How to Handle a Dog That Chews

A dog will chew on items as a way of exploring its environment. A puppy may chew on objects to relieve the pain of teething, and an older dog chews to strengthen its jaws and clean its teeth. In some situations, natural chewing can turn into excessive, destructive chewing due to stress, separation anxiety or boredom. Prevent your dog's destructive chewing by training it not to chew on unacceptable items and to keep it from accidentally ingesting a non-food item.

Instructions

Give your dog a variety of chew toys. Make sure to purchase size-appropriate toys for the dog. Larger dogs require toys large enough that they cannot ingest them. Small dogs need toys they can fit in their mouths. Vary the textures, providing some made of non-edible materials, such as non-edible chew bones or rubber chew toys, and some edible items, such as pig skin rolls or rawhide bones. Praise your dog when it chews on the toys.

Put away any items your dog can chew on, such as shoes, clothing or knickknacks. Tuck away dangerous items, such as electrical cords, by securing them to the wall or placing them behind furniture where your dog cannot access them. Throw away garbage in a covered trash can and place dirty clothing in a covered laundry hamper.

Spray items you cannot put away with a taste deterrent, also called bitter spray, that contains natural ingredients that taste unpleasant to your dog. Place some of the spray on a tissue and put it into your dog's mouth. The dog should spit the item out and will then associate the smell with the unpleasant taste, leaving alone items that smell of the chemical. Refresh the spray every two to four weeks.

Give teething dogs special chew toys that you can fill with water and freeze; ice cubes; or frozen wet washcloths. This helps to relieve the pain of teething for puppies between the ages of 3 to 4 weeks old and 4 to 5 months old, according to Vetinfo. It also gives the young dog an acceptable outlet for its chewing behavior.

Fill a puzzle chew toy with a delicious treat such as peanut butter, cheese or dog treats and give it to your dog before leaving during the day. Hide other filled treats around your home to get your dog to explore the area, find the treats and prevent boredom. For underweight dogs, increase the portion of food you give it. Give those on a calorie-restricted diet more of a lower-calorie food or give the food in a puzzle toy to make the dog work to get to the food inside.

Watch your dog's behavior. If you see the dog chewing on something unacceptable, calmly remove the item from your dog's mouth and replace it with an acceptable chew toy. Clap your hands or shake an empty can filled with coins to distract your dog from the item, causing the dog to drop it if you do not feel comfortable removing the item from your dog's mouth. Pick up the item and give your dog a chew toy.

How To Train A Dog, dog training tips and techniques for home ...
www.dog-obedience-training-review.comDog Behavior Training Dog Obedience Training How to Stop Puppy Biting
Discover how to train a dog the right way yourself at home. Learn about clicker dog training, dog whispering, puppy house training and more dog training tips. Dog ...
How To Survive A Feral Dog Attack Survive the Coming Collapse
survivethecomingcollapse.com/2605/how-to-survive-a-feral-dog-attack
Welcome to this weeks Survive The Coming Collapse newsletter, brought to you by Davids book, Tactical Firearms Training Secrets, which goes into detail on how ...
YTMND - The Original How To Prank a Telemarketer
howtoprankatelemarketer.ytmnd.com
Classic pure HTPAT. Accept no imitations. Back to YTMND
How To Get Your Dog To Stop Peeing All Over The House?
weeky.hubpages.com Dogs and Dog Breeds Dog Behavior
Stop Your Dog From Peeing All Over! This is probably the most common problem dog owners face when they bring their dog home. It is almost inevitable that a puppy will ...
Dog Supplies Dog Accessories & Dog Products - Dog.com
www.dog.com
Dog.com is your source for dog supplies! We carry high quality dog food, dog beds, dog treats & other dog products at great low prices!
wikiHow - How to do anything
www.wikihow.comRelationships Articles Hobbies and Crafts Youth
wikiHow is a wiki based collaboration to build the worlds largest, highest quality how to manual. Our multilingual how to manual has free step-by-step instructions ...
Howcast The best how-to videos on the web
www.howcast.com
Howcast is the best source for fun, free, and useful how-to videos and guides.
BuildAHotDogCart.com How to build a hot dog cart
www.buildahotdogcart.com
How to build a hot dog cart ... From: Steve Schaible, founder of King Weenie Chicago Style Hot Dogs, St. Louis