There are many reasons why our dogs want to chew:

• It’s a natural and instinctive behaviour for a dog to chew. Since dogs do not have hand, it’s natural for them to explore the world around him by tasting and chewing

• They are bored

• They are teething

• They suffer from separation anxiety

• They have been given inappropriate items to chew on

• They have inadequate or improper diet

• They like to do so

It is therefore unrealistic or improper to completely stop a dog from chewing. The challenge is to redirect his attention to chew on proper things like his toys, instead of improper items like the furniture in the house, clothing, etc.

Attention Redirection

To redirect your dog to chew on proper things, remember the following tips:

1. Use hard plastic bones or hard rubber toys.

   • If your dog does not like the taste of his plastic bones, try soaking it for 15 minutes every day in chicken or beef broth.

   • Try putting little cheese or peanut butter in the center of rubber toys for him lick and chew on.

   • Make the toy a primary source of interaction between you and your dog during play times.

   • When your dog is chewing on his toys, praise him abundantly but never distracting or stopping him from his chewing

2. Avoid chew toys that are similar to the types of things you do not want your dog to chew, e.g. fabric chew toys as you do not want him to chew on your carpet, clothing or couch cushions.

3. Avoid toys with moving parts or pieces that can be broken off as it can be accidentally ingested by your dog.

4. Avoid using real bones as the bones can leave a scent on the floor or carpet which can become a delicious meat-scented items for your dog after the bones are gone.

Once your dog starts to focus his attention on his chew toys, he will chew less on items that you want him to avoid.

During the period of training your dog on chewing appropriate items, remember:

1. Prevent him from having any unsupervised access to inappropriate items like your clothings, etc

2. Keep him on leash

3. Before allowing your dog into the house, remove all the inappropriate items such as shoes, clothings, books left on the floor, tissue paper, etc

4. In the event that he grabs something you don’t want him to have, quickly say ‘No’ and gently pull him away from the object he’s chewing on

5. Immediately give him his chew toys, and praise him when he starts to chew on his toys for two seconds

In the event that your dog continues to return to a specific item that you do not want him to chew on, consider:

1. Use a chew repellent like Bitter Apple

2. Spray lightly on the item

3. The horrible taste from the Bitter Apple coupled with your reprimand of ‘No’ and replacing with his chewing toy will eventually communicate the right message to your dog

4. Most chew repellent evaporates fairly quickly, remember to spray the item several times a day. You may have to test the spray in a small area of the item to ensure that the spray does not stain or damage your item

Before your dog is properly trained to refrain from chewing inappropriate items, consider keeping him in a crate whenever you are not around.

Nutrition

In addressing your dog’s chewing problem, consider giving him a high quality premium kibble to make sure that he is not chewing due to nutritional deficiencies. Also he will get a lot of satisfaction from eating and chewing his kibble.

Exercise

It is important to give your dog adequate exercise. A dog that has adequate exercise will tend to chew less

And remember to praise your dog abundantly when he does the right thing!

You Can Do It!

Kum Chee
A Fellow Dog Lover and Owner

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