Destructive Chewing and How To Keep Your Dog From Chewing Everything!

The act of chewing seems to be a matter of individual preference among dogs: some have an innate desire to chew as a pleasurable activity in itself, and some seem to have no need to chew whatsoever unless they’re driven to it out of sheer boredom.

The phrase ‘destructive chewing’ may sound redundant, because by its very nature , all chewing is destructive. Your dog has strong jaws full of sharp, pointy teeth: just about anything she starts to chew on is probably going to show the effects of it inside of a minute. So just to clarify, when I use the phrase ‘destructive chewing’, I’m referring to inappropriate chewing: the kind of chewing that’s focused on your own possessions and household items, instead of on your dog’s own designated toys and chews.

The three main reasons why dogs chew:

• Most dogs have a natural desire to chew. It’s fun, it passes the time, and it’s a self-rewarding, self-reinforcing activity (for example, if she’s chewing on something that tastes good.)
• Chewing provides a nervous, bored, or lonely dog with an outlet for her emotions. To an anxious dog, the repetitive act of chewing is soothing ‘ it’s the doggie equivalent of comfort food.
• Under-exercised dogs often use chewing as a way of burning up nervous energy and giving themselves something to do.
• How to prevent destructive chewing -

Dogs are perfectly capable of learning not to chew your stuff.  You just have to put in a little effort first, that’s all.

1. Take control of the situation: manage your own possessions.

Your first step should be to dog-proof your home. Even if you have the best-behaved dog in the world, there’s still no reason to test her self-control after all, dogs explore the world with their mouths.

Dog-proofing your home means taking whatever you don’t want to end up in her mouth, and making it unavailable. Consider her size and agility when deciding whether something’s out of reach: can she jump? Can she climb, or leap onto something else to reach the desired object? How tall is she when standing on her back legs?

Common targets in the home include books, eyewear, clothing, shoes, garbage, and small crunchy appliances like cameras, cell phones, and remote controls.

It should go without saying that all food needs to be put securely away: don’t leave snacks on low tables (or even countertops ‘ you’d be surprised how acrobatic she can be when there’s food at stake!), put all food into containers or the pantry. Rinse your dirty plates clean of any food scraps before leaving them by the sink.

2. Prevent her from learning the joys of illegal chewing.

The more times she manages to snatch a jawful of a forbidden substance (a chair-leg, a pillow, a running shoe ) the more readily she’ll target those items in future. If you can prevent her from chewing your stuff in the first place, it’s a lot easier for her to understand what you expect of her. Practically speaking, this means confining her in a dog-proofed area until you’re confident of her understanding of the house rules.

3. Don’t set her up for failure by blurring the boundaries between her stuff (OK to chew) and your stuff (not OK to chew).

Don’t offer your dog cast-off clothes, shoes, or towels to chew and play with: realistically, you can’t possibly expect her to be able to tell the difference between your current shoes and the one she’s got in her mouth that you gave her five minutes ago.

4. Provide her with lots of tasty alternatives to your stuff.

If her environment is relatively barren of attractive, appropriate chewing objects, you can hardly blame her for targeting your possessions. Remember, most dogs need to chew; if she’s an adolescent (under three years) or a puppy (under one year), her needs will be even more pronounced. Go on a toy and chew shopping spree, then give her two or three to play with at a time. Rotating the available toys every few days will keep things novel and interesting for her.

5. Spend lots of time in active supervision.

Yes, it might be easier for you to just keep her penned up in her crate, run, or the yard, but that’s boring and horrible for her and hardly much fun for you either (if you wanted a pet that you don’t need to interact with, you’d have got a goldfish, right?) She can’t learn what you expect of her if she’s spending all her time boxed up in the dog-proof zone: she needs the opportunity to explore the boundaries of your expectations, so she can understand what’s appropriate and what’s not.

6. When you catch her chewing something inappropriate, interrupt her by making a loud noise: clap your hands or make an ‘Ah-ah-aaaah!’ noise.

Then, immediately hand her a tasty and dog-appropriate alternative (a rawhide bone or other chew toy) as soon as her jaws close around it, praise her lavishly. There is no better way to get your dog to understand that chewing ‘her’ toys equals praise from you, but everything else equals trouble.

- Maintain a productive attitude -

Above all, remember to keep your expectations realistic. You’re not perfect, and neither is your dog. There’s likely to be at least one incident where a cherished item is damaged by her curiosity.

Particularly in the early stages of your relationship, she’s still learning the ropes.  It is going to take awhile before she’s completely reliable (and even then, if she’s left by herself for too long or feels neglected, she may choose your stuff over hers to occupy her time and jaws with). Remember to give her time to learn the rules, and plenty of ‘you-time’ to help her learn faster and don’t forget to take precautions and keep things out of reach until she’s got the hang of the chewing rules!

For more information on dog training techniques and how to deal with problem dog behavior (like chewing), check out Secrets to Dog Training. It’s the complete manual for dog ownership and is designed to fast-track your dog’s learning.
You can visit the Secrets to Dog Training site here.

Here’s an easy method that you can use to stop your dog from jumping on friends and family.

If your dog is bothering friends, family, and the mail man with jumping problems, remember it’s just love.  Just too much of it expressed in an unacceptable way.

Don’t get mad, just use this training method to keep your dog from jumping on people…

Image via Wikipedia

by Dr. Nicholas Dodman

Dog obedience training is one of the best things you can do for your dog and yourself. Obedience training doesn’t solve all behavior problems, but it is the foundation for solving just about any problem including soiling your house, destroying your belongings, barking excessively, digging holes in your yard, fighting other dogs and even biting you.

For most dog owners, dog obedience training is a daunting task. However, training your dog is about to get much easier, if you follow my advice below.

Here Are My Top 10 Tips For Training Your Dog

1. Dog training should be an enjoyable experience for you and your dog. If you are not in the right mood for training, don’t even start.

2. Keep dog obedience training sessions short (5-10 minutes) to maintain your dog’s motivation. Dogs will learn much more from regular short sessions than from longer, less frequent ones. Once the dog has learned several useful commands on the continuous reward schedule, the schedule should be changed to one of intermittent rewards.

3. Always end training on a positive note. Ask your dog to respond to a command you know he or she will obey. Then reward your dog for a job well done and issue a finish command such as “free” or “release.” Avoid common words such as “okay.” Following a training session, both owner and dog should be left with feelings of accomplishment.

4. Keep in mind that your dog’s motivation to respond to a command decreases as the complexity of the task increases. If your dog doesn’t respond appropriately to a command after several attempts, don’t reward him or her. Resume training a few seconds later using a simpler command. Return to the more complex task later.

5. Remember, the odds of success hinge not only on the degree of sophistication of the task, but also your dog’s motivation to respond. From a dog’s perspective the question is, which is more rewarding: chasing the squirrel or returning to the owner? Understanding this aspect will increase your patience and chances for dog training success.

6. Training should not involve any negative or punishment-based components. There should be no yelling, no hitting, no chain jerking, no hanging, and absolutely no electric shock. Remember that the opposite of reward is not punishment; it is no reward. If you ignore unacceptable responses, your dog will not be rewarded for his or her failed response. Most dogs want to please their owners or, at the very least, to obtain highly valued resources (food, attention and toys).

7. Ensure that your dog’s motivation for reward is highest during a training session. If food is the reward, train before a meal, not after. If praise, petting and other aspects of your attention are to be used as a reward, schedule the training session at a time when your dog hungers for your attention (for example, after you have returned home from work).

For complex tasks, such as the off leash down-stay, your dog will be more motivated to comply if he or she has received moderate exercise before the training session. Asking a dog that is bursting with energy to remain in a prolonged reclining position is asking for failure during the early stages of training.

8. Make sure the reward you offer in training is the most powerful one for your dog. Food-motivated dogs work well for food, but the treats used should be you dog’s favorite food. If praise is used as a reward, deliver it in high singsong tones, which are most pleasing for the dog. Also, enthusiasm in your voice will be much appreciated. If petting is to be used as a reward, it should be in a way that the dog enjoys, such as stroking the dog’s hair on the side of his or her face in the same direction that it grows, or scratching him or her on the chest.

9. After a correct response, reward your dog within 1/2 second of the command. This will ensure your dog makes the connection between the behavior and the reward.

10. Use short commands such as sit, down, leave it, quiet, out, and off. Say the word once. Do not repeat the command. Dogs will remember a command for about two minutes before the notion is lost. Shorter words are better than longer words and words that end in a hard consonant (C, K, T, X) are better than those that end in a vowel because you can “spit” them out.

A Bonus Dog Training Tip:

The “Holy Grail” of training is to have the dog reliably obeying commands off lead, even when other things are going on around him or her. This level of training can be achieved, but only after a lot of hard work and investment of time. It’s something to strive toward.

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As a PetPlace.com columnist, Dog trainer & behavioral specialist, Dr. Nicholas Dodman has provided thousands of pet owners just like you with valuable insights in keeping their dogs obedient, healthy, and happy. To get your free daily dose of pet crazy stories and access to over 8000 veterinarian approved advice articles guaranteed to help you train your dogs and keep them living longer, stronger lives, go to: http://www.petplace.com/dogs.aspx

Dog obedience training is one of the best things you can do for your dog and yourself. Obedience training doesn’t solve all behavior problems, but it is the foundation for solving just about any problem including soiling your house, destroying your belongings, barking excessively, digging holes in your yard, fighting other dogs and even biting you.

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