My Dog Chews Everything
Why Dogs Chew
Some dogs are natural-born chewers it's there joyin life and it brings them pleasure, other dogs will chew out of boredom only. Now this is all well and good so long as its one of his designated chew toys, the problem starts when he gets an eye on your furniture or your pair Nike trainers. If your dog chews anything and everything it's time to take a stand and stop this behavior once and for all.
THE 3MAIN REASONS DOGS CHEW
- Dogs with excess energy will often use chewing to give themselves something to do and use up some of that nervous energy.
- A bored or lonely dog may use chewing as an outlet for his emotions. For a dog suffering from anxiety continuous chewing is relaxing, it's the canine equivalent of comfort eating.
- Dogs have a common desire to chew for them its entertainment, it helps time pass by,and it's a self reinforcing and self rewarding pass time they like to engage in.
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How To Prevent Your Dog Chewing Everything
All dogs have the capabilitiesto learn not to chew anything and everything you just have to put in the effort to stop them first.Dogs explore the world with their mouths. So take control of the situation and manage your possessions.
- Dog-proofing your home shouldbe your first step. Even if your dog is the best-behaved dog in the world, remove temptation from him. By dog-proofing your home I mean remove anything you don't want chewed-up and put it up out of harms way make it unavailable to your dog. consider his size, is he a jumper, is he a climber would he jump onto one thing and then make a leap for the object of his chewing desire?
- How tall is he when up on his hind legs. Obviously all foodshould be stored safely away in cupboards, especially if your dog is a "countertop surfer" if needs be buy and fit child safety locks for the lower cupboards i,ve known more than one dog to develop a skill of opening unsecured cupboard doors.
- Dont set your dog up for failure. Make sure the boundaries between your belongings (non chewable) and his (chewable) are firmly set, by this I mean don't give your dog old shoes or old socks stuffed with items of clothing to play with. You can't expect your dog to be able to tell the difference from the shoes you wear today and your old cast off's he's got in is mouth that you gave him half an hour ago.
- Dont allow your dog to partake in illegal chewing. The more your dog snatch's a chew of a chair leg or a shoe the more he'll want to chew those items in the future. If you can prevent this from happening in the first place, then the easier it is for your him to understand and respect your boundaries. This may mean confining him to a chew-proofed area of your home until you are confident he fully grasps what'sexpected of him and he understands your rules.
- Is your dog under 3 years of age if so you need to realize he is going to be prone to chewing. So why not give what'sneeded to help prevent him from chewing everything in your home, go out and buy a handful of quality chew toys rotate the toys every couple of days to keep the novelty factor and the interest levels up.
- Spend plenty of time actively playing with your dog, it maybe easier to keep him outside where he can do minimal damage. But he can't learn what you expect of him from out there on his own. The best way for him to learn whats expected of him is to be engaged in activities with you as much as possible this way he can learn the boundaries and with you being with him can correct him as soon as he engages in anything you find unacceptable.
- When you do catch him starting to chew on something you don't want him to, Say "no" in a firm loud tone even clap your hands to fully grab his attention, then simply give him one of his designated chew toys and as soon as he gets into chewing that praise him. If you praise him for chewing what he's allowed to chew and make a scornful sound when he's chewing anything else it wont be long before he realizes that chewing his toys bring praise and love and I've yet to meet a dog that doesn't prefer praise.
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Maintain A Positive Outlook
There will be good days and the odd bad day keep this in mind, young dogs get curious so if you do leave a beloved possession lying around and your dog gets tempted to chew everything you left insight, go easy on him after all it's you that left it in his reach and a young dog is not unlike a young child sometimes they just cant help themselves.
Especially in the early days when your building your bond, it will take a while for your dog to fully learn to live by your rules and expectations. But given time he will become completely reliable, you just need to be patient and put in plenty of your time to teach him right from wrong when he does wrong give him a firm "No" but when he does right, lavish him with praise your dog wont be long picking up the chewing rules!
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