Dog Training Guide: How to stop your dog from destructive chewing
Do you return home knowing that your dog has damaged the furniture, shoes, or other household items? Chewing things in the house is a common behavioral problem in dogs. For young dogs, it’s a way to relieve the pain caused by the incoming teeth. For older dogs, it’s a way to keep their jaws strong and teeth clean. There may be many underlying causes such as pain, anxiety, or boredom. To be able to correct this, one needs to understand the cause behind the behavior.
Rajas Kulkarni
A zoologist by qualification, she studied veterinary nursing at the Bicton College of Agriculture, UK. She is in-charge of liaising with vets/ breeders/ clients regarding their queries about nutritional supplements marketed by Venttura.
Destructive chewing is caused by the following reasons:
Unreleased energy
Puppies, especially of large breeds with a lot of unspent energy exhibit this problem and are prone to chew furniture, shoes, etc. This kind of chewing should not be confused with teething.
Separation anxiety
Dogs chewing may be associated to relieve stress such as separation anxiety or moving to a new place, fear of loud noises or crackers.
Inadequate exercise
Chewing a variety of objects in the house regardless of you being around them is a sign of boredom. This means they need more play time and physical activity to release energy.
Health disorder
Medical conditions like liver diseases, mouth disorders, etc can lead to abnormal chewing behavior.
How to manage or reduce your dog’s destructive chewing behavior?
- Increase their play time (puppies), physical activities, and walking/ running time (adult dogs)
- Provide toys and chews to reduce chewing behavior. Encourage your dog to chew his toys and praise/ reward him when he does.
- Confine the dog to a single room, if left alone.
- Do not give your dog clothes, rags, and shoes to play with.
- Spray an aerosol-perfumed spray close to, but away from the dog's nose. Most dogs do not like the hissing sound of a spray close to them. The same perfumed spray can then be sprayed onto the furniture that the dog is chewing, to create a "smell aversion".
- To create a taste aversion put a small amount of an unpleasant-tasting substance in the dog’s mouth and then coat the object being chewed, with it. Use of pepper powder, mustard, bitter apple spray, citronella oil, and other substances can be used for this purpose. Be careful not to use any substance that will stain your furniture and most importantly, be toxic to your pet!
What not to do
- Do not scold or punish your dog as he cannot connect your punishment with some behavior he did hours or even minutes ago.
- Do not muzzle your dog to prevent chewing.
- Do not keep your dog in the crate for longer hours to avoid chewing or as a punishment.