What to Chew? Teaching your Puppy Good Chewing Habits
Puppies are curious creatures – they learn about their environment by smelling, touching, manipulating and sometimes chewing on novel items. Therefore, chewing behavior in puppies is not considered to be a behavior problem, but rather a normal behavior that puppies must be trained to direct to appropriate items. Here are guidelines for teaching good chewing habits to your dog:
- Prevent Mistakes: Manage your puppy’s home environment to prevent undesirable chewing and to keep your puppy safe from consuming dangerous objects. Keep “attractive” items away from your puppy and always supervise him when he is loose in the house.
- Select Appropriate Puppy Toys: Provide a variety of interesting chew toys for your puppy and offer these to him frequently. If your pup does pick up something that is not his, simply remove it from his mouth and redirect him to one of his own toys, praising him quietly when he chews on appropriate items. (Avoid chasing your puppy or using harsh reprimands, as this can teach him to run away or cause fear).
- Rotate Toys: Puppies and adult dogs enjoy novelty in their toys. Select a variety of types of chew toys for your puppy and rotate them frequently. If your puppy has not seen a particular toy for a few weeks, he will be more excited to play with it when it is reintroduced!
- Teach Your Puppy “Give” and “Leave It”: Similar to house training, using a harsh reprimand when the puppy is chewing on something undesirable is not recommended because this can teach the puppy to chew out of sight of the owner or to run away whenever she is in possession of a novel object. A more effective approach is to train your dog to not touch off-limit items (the “Leave it” command) and also to bring items to you (the “Give” command). Many community puppy or obedience classes provide instructions for these commands.
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