Why Your Dog is Destructive Chewing How to Stop It -

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Is Your Dog Destructive Chewing?

dog destructive chewing

Chewing is a natural activity for dog. As new born they mouth their way to find to their mothers milk. Then as puppies they explore the world with their mouths. And then they will chew hard in an effort soothe the painful teething. But when a dog is destructive chewing you want to address the reasons.

Because once you know there are way to stop your dog destructive chewing behavior.

What Chewing is Normal and What is Destructive

Let’s get some clarification on what is destructive chewing. The phrase “destructive chewing” may sound redundant, because all chewing is destructive in some form.

Canines has strong jaws full of sharp, pointy teeth. And just about anything they starts to chew on is probably going to show the effects of it inside of a minute.

So just to clarify, when we use the phrase “destructive chewing”, that is referring to inappropriate chewing. They kind of chewing that is beyond your dog chewing on his toys and instead put the focus on your own possessions and household items. Like drywall, furniture, shoes and the stuff you want to keep intact.

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Main Reasons Why Dogs Chew

Most dogs have a natural desire to chew. It’s fun, it passes the time, and it’s a self-rewarding, self-reinforcing activity. For example, if your dog is chewing on something that tastes good. Chewing provide outlets for anxious dogs. Canines that are bored, or a lonely dog. Dogs will chew as a way to comfort themselves. To an anxious dog, the repetitive act of chewing is soothing. It’s the canine equivalent of their human eating comfort food.

Under exercised dogs often use chewing as a way of burning up nervous energy and giving themselves something to do.

How to Prevent Your Dog Destructive Chewing

Dogs are perfectly capable of learning not to chew your stuff – you just have to put in a little effort first, that’s all.

1. Take control of the situation

You are taking the first step by acknowledging that you may have an issues with your dog destructive chewing. Now you can take action and control of the situation to protect your items and help your dog overcome their need for unwanted chewing.

One of the first steps is to dog-proof your home. This means not only making your home safe for your puppy but to remove items that you want to protect. Even the best-behaved dogs in the world may be tempted to chew if there is something they are curious about. After all, dogs explore the world with their mouths.

2. Dog-Proof Your Home

If there is something you don’t want to end up in your pups mouth, then you will need to remove those items. When you hide or place these items it is important to consider your dog’s size and agility. This way it will be out of reach properly. Consider if your dog can climb and how high she may leap? Is the dog gate high enough and so on, or is there something else to reach those chewable objects?

Common targets in the home include books, clothing, shoes. Not to mention crunchy items like crunchy appliances like cameras, cell phones, and remote controls.

It goes without saying that all food needs to be put securely away. Remove all snacks on low tables and countertops that will attract a dog to chew and – you’d be surprised how agile they will get when there’s food at stake! So put all food into containers or the pantry. Rinse your dirty plates clean of any food scraps before leaving them by the sink. I have seen more than a sink or two emptied of dishes by a smart pants dog.

3. Prevent her from learning the joys of illegal chewing.

The more times she manages to snatch a jawful of a forbidden substance – a chair-leg, a pillow, a running shoe – the more readily she’ll target those items in future. If you can prevent her from chewing your stuff in the first place, it’s a lot easier for her to understand what you expect of her. Practically speaking, this means confining her in a dog-proofed area until you’re confident of her understanding of the house rules.

4. Don’t Set our Dog Up for Failure

Sometimes we see our dog chewing at something and its easy to leave them be. But by blurring the boundaries between the stuff that it’s OK to chew and your stuff, and what is not OK to chew. So don’t offer your dog your old shoes, or towels to play with and expect them not to chew your best shoes. Your dog cannot tell the difference between your good shoes and the one she’s got in her mouth that you gave her five minutes ago. Be clear and set your dog up for success.

5. Provide Your Dog With Lots of Toys to Keep Them Busy

If your dogs environment lacks stimulation such as appropriate chewing objects, and chew toys you can hardly blame her for targeting your possessions. Remember, most dogs need to chew. If she’s a young ‘adolescent’ dog (under three years) or a puppy (under one year), their need to chew is more important than and adult dog.

To keep them busy the go on a toy and chew shopping spree. Then give your pup two or three to play with at a time. Use brain stimulating toys when you are there to supervise. And rotate them for variety. Rotating the available toys every few days will keep things novel and interesting for her.

6. Spend Lots of Time in Active Supervision

A crate is no place for your dog long term. It is boring and horrible. And too much time in a crate is just cruel. Dogs require exercise, stimulation and they want to spend time with you ‘their person’. After all your dog can’t learn what you expect of them if they are spending all her time boxed up in the dog-proof zone: Give you pup the opportunity to explore the boundaries of your expectations, so she can understand what’s appropriate and what’s not.

7. Stop and Switch

When you catch her chewing something inappropriate, interrupt her by making a loud noise: clap your hands or make an “Ah-ah-aaaah!” noise. Then, immediately hand her a tasty and dog-appropriate alternative (a rawhide bone or other chew toy); as soon as her jaws close around it, praise her lavishly. There is no better way to get your dog to understand that chewing “her” toys equals praise from you, but everything else equals trouble.

8. Stay Positive and Diligent

Above all, remember to keep your expectations realistic. Neither you or your dog is perfect. And incidents will occur especially as you puppy or shelter (rescue dog) is learning their new way in life. So there’s likely to be at least one incident where a favorite item is is destroyed by their curiosity.

Particularly in the early stages of your relationship, she’s still learning the ropes: it’ll take awhile before she’s completely reliable (and even then, if she’s left by herself for too long or feels neglected, she may choose your stuff over hers to occupy her time and jaws with.) Remember to give her time to learn the rules, and plenty of ‘you-time’ to help her learn faster – and don’t forget to take precautions and keep things out of reach until she’s got the hang of the chewing rules!

Concluding Best Steps to Stop Your Dog Destructive Chewing

For more information on dog training techniques and how to deal with problem dog behavior (like chewing), check out Secrets to Dog Training. It’s the complete manual for dog ownership and is designed to fast-track your dog’s learning.
You can visit the Secrets to Dog Training site by clicking on the link below:

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