Dog Training: My Great Secret Weapon for Breaking Him of Chewing
I don’t know if you ever had this problem with your dog. If you haven’t you have been very fortunate. Almost all dog lovers and owners have had an "interesting" experience with their dogs chewing excessively. I was not the exception.
I have had a few dogs along the years, some big size, some medium size, some small. But, boy, was my dog Coco a chewer! She chewed on everything, and I mean everything. Coco chewed on me, specially my hands. She chewed on furniture, rugs, walls, doors, rocks, you name it… Nothing would escape Coco.
Take a look at the article below so you can learn how I was able to finally help Coco stop chewing.
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Title: My Secret Weapon for Breaking Him From Chewing
Author: Dr. Mayra Alfonso
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Chewing is a common problem where dogs are concerned, and it is one that needs to be addressed and corrected as soon as possible. Don�t wait like I did. My dog chewed the front of my sofa, and I didn’t realize that chewing had become such a big problem until I actually sat on the sofa! When I looked at the area that my dog had chewed away at, I was amazed, and decided straight away that a bit of dog training was in order.
Chewing is a normal activity for dogs, and they do it for a number of different reasons. If you can pinpoint these, then you are halfway there to eliminating the problem.
One of the reasons that a dog will chew literally anything, especially if it is a young dog, is that they are teething. Yes! Just as a human baby will get fractious when they are teething, a young dog reacts in the same way. Chewing helps with the pain, so the dog will chew and chew on anything that it can find.
An easy way of combating this, is to allow your dog to chew certain things. In the case of a teething dog, they love a cold rawhide chew, straight from the freezer. It kills the pain just as cold soothers or teething aids helps a baby. If your dog is easily distracted, then try putting a number of chews into the freezer. Put half out on one day and let your dog chew freely on them. Put them back in the freezer and put the others out the next day. If you rotate them in this way, your dog will notice that the smell on each is a bit different each time, and this will keep his or her attention on the chews and not on your furnishings.
Make certain to supervise your dog when he is eating the rawhide, to prevent any possible choking.
Another reason why dogs chew on objects is out of boredom. Exercising and keeping your dog active will prevent this kind of behavior.
Toys are another way of training your dog not to chew the furniture. Play with your dog with their toys often, and they will soon learn that the toys are fun, and that you don�t get annoyed with them when they chew them!
Never, but never, let a dog chew on one of your old shoes, or item of clothing. This will be confusing for the dog, and they will assume that all items that smell of �you� will be ok for them to chew on. This will eventually turn into a bad habit, and it you give your dog your old shoe to chew on he won’t know why you are upset after he entertained himself chewing on your new shoes.
This is what I found it helped me the most, my "secret weapon". Every time I found my dog chewing on something that she was not supposed to have in her mouth, I would take the object away from her and quietly replace it with one of her toys. It took some time, but eventually she came to realize what she was allowed to chew on and what not.
Remember, that when you are not there, your dog will get bored, and this is another reason to keep plenty of toys around for him or her to play with. So, you may trip over a couple, but think of your furniture!
Sometimes it is a huge struggle to get your dog to stop chewing in the wrong things, but with persistence and patience you will be able to control, if not completely stop his bad chewing habits.
Have a great "dog training" day,
Dr. Alfonso
