How to Control Dog Chewing
31 Aug 2009
Have you ever come home to find that while you were gone, your puppy or dog has been busy chewing up your shoes, your remote control, pillows, perhaps a book you were enjoying, or God knows what? If that’s the case, you will need to train your dog to stop chewing your things right away.
It is easy to figure out why puppies and young dogs are potentially so destructive. So, we should use this understanding to control our dog’s chewing problems.While the puppies are in their teething stage, they experience a lot of discomfort, and need to chew on things because of this. A puppy or younger dog (up to about 3 years of age) are much more likely to have chewing problems than an older dog. You may see dogs of various ages chewing just for something to do. Your dog may be doing some chewing just because he is bored or lonely and under-exercised. Whatever the reason may be, it is a problem that you can solve.
Check out these tips for helping stop dog chewing problems.
- The simplest way to dog-proof your house is to just not let your dog enter the house while you are away. If you do want to leave your dog inside while you are gone, make sure to put all those things he enjoys chewing (shoes, books, etc.) somewhere he can’t reach them. Just by using your common sense, you’ll stop a lot of damage through the simple act of closing all the house’s inner doors. Keep your shoes in a closed closet. Likewise keep your remote controls, books, cell phones, etc., out of reach by putting up on a higher shelf. Likewise, be sure to put all your food away in a cabinet and not left on a shelf he can reach. Of course, the bigger your dog is the higher you will have to put your loose things. Keep in mind your dog can stand up to get at something to chew, so make sure to place it high enough to remain out of his reach.
- Give your pet a few alternative items to work out his chewing needs on.A great way to save slippers is to provide some chew toys for your pet to ravish. Among the various chew toys, I like the Kong best-it keeps my dogs occupied for a long time. The Kong is fun for the pet to chew-it is a sort of strange looking ball that features a hollow center that you can put some peanut butter or some other treat into. My dogs will spend a long time trying to get at the treat inside. Because of its odd shape,the Kong also bounces like crazy when you throw it, and makes a great fetch toy. It is a good idea to have a variety of chew toys so he doesn’t get bored with only one toy. Just make sure he has his toys to chew and you will find that his chewing up your things will be much less of a problem.
- You should stop your puppy from chewing anything unapproved immediately whenever you catch him in the act. Clap your hands together loudly, and say “no”. This serves to get his attention. He’ll know he is doing something you don’t like. However, don’t punish your dog by hitting or yelling at him. The point is to correct him, not to scare him. Instead of yelling, stay calm and exchange whatever hie is chewing on and replace it with his Kong or other chew toy. Immediately after he puts that in his mouth praise him big time. He’ll start to get the idea that while some things are OK to chew on, others aren’t. Your puppy has learned that praise feels good and treats taste good, so he’ll want to do things that earn him praise and a treat, rather than corrections. A lot like people. Don’t punish your dog for something that happened previously-for example, he chewed up your shoe while you were at work. You should only correct your dog when you catch him in the actual act of doing something wrong. They don’t understand what you are saying of course, so punishing them hours after chewing up your shoes won’t make the right impression and will not help to stop you dog from chewing your shoes the next time he feels like it. Correcting too late, will not help, and in fact will just serve to confuse your dog.
Hopefully you have found this advice to be helpful with saving some of your possessions. For more advice and tips on training and problem solving for your dog please click here www.BehaveDoggy.com.
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