The amount of chewing varies greatly between one dog to another. Some dogs have an innate desire to chew as a pleasurable activity. While other dogs don’t show much interest unless they are driven to out of sheer boredom.
Your dog has strong jaws full of sharp pointed teeth. Anything she chews on will start showing the effects very quickly. Inappropriate chewing on your possessions and household items can cause an enormous amount of unwanted destruction in a very short period of time.
Three Main Reasons Dogs Chew.
Most dogs are born with a natural desire and instinct to chew. Dogs usually find it fun, entertaining, and self rewarding ( for example chewing wood smells good, taste good, and has a pleasing texture to dogs).
If your dog is nervous, lonely, or simply very bored, chewing provides her with a pleasing emotional outlet. The repetitive act of chewing is very soothing for an anxious dog.
Dogs that aren’t getting enough exercise build up excess nervous energy. Chewing burns up excess energy while giving your dog something to do.
How to Stop Dog Chewing Step 1.
Your first step is to take control of the situation by managing your possessions. You need to remove all the temptations you can by dog-proofing your home. After all dogs explore their world with their mouths.
Dog-proofing your home means to remove , or make unavailable whatever you don’t want in her mouth. Consider her size and abilities when deciding if something is in her reach. How tall is she when she stands on her back legs? What can she reach when she jumps or climbs on top a piece of furniture.
Some of the most common targets include remote controls ,garbage, eye ware, books, cell phones, clothing and shoes.
How to Stop Dog Chewing Step 2.
Your second step is to prevent her from learning the joys of inappropriate chewing. The more times she is allowed to chew something that’s not hers to more readily she will target those items in the future. If you can stop her from chewing your things in the first place, it’s much easier for her to know what you expect of her. The best way to accomplish this is by confining her in a dog proof area until you’re confident that she understands your training.
How to Stop Dog Chewing Step 3.
Don’t set her up for failure by confusing the difference between her stuff and your stuff. Don’t offer her old clothes, old shoes, or old towels to chew on and play with. You can’t really expect her to be able to tell the difference between good shoes and the old ones you gave her five minutes ago.
How to Stop Dog Chewing Step 4.
Provide her with lots of tasty and fun alternatives to chew instead of your stuff. If her environment is void of appropriate chewing objects, you can hardly blame her for targeting things she is not allowed to chew on. Remember most dogs need to chew, especially at the age of two and under. Go shopping and buy a variety of chew toys, raw hides and similar items. Then give her two or three at a time and rotate them out every few days to keep things interesting for her.
How to Stop Dog Chewing Step 5.
Now you need to spend a lot of time in active supervision. This is definitely not the time to keep her pinned up or in her crate. That would be very boring and unpleasant for her. She can’t learn what you expect of her if she’s spending most of her time boxed up in a dog proof zone. She needs the opportunity to explore the boundaries of your expectations, so she can learn what is acceptable chewing and what is not.
How to Stop Dog Chewing Step 6.
When you catch her chewing something inappropriate, you need to immediately interrupt her with a loud noise like clapping your hands. Then give her one of her raw hides or chew toy, and as soon as she closes her mouth on it praise her lavishly. She will start to understand quickly that chewing on her toys equals praise from you, but chewing on your things equals trouble.
Maintain a Positive Attitude.
Keep your expectations realistic, you’re not perfect and neither is your dog. In the early stages it will take her a little while to learn the rules. She needs plenty of your-time to help her learn faster.
For more information on dog training techniques and how to deal with problem dog behavior ( like chewing), check out Secrets to Dog Training. Gets the complete manual for dog ownership and is designed to fast-track your dogs learning. You can visit the Secrets to Dog Training site by clicking on the banner below.
