Repairing "dog chewed" wood stairway lining

I rescued a dog from the local shelter and she has wrecked my house that I recently bought. I refuse to get rid of the dog because she is an otherwise friendly and lovable pet. I have begun behavioral training for both myself and the dog in addition to attempting to wear her out with exercise each day. I have also spread habanero pepper with vaseline on the trouble spots.

The problem that I don't know how to address is the corner of the stairway lining. She has chewed the corner at some point even though I try to watch her like a hawk (she is now 8 months and I got her when she was 3 months). I assume it is hardwood, but I don't know much about anything when it comes to types of materials in the house.

If it is possible, I would like to reshape the wood with wood filler and then stain it. What would be the best way to go about this, and how would I find a place to match this specific stain? Thank you for any input.

 

Looks like Oak. Probably a golden oak stain and semi gloss varnish, probably polyurethane.

If you try to fill it with putty it will stand out because putty has no grain. It's possible to draw in grain marks with a darker stain, but it takes a good eye and hand.

A carpenter could fit in patch pieces and get it to match pretty well.

But I'd be inclined to round the corner off, removing the damage, and then stain it to match. Done well, it would look like it was designed that way.

Stores that carry wood stain will have color charts to help pick the right color stain.

Good luck with your project and your puppy. Ours needed two long walks a day and a zillion chewable soft toys to break her chewing habit.

 

Without pulling the stairs apart and replacing all the wood about the best you can do is use a random obital sander with course paper to try and round it over, stain, and reseal.

 

I agree with sanding it so it's less noticeable. I'd probably start with a belt sander and finish with an orbital .... only because the belt sander speeds up the job. It's next to impossible to patch the damage and not have it stick out.

Most paint stores have stain charts that show the stain on both oak and pine so make sure you pick the one that matches on oak. After the stain dries you'll need to apply a couple of coats of poly. A little hard to tell from the pics but it looks like you have either semi-gloss or gloss poly.

 

Thank you all for the advice! Sanding it is.