Doggy Mentor

Posts Tagged ‘dog chewing’

When you come home and your most prized possessions have been chewed up by your new puppy,it can really make you rethink your decision about getting a dogIt is often difficult to get angry at your dog as he stands there with his tail wagging right next to the destroyed item,and you certainly cannot punish them after the fact. It can also be something unreplaceable like your mail that has a check in it for money or tickets for the best show in town. Understanding how to train your dog to prevent this kind of behavior can help prevent unneccessary loss of valuable personal itemsChewing is a natural outlet for your dog and he will exercise this right to use his mouth even he is given free rein in which to do so.

Let’s face it, you don’t have to have a jury trial to convict your dog as the guilty chewing criminal, but you also cannot sentence him on the spot and throw him in his kennel either.Reinforcing positive behavior is a much more beneficial approach when you communicate with your dog Chewing is a natural activity for you dog It is up to you to teach your dog early on that there are certain places and certain items that are off limits when it comes to chewing Providing a dog with the proper outlet for his need to chew things is a natural and positive approach to your dog training.  

There is no one solution to stop your dog from chewing what is off limits. If you have a puppy and he is in the teething stage he can chew everything he comes into contact with. Licking goes right along with chewing and when you apply chew prevention products to things your dog likes to chew,the minute he licks it he will back right off. These substances come in different forms from sprays to ointments and they work to discourage your dog from going back to that area because the taste is very bitter and bad to your dog. Pet stores and catalogues sell them and one of the more popular flavors is bitter apple.

One of the most common causes for dog chewing and other dog behavior problems is that your dog is bored or frustrated Leaving your dog home all day alone while you are at work is unfortunately one of the dog owner’s many plightsCrating your dog can be a solution while you are away from the home, providing it is only for short periods of time. Spending this time in the crate can be a calming experience for your dog Most dogs look at their crate as a den and become very relaxed and fall asleep. If left some chew toys while in his crate, he can busy himself with these and not focus on destroying things Just remember,that this solution is not intended to be used for extended periods of time A dog needs to exercise and relieve himself throughout the day and it is not healthy to keep him in a crate for the entire day. If your dog isn’t crate trained yet visit dog obedience university for instruction on this.

Dogs are opportunistic creatures so they cannot be expected to ignore temptation.When I drop a morsel of food on the kitchen floor, it is gone before it hits the floor The same can be said of tempting chewable items. When you leave items on the floor on low lying coffee tables you are extending an invitation for your dog to grab it and do what he wants with it. After all, it was left there for him , wasn’t it? I had a friend who left her expensive pair of Oakley sunglasses on her weight bench and she came home to find her Wiemeriener happy to see her and $200 tangle of chewed plastic. The way a dog explores his world is by using his nose and his mouth.  Try to remember to put things away that you value , out of your best friend’s reach.

Tiring your dog out by having some fun exercise sessions will give him balance and make him less prone to vent energy off in undesirable ways. When a dog is tired he is less likely to get in trouble. A tired dog is a happy dog. A happy dog means a happy owner.

When you dog has free range to run loose in the house make sure that he has plenty of chew toys, such as kongs, rawhides, and dental chews to gnaw on There are some really cool puzzle toys out there that let you put a treat inside of them that make it so your dog has to roll it around on the floor and really work at it with his tongue to get the treat inside out. When he is busy with such things, he won’t be eyeing your chair legs the same way.

A dog is a dog but some breeds can be a bit more prone to chewing than others. The key to how to stop your dog from chewing is to find out “why” he is chewing in the first place Is he bored? Does he have to much freedom? If you have to leave him home all day and it is too long to crate him, consider bringing him to one of the many doggie daycares available for the day. Not only will this tire him out, but he will be getting socialized as well. He will be so worn out by the time he comes home, the last thing on his mind will be chewing anything!

For other excellent solutions and guidance that go into more detail about dog chewing and how to deal with it check out the best dog training courses found online today.

Chewing is a matter of individual preference among dogs: some derive great pleasure from chewing and others just do it when they are extremely bored.

The phrase “destructive chewing” may sound redundant, because – by its very nature! – all chewing is destructive. Your dog has strong jaws full of sharp, pointy teeth: just about anything she starts to chew on is probably going to show the effects of it inside of a minute. To be clear when I use the phrase “destructive chewing” I am referring to chewing your possessions and house items instead of hers.

The three main reasons why dogs chew:

– Most dogs have a natural desire to chew. And really it’s fun and passes time a self-rewarding, self-reinforcing activity.)

Chewing is an outlet for a nervous bored or lonely dog. To an anxious dog, the repetitive act of chewing is soothing – it’s the doggie equivalent of comfort food.

If dogs are not exercised to burn up their excess energy they often turn to chewing to give themselves something to do.

– How to prevent bad chewing -

Dogs can learn not to chew your things – you just need to work at it.

1. Take control of the situation: manage your own possessions. Your first step should be to dog-proof your home. Even if she is well-behaved there is no reason to test her self-control – after all dogs explore the world with their mouth.

Dog-proofing your home means taking whatever you don’t want to end up in her mouth, and making it unavailable. Consider her size and agility when deciding whether something’s out of reach: can she jump? Can she climb on something to reach the desired object? How tall is she when standing on her back legs?

Small crunchy appliances such as cell phones, cameras and remote controls and eyewear, shoes and garbage are often targets in the home.

when food is at stake you will be surprised how easy she can get to it, all food needs to be put securely away!), put all food into containers or the pantry. Make sure you scrape out plates and rinse them before leaving them by the sink.

2. Prevent her from learning the joys of illegal chewing. The more times she gets to have forbidden substances such as a pilow, shoes and carpet runners the more readily she will grab them in the 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.

3. Don’t set her up for failure by blurring the boundaries between her stuff (OK to chew) and your stuff (not OK to chew). Don’t offer your dog cast-off clothes, shoes, or towels to chew and play with: realistically, you can’t possibly expect her to be able to tell the difference between your current shoes and the one she’s got in her mouth that you gave her five minutes ago.

4. Give her lots of different, good tasting alternatives to your things. If her environment is relatively barren of attractive, appropriate chewing objects, you can hardly blame her for targeting your possessions. Just think, most dogs need to chew; especially if she’s an adolescent or a puppy. Go on a shopping spree and pick up several toys and chews so that you can give her two or three at a time. Rotate her toys and make it interesting.

5. Spend lots of time in active supervision. Yes, it might be easier for you to just keep her penned up in her crate, run, or the yard – but that’s boring and horrible for her, and hardly much fun for you either (if you wanted a pet that you don’t need to interact with, you’d have got a goldfish, right?) She can’t learn what you expect of her if she’s spending all her time boxed up in the dog-proof zone: she needs the opportunity to explore the boundaries of your expectations, so she can understand what’s appropriate and what’s not.

6. Make a loud noise like clapping your hand or make an “Ah-ah-aaaah” when you catch her chewing something you don’t want her to chew!” 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 is good but that everything else is bad.

– Maintain a productive attitude -

Above all, remember to keep your expectations realistic. You’re not perfect, and neither is your dog: there’s likely to be at least one incident where a cherished item is damaged by her 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!

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.

When you first bring home your sweet little puppy you never think that one day it could be a dog that is one mistake away from being sent off. Aggressive dogs do not just happen over night. Dogs are not born aggressive or menacing towards people. Dogs that are properly trained and well cared for rarely become aggressive. If you received your dog as an adult from another household you will want to be specifically cautious to make sure that you are putting your pet through dog obedience training.

Making sure your dog knows who is the leader and who is the pet is critical in making housebreaking an easy job for you both. Dog and puppy training is vital for more than just ensuring that she no longer chews your favorite shoes to pieces. You must ensure that you do not let your dog turn into one of the multitude of aggressive dogs loose in the world. Dog growling and dog biting can lead to very bad situations. If you perform the correct dog training, neither of these would happen.

The Awful Consequences of Aggressive Dogs

* May cause injuries to family, friends, or neighbors
* Emotional distress to children
* Damaged personal property
* Previous situations that create lawsuits
* Being one of the many aggressive dogs that are put to sleep each year

If you are truly a loving and caring pet owner, you must take responsibility and ensure that your beloved animal does not join the legions of aggressive dogs. Looking for outside help is ideal if you think you can’t control the situation by yourself. With aggressive dogs, it can be wise to find a professional dog trainer who is specially trained in this area.

The best thing that you as an owner can do is educate yourself on all the training information that you can find on aggressive dogs. Learn that hitting a dog is not the way to train it. Violence will only breed violence so make sure that you are not taking part in the making of aggressive dogs. You may have luck with the books and videos out there but you will have a much better chance at solving the problem, or preventing one from ever happening, by bringing an expert into your home.

Getting More Help

It doesn’t matter if the trainer is free or if you have paid for their services, you must recognize that nothing is more important than understanding that you are responsible for your pet and its behavior. The people who own aggressive dogs are the ones who are responsible, so ensure that you won’t have to deal with these legal or moral situations.

You still have a little time if your dog hasn’t shown any of the aggressive dog signs yet. It is best to start immediately, especially if your dog has aggressive or rough tendencies.

Now that you have brought your new dog home it is time to start the housebreaking. One that can only lead to confusion for the dog later on is giving your new dog a little time to get to know the family and the house before laying down the law. Your dog will be confused if you have allowed it to run free with no discipline, then all of a sudden expect it to be well-behaved.

It Is Never Too Late

If you have already allowed your dog to run free without rules you can still correct the situation. Unlike a popular belief out there, it is never too late to start dog training with a dog. Whether your puppy is young or old you can still include housebreaking into his/her daily routine. It is important to pick out the behavior that concerns you the most,whether it is dog chewing, dog biting, or dog growling that you are dealing with. It is important to work on housebreaking these behaviors first, then move on to other things.

You have to start housebreaking as soon as possible to ensure that your puppy never develops into one of those aggressive dogs you hear about on the news. If your biggest problem at the moment, especially if you have a puppy, is where the dog is and is not allowed to go potty then you will need to start with that.

Tips For Housebreaking

* Restrict food and water to the appropriate meal times
* In the event that you are utilizing pee pads, choose a single spot and make sure to place the pads only there
* When your dog is good, praise them
* Never strike or slap the dog if it misses the pee pad
* After fifteen or twenty minutes of giving the puppy something to eat or drink, it needs to be taken to the pee pad

A lot of people leave water and food out for their dog all day long. While this is an okay routine for older dogs that can hold their bladder, it is not advisable for puppies. Even if they really wanted to, younger puppies just are not able to hold their bladder until they become a bit older. This can result in accidents in the home for which you cannot really blame your puppy. Making food and water constantly available can be counter-productive to your housebreaking goal.

If your puppy always misses the pee pad and continues to go to the bathroom in another part of the house, simply place the pee pad in that spot. At this point in housebreaking, you should really just be getting the puppy used to going to the bathroom on its puppy pad. Once they are used to it, you can continue with housebreaking by slowing moving the pee pad every few days towards the spot you eventually want the pads to reside at.

Even though housebreaking can take a long time, it is very important. You definitely do not want your dog “going” everywhere. You would also like an easy process of housebreaking for your dog to prevent it becoming disinterested. Seek outside help in puppy training if need be. No matter who is in charge of doing it, just know that housebreaking takes time.

Dog training is no simple process, and it can very easily push your patience to the limit. But keep in mind that the tough part does not last long. After a bit, your dog will be able to run about and play without you having to worry about accidents or misfortunes taking place. You will be able to relax and enjoy time with your dog after its obedience training is complete. It can be a bit stressful to complete the initial phase of dog training no matter how long it takes. This is why it is important to make sure that you get all of the help that you can.

Even though it may be frustrating and seem like a never ending process, housebreaking a dog and training it in commands is just one of those things you have to do. Giving up on training your pet could result in many unwanted consequences such as; destroyed furniture, accidents inside the house, biting, aggressive behavior and others.

To avoid these and other consequences, and to make sure you are giving your dog the best ability to have a happy, well-behaved life then it is important to maintain a strict parental relationship with your pet. Dog training is the process of teaching a dog right from wrong. Unfortunately, many people incorrectly believe that dogs innately know how to tell right from wrong. This reasoning is flawed, because dogs only know instinct without the proper dog training. The dog does not instinctively know the human rules about being allowed on furniture in a home.

Guiding our pets meticulously through the dog training is what we, as the teachers and protectors of the pets, need to do to teach them how we go about our days. Your dog is eager to please, but won’t know what to do until you teach it. Dog training will teach the dog the behavior you wait it to have. This will teach your dog the proper way to receive treats and affection.

Resources Used for Dog and Puppy Training:
A. A Class
B. A Book
C. A DVD
D. A Magazine

Even though you may find a lot of classes that can help inform you on how to teach your dog about housebreaking and biting, you must remember that these classes are merely for your information. These classes will not transform your puppy’s behavior overnight. The tough part does not begin until you and your dog arrive at your home. Anything you learn at the dog training sessions must be repeated at home to be effective.

You can always look into books, magazines, DVDs or videos to help you with your dog training plan. Ensure that you pay attention to all the advice you receive and apply it wisely. Depending on the breed of your dog, you could be looking at anywhere from a couple of weeks to several months of dedicated dog training. The dog training can pay off quickly with some consistent diligence from the owner.

If you’re interested in finding a way to fix the dog chewing problem, then this guide will show you how. In particular, we are going to talk about why your dog chews, how you can give him something more suitable to chew (to redirect his attention), and why you should never punish your dog for chewing. By the time you have read this guide, you’ll have a better understanding of how you can stop your dog chewing.

Before you can stop dog chewing problems, you need to know why your dog has the desire to chew things. The first thing to realize is that chewing is a natural behavior which all dogs will have an urge to do. However, some types of dog are more inclined to develop a chewing habit.

One of the most common reasons why your dog will start chewing things more is because they’re feeling bored or lonely. Similar to how us humans eat food for comfort, your dog will use compulsive behaviors like chewing. To put it simply: Your dog feels comforted by chewing.

Another reason why your dog may chew is because he is under exercised. Perhaps the main reason why chewing problems develop is due to a lack of exercise.

So what is the cure for a chewing problem? The quickest solution is to give him something more suitable to chew. If the biggest problem is that your dog is chewing your shoes, clothes, or even furniture, you can simply buy him a new dog chew toy. If your dog doesn’t have a large collection of fun toys to chew, then it’s a good idea to purchase a few different kinds of toy, to find out which ones your dog enjoys playing with the most.

When you have found a fun toy for your dog to play with, offer it to him to take his attention away from chewing. You can also make a game of it and play with him for 15 minutes or so, to have some extra fun.

The key thing to remember is to make sure you give him plenty of fuss and attention so he isn’t feeling bored and lonely. Also remember to give him regular exercise to tire him out, and reduce the urge for compulsive behaviors such as chewing and digging.

Finally, you need to realize that it’s not fair to punish your dog for chewing. After all, it’s a natural behavior which he doesn’t deserve to be punished for. Chewing is a natural behavior for your dog to have! Instead, you need to do your best at moving is attention so your dog doesn’t develop a negative habit like chewing or digging.

Mainly, you want to ensure your dog is receiving regular exercise, and that he doesn’t have to spend to much time on his own during the day when you’re at work. Like humans, it doesn’t take long for your dog to become bored or lonely without contact from humans or other dogs.

In conclusion, we have talked about what you can do to relieve the dog chewing problem. We have talked about why dogs sometimes compulsively chew, simple ways to redirect his attention, and why you should never yell or punish your dog for chewing. Now that you’ve finished reading this post, I hope you have a better understanding about why dogs chew, and what you can do to fix the problem.