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So you got a new puppy this holiday season and so far, his
chewing has cost you more then what you spent on Christmas
presents. Before your puppy starts chewing up your wallet or
needs surgery to remove something, he's swallowed, lets look at
ways to stop you puppy from chewing things he shouldn't.
Where do you start? First, are you reasonably sure that your
puppy is healthy? There is a medical condition called Pica that
can cause your puppy to chew and eat non-food items to try to
deal with nausea. If you reasonably sure that puppy has, a clean
bill of health then lets move on.
With dogs, in general you need to accept that chewing is a
normal healthy activity and is part of a puppy's development.
Just like children, puppies learn from exploring everything
around them and part of that exploring is chewing. Also like
children, puppies don't know what is safe and what is dangerous,
they need your protection and guidance to teach them what is
acceptable and what is unacceptable.
The number one thing to always remember when training your dog
is consistency. When training your dog not to chew you will need
to chose a word or sound that means "No" or "Bad". I would
however not recommend using the words "No" or "Bad", training a
new dog can be challenging enough, in the beginning you will be
correcting the dog a fair bit and who wants to continually be
saying "No" or "Bad", this can leave a person feeling very
negative about the whole experience. "Ah Ah" is what I have
found to be quite effective. With consistent training using "Ah
Ah" or whatever command you choose your dog should learn to
respond instantly. When you catch you puppy chewing on anything
they are not suppose to say "Ah Ah" take the item away and
replace it with a toy they are allowed to chew on. Get you puppy
to start chewing on the toy and then praise them. You may need
to try a chemical additive such as Bitter Apple on any items
your dog habitually chews on. In later articles, we will talk
about crate training, which is another effective way to stop
chewing behaviour.
Remember the best way for your dog to learn not to chew
unacceptable household items is by not letting them even start.
By keeping items out of reach of you dog he will only chew on
his toys. Dogs are creatures of habit, the more times they chew
shoes the more difficult it will be to get them to stop. If for
most of their puppy years all they've chewed on is their toys
they will mostly likely only chew on their toys. Remember the
key to all dog training is consistency, so don't give up and
you'll soon have a very happy relationship with your new friend.
About the author:
Cassandra Stinchcombe - What to learn more? Go to
http://www.envisionopportunity.com/dogtraining/dogtrainingmain.ht
ml now and learn how to have the well-behaved puppy you've
always wanted.
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