If your puppy demonstrates a chewing habit, you should know this is a habit that needs to be addressed. You should also be aware of the fact that puppy chewing is but a very natural habit that a puppy will have – it is an expected behavior, so it is something innate in them.
Puppies will chew on a number of things, and this is usually because they are feeling quite bored or maybe even that they are experiencing teething.
While you are not exactly expected to stop the chewing habit (again, because this is their nature and telling them to stop doing it altogether is downright preposterous and wholly unnatural), you should focus on redirecting the behavior instead.
You should be able to come up with a number of things which your puppy can engage in so that they will not feel the need to gnaw on your carpet, nibble on your favorite slippers, or rip out the cushions on your sofa with their growing teeth.
Why Curbing Puppy Chewing is Important
Because puppies are young and cute, it is easy for many people to just assume that chewing is fine and harmless – especially when they still have no teeth. After all, it’s a natural behavior, right?
While it needs to be addressed, you should not yell at the puppy for it to stop because this response will just confuse it and can actually pave the way for even more and bigger behavioral problems later on.
Instead, the response that you should make when it starts to chew on things that it should not should be somewhat in the middle ground: you should let the puppy know that chewing on your things is not good, but it can pour out all of its chewing energies on the allowed alternatives instead.
Tips to Try When Stopping Puppy Chewing
When you are set on putting a stop to all this puppy chewing behavior, you can turn to a few things that will make the endeavor a lot easier and with better results.
As a start, let us reiterate the previously mentioned caution that you should not yell or scold your puppy. Nor should you subject them to physical abuse: never hit your puppy – not for its chewing or for any other reason.
Even if you are already very angry (like puppy chewed on your favorite designer leather belt type of angry), you must not direct all that anger on the pup. It will confuse them, and to make things worse they will not really be able to understand what it is that they did wrong.
The good news is that there are a number of alternatives for you to try!
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Behavior Adjustment:
If you have grown tired of just trying to stop your pup from nipping on your stuff and finding that telling it to stop is not really effective, just offer it the allowed alternatives to nip on.
If you see that your puppy is already starting to chew on your slipper, bring out its favorite chew toy, gently take your slipper and offer it the toy for it to chew on instead. When it starts to chew on the toy, you may also give it verbal praise to further reinforce the idea that the toy is something good to chew on, and the slipper is not.
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Keeping the Pup Engaged:
As mentioned earlier, puppies also chew when they are bored. If you see that they are chewing stuff and they are not teething, you need to provide them with something to do. The puppy chews because it is trying to remove some excess energy. This is your cue that the pup is in dire need of some exercise or play time.
If you are out of the house or unavailable to take the pup out for a walk in the park, make sure to leave around stimulating toys that the puppy can play and be active with.
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Crate Training:
If your puppy has a tendency to get into a number of your things while you are not in the house, crate training will be good for them. This limits their access to the different parts of your home, and therefore limits their access to the things that they can chew on while you are away.
If you do not have a crate, you an also confine them to a room that has only its things in it while you are away.
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Using Aversion Sprays:
If you would really like for your puppy to stop chewing things in your home like couch cushions or even carpets, try a safe and all natural version spray made from cayenne pepper or bitter apple – things that they do not like the taste of.
Spray these on the things that they chew on and they will learn to avoid these hot spots like the plague! This really helps in saving your stuff from being destroyed.
The chewing behaviors that a puppy demonstrates is normal, but what is not normal is applying such behaviors to your personal possessions or even your fingers and toes. The need really is to channel these behaviors into something else.
Consistency Equals Success
Stopping puppy chewing is achieved fastest when you remain very consistent about what the pup can and cannot do, and your responses to it in both occasions. Be very consistent with your actions and do not let not even one instance to be unaddressed.
When you do this, consider all your previous efforts to go to waste because the puppy will then think that it is now okay to chew on all the other stuff that was previously banned from chewing.
Leave plenty of chew toys in the different areas of your room and teach the pup that these are things that they should go for when they feel the urge to chew. Tire out your pup a bit by giving it lots of exercise so it will not feel the need to chew on stuff, and for sure the two of you will have a better relationship – and all your things will be intact.
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