
“He instead waits until we are not home, and then decides to dig in the couch, only where I sit, not my husband.”source ↗
“I put blankets on the couch cushions, but he digs through the blankets.”source ↗
“We are on the second couch now and he’s started up again. What can I do?”source ↗
“ele simplesmente já comeu meu sofá, mais de 5 tapetes, fone de ouvido, boné, tentei deixar ele no quintal enquanto estava fora de casa, ele fez buracos na grama toda….”source ↗
“Preciso de ajuda urgentemente, meus pais estão no limite, quase doando ele, oque posso fazer a curto prazo?”source ↗
“Entendo que comer um chinelo ou coisa do tipo pode acontecer, mas comer o sofá já é demais”source ↗
“I also need something to cover my sofas. Waiting for the answers”source ↗
“However, she has chewed countless toys of my daughter, hair ties and clips, she chewed a hole in the couch, and the carpet, and the wall, and the hardwood.”source ↗
“AirPods. He destroyed one pair and attempted at a second (they still have teeth marks) and an expensive vet bill for the first one, then I found the battery under the couch.”source ↗
“My husbands night guard. $400 custom thing. Undies. Only the dirty ones right out of the hamper. Kleenex. Right out of the box. Or the trash. Either would do.”source ↗
“Passport a week before travelling.... that was fun 😁”source ↗
“You either accept that its happening or spend 5 weeks building something to try to block the cat and they solve the puzzle and tear it up anyway”source ↗
“My cat has serious pica for threading and struggles with her intrusive thoughts 😮💨”source ↗
“genuinely you can’t. you can *try* but they will always go back to their roots which is whatever they want. my cats scratch the door frames and edges of cabinets and i’ve placed the scratching carpet on the door frames and corners and now they just scratch below it or above it.”source ↗
“i have so many cardboard scratchers laying on the ground that my house looks like a hoarding mess cause of all of their items that they don’t use.”source ↗
“i got a big tall scratching post in the corner and got catnip spray to promote use of it but they don’t use it not even to lay. just to puke”source ↗
“Get rid of the couch probably lol I ended up lucking out with a low couch they can’t crawl under but now all their toys are trapped haha”source ↗
“we ended up putting a wooden thin board and drilled it onto the underside of the couch. But our couch was near the end of its tenure anyway. We had a cat that would try to claw through the bottom.”source ↗
“I think most cat owners accepted the fact this cannot be done at this point.”source ↗
“And he starts scratching his crate for some reason”source ↗
“When we’re home with him, he’s well-behaved aside from stealing stuffed animals (which we’re working on). But when we go out, he digs at the full-room carpet where it connects to the walls.”source ↗
“He doesn’t eat it, just pulls it back and shreds it until you can see the wood paneling and floor underneath.”source ↗
“our lease isn’t up til next year and we’re at our wits end.”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 2How to stop a puppy from chewing baseboards and door frames
- 5Why does my cat scratch furniture instead of her scratching posts?
- 9How to stop a puppy from chewing crate bedding
- 6Why are animals chewing holes in my car plastic and gas tank?
- 111How to stop a puppy from biting when playing
- 19Why does my puppy keep peeing on the sofa and bed?