If you’ve ever come home to wrecked shoes or furniture with bite marks on it, then you’ll understand the frustration that uncontrolled dog chewing can cause. It can be highly destructive and end up costing you a lot of money. Chewing is a natural instinct for dogs, but that doesn’t mean that there’s nothing you can do to control it. Let’s have a look at 5 top tips to help you stop a dog from chewing your belongings.
Understanding Why Your Dog Feels the Urge to Chew
Before we go into how to stop a dog from chewing, it’d be beneficial for you to understand why they do it in the first place. Your dog’s behaviour is more complex than simply deciding to be naughty. The reasons behind their chewing habits can vary but it’s important to remember that your dog is not chewing up the items in your household to be malicious.
Reasons for chewing can include:
- A lack of understanding of what is and is not acceptable to chew in the household.
- A fear-related coping strategy, often caused by separation anxiety.
- Boredom.
- A puppy may be going through its teething stage, which lasts approximately 6 months.
Try Some Training
The first thing you may want to try to stop a dog from chewing is training. Particularly if they are young, it’s quite possible that your dog simply hasn’t developed an understanding of what is okay to chew and what isn’t. Consistent positive reinforcement training will help your dog to associate chewing the correct things (such as chew toys) with positive feelings, redirecting their attention away from your furniture or other belongings.
Provide a Selection of Chew Toys
You won’t get very far in trying to stop a dog from chewing your belongings without providing a suitable alternative. Dogs possess a natural instinct to chew, and there are actually several benefits for them to do so including cleaning teeth, stress management and maintaining jaw strength. Providing a varied selection of chew toys with a range of textures and sizes will give your dog an outlet for this instinct and allow them to benefit from the health benefits of chewing without causing havoc in the home.
Consider Chew Deterrent Sprays
If you’re in dire need and must ensure that certain items are protected from chewing, consider making use of a chew deterrent spray. The spray will create a bitter taste that dogs find will find extremely unappealing, causing them to avoid chewing in future. We don’t recommend this tip unless you are in real need of protecting your belongings – it is unpleasant for your dog and fails to properly teach your dog about what is and is not acceptable for chewing.
Look Into Getting Professional Help
If you are finding yourself in a losing battle and trying to stop your dog from chewing your belongings is proving an impossible task, then it’s time to call in a professional. There’s no need to suffer alone and a qualified dog trainer will be able to work alongside you to identify the core of the issue and help you work through different strategies that can help to put the situation right. At The Pet Carpenter, we are delighted to have teamed up with the Calm Canine Academy to offer discounted behaviour support from a team of trusted experts. You can use the discount code TPC10 to benefit from a 10% discount on all of their online training and coaching services.
Have Chew-Proof Furniture Made With the Pet Carpenter
If your furniture is bearing the brunt of your dog’s chewing habits, it may be a good idea to invest in some bespoke pet furniture from The Pet Carpenter. Our team works with you every step of the way to ensure that your furniture is perfectly suited to your needs, and our anti-chew strips are a clever feature we can include to help protect your furnishings. Getting your hands on a chew-proof dog bed from the Pet Carpenter is both a stylish and functional solution, and may end up saving you money in the long run.
At The Pet Carpenter, we love working with our clients to create bespoke and stylish furniture so feel free to get in touch with our awesome team to see what we can do to make your pet furniture dream a reality.