Prevent Dog Chewing
Prevent Dog Chewing By Managing the Environment
I came home one day and found that my beautiful pit-bull pup, Lady, had chewed up about an inch of the couch’s arm rest. This was not my first experience with destructive dog chewing so I knew what I had done wrong and really blamed myself for not learning from the past mistakes. Since blame only goes so far, I had to take responsibility for my contribution to the problem and this first tip on how to stop your dog from destructive chewing is about you taking charge and managing your dog’s environment. This is an effective preventive measure to stop your dog from chewing before he even starts.
Keep Your Stuff Away – If your shoe is in the middle of floor, your dog will pick it up for you and in the meantime will leave a few teeth marks on it for good measures. Place your clothes, books, and small electronic devices like cameras out of his reach.
Keep The Message Clear – The offer, “Here Tiger, chew on this old shoe!” is an invitation to disaster. How is Tiger supposed to know the difference between your old shoe and your brand new Prada? Shoes are off limit period is a clear message.
Provide A Safe Place – We all need a time and place to learn. Your dog is not different. Provide a dog-proof area with fresh water and dog safe toys and keep an eye on him. In that place you give him things he can do.
Provide Together time – Your dog is social so he needs time to be with people in general and you in particular. During these times you teach him what to do. Don’t do this or don’t do that doesn’t work with people or dogs. Instead teach him what to do.
Interrupt The Destructive Chewing – When you catch your dog chewing on something he shouldn’t, use a loud noise to interrupt him. And do not yell out his name. You want your dog to associate you calling him with love, play and fun and nothing else. You want him to come to you anytime you call him.
Manage Your Expectations – Chances are that your dog at some point chews up something you value. Take this as a signal that you have missed something and correct it.
Chewing, for adult dogs and puppies are normal behavior and you don’t want to stop it. Instead, you want your dog to have an opportunity to use it in a normal and non-destructive way. Now that we have talked about some preventive measures, in the next articles we will talk about why dogs chew and what you can do about it.
Recommended Reading
SitStayFetch – A complete, A-Z manual for the responsible dog owner, and deals with recognizing, preventing, and dealing with just about every problem dog behavior under the sun.