Breaking The Dog's Chewing Habit

A positive outcome needs to be a possibility no matter what a trainer (or owner) is attempting to teach a dog to do. You aren't going to be able to teach a dog to balance himself on the tip of his tail. That isn't possible. And you aren't going to teach a puppy not to chew. Chewing is a necessary part of the puppy's development. Chewing helps a puppy cut his teeth, and chewing helps him to develop the jaw muscles that he needs. So don't attempt the impossible. You CAN, however, teach what is and what is not acceptable for him to chew on.

The first step is to remove all of the objects that the puppy is attempting to chew, as much as you can. You obviously can't disassemble the dining room table. But you can put your shoes into the closet and close the door. The next thing that you need to do is to provide the puppy with acceptable chew-on things like chew toys or rawhide bones. When the puppy chews on a "right," thing, give him lots of praise. Tell him how wonderful he is. When the puppy chews on a "wrong" thing, stop the chewing and firmly say "No," then hand him an acceptable chew object. It won't take long for him to be able to distinguish between the acceptable and the unacceptable.

Most puppies simply outgrow their need to chew on anything and everything in the same way a human baby outgrows the need to put everything into their mouth. But all dogs do not just "outgrow" the need or the desire to chew. If you have a dog that continues to chew long after his puppy need to chew has been fulfilled, the best thing to do is simply to provide him with acceptable chew toys and let him chew on them.

Tags: dog care, puppy training, agility training, dog behavior problems, potty training dogs, obedience training for dogs