Dogs Obedience Training

September 15th, 2008 by admin

How can I stop my dog chewing my stuff? Well, to prevent the problem you’ll need to understand the reasons why dogs chew.

Most dogs have a natural desire to chew. It is fun, it is a self-rewarding, self-reinforcing activity and it passes the time. Chewing provides a nerous, bored, or lonely dog with an outlet for his emotions. To an anxious dog, the repetitive act of chewing is soothing - it’s the doggie equivalent of comfort food. Underexercised dog often use chewing as a way of burning up nervous energy and giving themselves something to do!

So now you understand why your dog chews, how do you prevent this chewing problem?

Remember to give your dog time to learn the rules, and plenty of ‘your time’ to help him learning faster.

Stop Dog Chewing Tips

Chewing problem can be easily fix but what it needs is a little effort from you. Here’s the steps on how to solve dog chewing problem:-

1. Set up a dog-proof home - take whatever you don’t want to end up in your dog’s mouth, and making it unavailable. Item such as books, eyewear, clothing, shoes, garbage, small crunchy appliances like cameras, cell phones, remote controls, and food or snacks on low tables or even countertops (if your dog can jump, climb, or leap onto something else to reach the desired object.)
2. Set Prevent your dog from learning the joys of illegal chewing. The more times your dog manages to snatch a jowful of a forbidden substance, the more readily he’ll target those items in future. If you can prevent your dog from chewing your stuff in the first place, it is a lot easier for him to understand what you expect of him.
3. Don’t confuse your dog by blurring the boundaries between his stuff(ok to chew) and your stuff (NOT ok to chew). Don’t offer your dog cast-off clothes, wornned shoes, or old towels to chew and play with. Your dog cannot tell the difference between the cast-off clothes and your new clothes.
4. Provide your dog with lots of tasty alternatives to your stuff. Give your dog two or three to play with at a time. Rotating the available toys every few days will keep things novel and interesting for your dog.
5. Spend lots of time in active supervision. Your dog can’t learn what you expect of him if he’s spending all his time boxed up in the dog-proof zone. He need the opportunity to explore the boundaries of your expectations. So your dog can understand what’s appropriate and what’s not.
6. When you catch your dog chewing something in appropriate, interrupt your dog by making a loud noise such as clap your hands or make an “Ah-ah-aaaah!’ noise. Then immediately hand your dog an alternative chew toy or bone. Once his jaws close around it, praise him generously. There’s no better way to get your dog to understand that chewing his toys equals praise from you, but everything else equals trouble.