How To Stop Destructive Chewing In Dogs

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A Guide On How To Stop Your Dog From Destroying Things

If you have a problem with your dog destroying items and chewing up your possessions, you are not alone.

This is a very common behavior and also one of the easiest behaviors to change.

Before we get into how to stop your dogs destructive chewing, we need to understand why dogs choose this behavior in the first place.

Why does my dog destroy everything?

The answer is actually very simple.How to Stop Your Dog Destroying Things

Your dog is bored.

When dogs get bored, they look for a way to entertain themselves.

It is the humans job to teach the dog how we would like them to entertain themselves because if we don’t, the dog will take matters into his own hands which often leads to destructive behavior.

Training your dog to stop destroying things also comes down to a level of management and not setting our dog up to fail.

One huge aspect of management is keeping your house clean and keeping things picked up so your dog doesn’t have the opportunity to destroy them.

If you leave your shoes out in the middle of a room, you are asking for your dog to chew on them.

If you are dealing with a dog that destroys things, before you do anything, make sure you clean up and remove anything that your dog could be tempted to chew on.

The ways to stop destructive chewing

The first thing we can do to stoping destructive behavior in dogs is to actually tell them what we would like them to chew on.

How do we do this?

With puzzle toys and bones!

Puzzle toys are any kind of toys that you can put food or treats into and the dog has to work to get them out.

You could even turn an empty water bottle into a puzzle toy if you are on a budget.

When you give your dog a puzzle toy with food inside of it, that is going to have the highest value of anything else in the house.

There is no way your dog would choose to go destroy the couch when there is a toy stuffed with treats available.

By giving our dogs puzzle toys with food inside, we are very clearly communicating to our dogs “this is what I would like for you to do.”

Bones are another good thing to give your dog to chew on, but there is a safety warning you must keep in mind at all times

COOKED BONES ARE DANGEROUS TO DOGS AND SHOULD BE AVOIDED AT ALL COSTS!

This means that if you want to give your dog a bone to chew on, it MUST be raw.how to stop my dogs destructive chewing

Cooked bones can splinter and can be a choking hazard as well as cause digestive issues, so avoid cooked bones at all cost.

Another idea that works well when your dog is constantly chewing in one place is to use a bitter spray on that one spot.

Lets say there is one corner of the couch your dog keeps on going back to for what ever reason.

You simply take some of the bitter spray and apply it to the couch, and the next time your dog goes to chew on it he will get a very bad taste in his mouth and will learn very quickly that chewing on the couch is not fun.

The last method you can use is timeout.

Timeout means when you catch your dog chewing on something he isn’t suppose to, you very quickly put him into timeout.

This has to be a place that there are no people, food, toys, or anything fun.

It should be a room of complete isolation.

You put him in timeout for 10 seconds, then let him out.

Do not leave him in there any longer because he will not understand why he is in there.

And when he comes out of timeout, you don’t say anything.

No bad dog, no scolding him, just ignore him and go on with what ever you were doing.

If he starts to chew on the area again, you quickly put him right back in and repeat as necessary.

Stopping a dog from destroying thing really comes down to two things.

#1: Managing your situation by keeping things picked up and not giving your dog options of things to chew on that he shouldn’t be.

#2: Communicating to your dog what you would like them to chew on by taking advantage of puzzle toys and bones.