How do I stop my dog from chewing? Keep your dog happy with chewing toys, exercise, using a little dog psychology.
Destructive chewing is a behavioral problem and needs training to overcome. Puppies and grown dogs may exhibit this problem. Puppies may chew out of boredom, to expand their energy, teething or out of curiosity. Grown dogs chew because of stress, separation anxiety, fear, phobia, social isolation, boredom, attention seeking or playfulness.
For a puppy, you can puppy-proof its confined area. Remove all tempting objects. It is easier to confine your pup in a big cage or crate in your absence. Whenever you’re around, keep an eye on it and supervise over its activities. Provide chewing toys for teething pains. Correct its behavior immediately if you catch it chewing unsuitable objects.Consistent correction will teach it to chew only its toys.
Grown dogs face stress and frustration at being confined and isolated for long hours. The dog may bark excessively or chew on any object it can get hold of. To overcome this separation anxiety, you need time to train it to expect you to return after every separation. Bring your dog out for regular exercise to release its pent up energy. You can also enroll it in an obedience school to overcome separation anxiety.
Dogs are frightened of loud noises and start chewing because of their fears. You can train your dog desensitization to the noises. Gradually expose it to the fears with you around and it will eventually accept and overcome its fears. When a dog is socially isolated or bored without play things, it starts to chew for its own recreation and entertainment.
Some dogs deliberately seek attention with negative behaviors. You need to reinforce your dog for the good behaviors and ignore it for the bad ones. Also, remove all inappropriate objects and give your pet only its chewing toys. Disallow your dog to play with items that don’t belong to it. Exercise your pet regularly so that it has sufficient play time.
Dogs investigate objects with their mouths. If left unsupervised, they will certainly damage things. Don’t punish your dog excessively for a chewing incident as this will increase its stress levels and cause it to chew destructively in your absence.
Adult dogs may suffer from gum problems which they try to relieve by chewing. Have your vet check for dental problems. If your dog is hungry because it has no regular feeding times, it may also chew and destroy household objects. Dogs confined within small spaces also chew destructively in their attempts to relieve anxiety. Try to find out the reasons behind the chewing. Punishment alone is not the answer. When you remove the cause for chewing, this destructive problem disappears.
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