How to Stop My Dog From Chewing
It is normal for dogs to chew and if you want to stop your dog from chewing, it is best to know the reason why your dog is chewing. If you know the reason why your dog is chewing, then it is more likely that you will successfully overcome your dog’s chewing habits. There are many reasons and some reasons may include…
- Loneliness or boredom
Make sure your dog maintains a certain level of stimulation, because if your dog is ignored, they will most likely get into mischief. So it is a good idea to take your dog out for a daily walk in order to keep your dog in good physical and mental health.
- Separation Anxiety
This type of anxiety is caused when you are away from your dog for a long period of time, perhaps it is when you are away at work. So the best treatment for this is to make your exits low key, so that your dog won’t be too stressed
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- Teething (Just like when toddlers are teething, they like to chew things to numb the pain)
When a puppy is teething, it is like babies teething, so they like to chew on things to numb the pain. So offer your dog some chew toys or treats. A great tip is to freeze his chew toy before offering it to him, this will allow him to relieve his teething pain AND distract him from chewing anything else.
- A Fear or a Phobia
At this moment your dog is frightened of something and he needs your love and support so do not physically punish your dog because this will just only cause your dog to get more anxious and afraid, thus your dog will increase his chewing. See if you can track down what your dog is afraid of and see if it is possible to put it out of your dog’s sight, if you can’t track the cause or if it is not possible to put it away, then when your dog seems to be in one of his ‘scared’ fits again, offer him a chew toy.
Extra Information
- Another factor you should consider is what your dog is chewing on, whether it is practically everything that is in sight, just a couple of objects or even his own leg. If it is only a couple of objects that your dog tends to chew on, just move those objects out of your dog’s reach, thus eliminating the temptation.
- Bitter chewing-deterrent spray is another method to prevent your dog from chewing. Simply spray on whatever your dog is chewing, whether it is an object or his leg. Having this bad, bitter taste will probably be enough to eliminate future chewing.
- Make sure that you never physically punish your dog, it will only increase his anxiety thus cause it to chew more.
- Never play games that encourages your dog to bite or chew such as tug of war or wrestling games.
- In order for your dog to not chew on everything when you are out of the house, make sure that your dog has plenty of toys to keep him busy when you are out of the house.
By Michelle L.
