Do you have a new puppy that loves to run away with your new shoes and tear them to shreds? It can be very frustrating to find a dog chewing on your expensive shoes, furniture or other household items.
It may seem difficult to stop puppy chewing, but there are a few easy ways to prevent your puppy from destroying everything in your home.
Puppies need to chew. Chewing exercises the dog’s jaw bones, soothes the dog and helps with the teething process.
All puppies lose their baby teeth just like humans do and chewing is part of the process. The problem is that once a puppy finds something that they like to chew, such as furniture or shoes, it may be difficult to break this habit as the dog gets older.The first step to stop puppy chewing is to provide the dog with plenty of toys to chew.
This may sound contradictory, but puppies who are teething cannot control their urge to chew. There are many toys on the market today that will entice a puppy to chew on them instead of your household items. There are rubber-type bones that can be filled with yummy treats and hundreds of different types of flavored rawhide bones. Providing the puppy with these delicious items to chew will tire them out and leave them less likely to go after your new shoes.
Best Selling Puppy Chew Toys
Never give a puppy free reign of your home. They should have a small area or a puppy crate which they can call their own. This is the only place that they should be given chew toys, so that the dog will come to know that they are not allowed to chew in other areas in the home. Creating a safe place for dog to lie down and chew will also help with the dreaded potty training too, as the dog will not want to make a mess in their small space.
Puppies need to be watched at all times! If a dog is chewing, it is actually the owner’s fault for not keeping an eye on the dog. Chewing household items is not only annoying, but can be dangerous if the dog chews electrical cords or items that they could swallow. In fact, swallowing foreign items is one of the most common reasons for emergency vet visits during a dog’s first year of life. Be careful not to leave things around that the puppy could chew and watch your dog just as you would if it was a human toddler.
Finally, to stop puppy chewing, consider taking your dog to puppy obedience training. Obedience training sounds serious, but it can actually be fun for both the dog and the owner. It gives the dog an outlet for its excess puppy energy and helps them learn good behaviors. Actually, any type of exercise will also help to stop puppy chewing. Exercise and training help to relieve stress on the dog too, which is main reason why dogs continue to chew after the teething phase is over. A tired dog is a dog that will sleep instead of looking for trouble by chewing your household items.