One of our dogs apparently had a teething problem while we were out working in the garden, and decided to work it out on the wooden door's mullion. The mullion has been rather decreased in the process. I have no problem sanding it back down to shape, then sanding the entire door down and refinishing it; I'd planned to anyway. The problem is that I need to fill these gaps and restore the contours first, and it needs to be more durable than your standard Elmers or Minwax wood filler, which I feel will just flake off.
Painting is probably not an option as we're renting (I'd just use bondo if it was an option) and the landlord was proud of the (horrible) refinishing job she'd done on the door recently.
I've attached two photos to show the damage. They don't show it well — what you should know is that there's probably at least 1/8" of wood removed in some areas, especially the bottom right of the first image.
Best Answer
Unfortunately, I'll be surprised if you can effect a very successful repair. Restoring the outer corners like those is tricky at best. And having it stained only makes it worse, since the wood grain will be easily visible.
Most likely any attempt to repair will make it worse looking not better. I'd opt for something low-impact, such as a scratch-cover product like Olde English, which essentially re-stains the now-exposed wood fibers. It at least conceals the bright colors of the underlying wood and makes the damage a little less noticeable.
But ultimately I'd confess to your landlord and let her decide how best to proceed. It's her door, and her call.