Dogs Destructive Chewing Problems

You can stop your dogs destructive chewing

To have a puppy or even grown up dog that is chewing everything around it to pieces can be really frustrating. But you can do something to stop this kind of destructive dog chewing.

First of all you must understand that it is perfectly normal that dogs are exploring the world around them with their mouth and in this way tasting and chewing the world.

Chewing is natural behavior for your dog

It is not a question if the dog should be chewing or not, because a perfectly healthy dog will have a need for chewing on different things. The real problem is what the dog should be chewing and how to tell the dog what is acceptable to be chewing at and what is considered destructive chewing.

First you should make a secure environment for your destructive chewing dog. Remove electrical wiring, never leave small objects on the floor, remove cleaning supplies and other dangerous items.

Good chewing and destructive dog chewing

Then make sure that you have a variety of allowable chewing items for your dog. When your dog is in a crate, you should make sure that he has some of these toys to chew on. Now it is your job to learn your dog the difference between good chewing and destructive, not acceptable chewing. When you observe, that your dog starts chewing your furniture give usual stop signal and say loud and clearly ‘No’. Give your dog a chewing toy and praise him enthusiastically for doing the right thing. If the dog again starts chewing your furniture, stop him again just saying ‘No’. Give your dog the chewing toy and use the opportunity to praise him as soon he starts chewing the toy. Remember never to scold the dog for chewing the wrong thing but use instead positive reinforcement by praising the dog for chewing the acceptable chewing toy.

Other reasons to your dogs destructive chewing

An under-exercised dog will look for ways to get rid of energy. Some dogs turn to chewing activities. If you have a dog like this left home alone with a surplus of energy, then you will have a disaster. Make sure that your dog is properly exercised when left alone to minimize the dogs instincts for chewing.

But also when you’re home, make sure, that your dog gets stimulated with a variety of positive activities to learn him alternatives to the self stimulating chewing.

Alternative tools to prevent dogs destructive chewing

It can also be of some help to spray your furniture with special products that make them taste unpleasant. But some dogs don’t care about the taste or they get used to it and it doesn’t do anything about the underlying chewing problem. You still have to work with the dog to teach him, that there are good, acceptable chewing and destructive chewing.