How to Stop your Puppy from Chewing

Prevent puppy from chewing and destroying your house and belongings by providing proper training and chew toys. After all, chewing and playtime are part of normal puppy growth and development.

DO

-Provide several of a variety of toys for your puppy.

-Teach your puppy to play with these toys.

-Praise puppy every time you see him chewing or playing with his toys on his own.

-Teach your puppy to get a toy to greet you. Each time your pup runs up to greet you or anyone else, encourage him to find and get a toy. All humans, especially the owners should always be greeted by a dog with toy in mouth.

-Any area that the pup has access to must be kept clear and clean. Put out of puppy's reach anything you don't want him to chew or destroy, such as trash, shoes, hazards, etc. Your dog does not know what is valuable or dangerous and what is not.

-If you find your puppy with your best shoe in mouth, distract him away from it and replace the shoe with one of his toys. Praise him for chewing his toy. Do not reprimand him for chewing your shoe. Reprimand yourself for leaving it out where he could find it.

-Booby traps items and articles to show your puppy that these things are no fun to chew, in fact, they are an annoyance even to touch.

DON'T

-Do not allow unsupervised access to 'unchewables.'

-Do not chase the puppy in an attempt to take something away.

-Do not reprimand excessively. A verbal warning should be enough. A loud startling noise is even better. It gets the puppy's attention without the puppy associating it with you. As soon as the puppy is distracted, show him what to chew and praise him for chewing it.