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Help! My Puppy Dog is Chewing the Furniture!
Firstly, make sure your puppy or dog is getting enough exercise and play. How much is enough? See the end of the article for additional resources. Secondly, make sure you are involved in some form of positive reinforcement training. Training not only teaches good manners and essential behaviors, it teaches a dog how to learn in the best possible way. It "primes the pump", if you like. Foundational training
So how do we stop the unwanted behavior of chewing? We need to realise that it would be unfair to totally eliminate a natural and necessary behavior, particularly if it is a response to stress or boredom. That said, we do want to totally eliminate inappropriate aspects of that behavior. So the first step is to find an alternative outlet for this unwanted behavior of chewing. Get some good quality chew toys, and maybe some chewy treats. Don't leave them all out all the time, cycle through the selection day by day. Leave two chew toys out in the house all the time, particularly with puppies.
When you catch your dog or puppy chewing on the furniture, clap your hands loudly to distract, then redirect you dog or puppy onto a chew toy or chewy treat. There is no point in scolding your puppy after the event, as it will teach absolutely nothing useful regarding the chewing. Also, if your dog is chewing your shoes, do I really have to tell you to put them away? I didn't think so... With consistency and good timing, puppy will learn that some things are ok to chew, and other things are not. To find out how much exercise and play a puppy or adult dog should be getting, please read What Causes 75% of All Dog Behavior Problems.
Aidan Bindoff is Editor of www.PositivePetzine.com, a free ezine for people training their own dogs. Each edition has easy to use training advice based on positive reinforcement methods. Subscribers have access to a large archive of back-issues they can consult for just about any behavior or behavior problem.
This document last modified Monday, 16-Feb-2009 09:19:58 CST | ||
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Does your puppy or dog chew furniture, shoes, cushions, bedding etc? Dogs are natural chewers. It relieves boredom, stress and teething pain in puppies.
makes other training more efficient and more effective when done in a positive and fun way.
