Make Sure Your Dog Knows What They Can Chew On …

I am often asked about how to break a dog's bad habits, and one of the most frequent requests is, "how do I stop my dog from chewing on everything in sight?" Most of the time, people don't like my first answer. "You can't stop a dog from chewing," I say. But then I go on to say that you can stop your dog from chewing on the wrong things. The idea is to get the idea across ? chewing on THAT is not acceptable, but chewing on THIS is acceptable. You won't have stopped the dog from chewing but you will have stopped him from chewing on your "stuff."

First, you must understand that dogs chew on things for many reasons. As puppies, they chew to help their teeth come in. As older dogs, they chew because they are anxious, bored, or just because they need to chew for some unknown doggy reason.

The first thing that you need to do is to remove all of the objects that your puppy might be tempted to chew on as far as you can tell. Shoes in closets behind a closed door are not going to get chewed.

The second thing to do is to provide your puppy with acceptable chew toys. Be generous. Chew toys aren't expensive, so buy enough of them that there will be a handy chew toy no matter where the puppy might be in the house. Put an acceptable chew toy in his crate if you are also doing crate training.

It is a fact that dogs chew, but it is also a fact that dogs want to please their humans. When you catch the dog chewing on something unacceptable, chastise him with a firm "NO" and remove the unacceptable item. Immediately replace the unacceptable item with one that is acceptable and then lavish praise on the dog when he begins chewing on an acceptable chew toy.

Tags: dog training, dog behaviour training, dog behavior problems, canine training, dog agility training, puppy care