Does you dog busy himself with chewing up your shoes, books, remote controls, etc, while you are away from the house? If this is happening in your house, you will want to train him not to do that anymore.
It isn’t hard to figure out why puppies and younger dogs want to chew up whatever they can. We should use ability to understand why a puppy is chewing to help control the damage.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. However, a dog of any age may chew just to be doing something to pass the time. Often a dog that is left without enough exercise, and finds himself bored and lonely may start chewing for lack of anything else to do. Whatever the reason may be, it is a problem that you can solve.
Try out these tips for controlling your own puppy or dog’s chewing problems.
- The very easiest method is to dog-proof your house by keeping your pet outside in the enclosed yard-at least when you are away and can’t supervise what he’s getting into. If you would rather keep your dog inside the house, (or if he has a doggy door and can enter at will), you’ll need to be sure to keep desirable chewable items out of reach of your dog. By just using a little common sense you can easily stop your dog from chewing the loose things in your bedrooms and other rooms- just close the doors to those rooms. For instance, keep your shoes and slippers in a closet with the door shut. 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. Obviously, if you have a big dog, you’ll need to be more careful where you leave stuff. 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.
- Stop your dog from chewing your personal items by giving your dog some good alternative items for his chewing enjoyment. Chew toys are a wonderful and suitable substitute for your slippers. My pets have a chew toy called the Kong, and this has become their favorite chewable. A Kong is a chew toy kind of like an odd shaped ball with an opening that allows you to put some peanut butter or another treat inside. Your dog will stay occupied for quite a while as he tries to get at the treat inside. The Kong has a weird shape that makes for some wild unpredictable bounces when you use it as a fetch toy, so it is a lot of fun, too. It is a good idea to have a variety of chew toys so he doesn’t get bored with only one toy. Now that he is chewing on an acceptable chew toy, the puppy chewing your stuff up will be much less of a problem.
- If you catch him in the act of chewing something that is off limits, like your cell phone, you should immediately stop your dog from chewing it. One way to do this is to make a loud clapping sound with your hands and say “no” in a firm (but not angry) voice. This should get your dog’s attention. This will surely let him know he is goofing up. You want his attention, but don’t make it negative-no hitting or yelling. The point is to correct him, not to scare him. Staying calm, you should go to the puppy or dog and trade him his Kong (or other chew toy) for whatever you want to save from his teeth. Give him a lot of praise as he starts to chew on the toy. Before long, he will understand that some things are good to chew and others aren’t. Being the smart dog he is, he’ll soon learn it is much better to do things that get him praise and a reward instead of a correction. Just like us. Remember, you shouldn’t punish your dog for chewing something when you weren’t around. You should only correct your dog when you catch him in the actual act of doing something wrong. Dogs live in the moment, and of course won’t understand why you are mad if he is not doing anything wrong when you are correcting him. Because he doesn’t understand what your message really is correcting too late will only confuse your dog.
Hopefully you have found this advice to be helpful with saving some of your possessions. To read many more tips and good advice to help you with training your dog at home, please click here www.BehaveDoggy.com.
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Posted under Miscellaneous Content
This post was written by Noel DCosta on September 25, 2009
