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Dog Obedience Training - Destructive Chewing - Part III |
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By Angelina Brown
 Dog Obedience Training - Part III
The desire for chewing seems to be a matter of individual preference among dogs: some have an innate desire to chew as a pleasurable activity in itself, and some seem to have no need to chew whatsoever unless theyre compelled to it out of sheer boredom.
Your pet has powerful jaws full of sharp, pointy teeth: just about anything she starts to gnaw on is probably going to show the effects of it inside of a minute. This kind of chewing thats focused on your own possessions and household items, instead of on your dogs own designated toys needs to be addressed.
In Part III of this 3-Part Series, we will be focusing on the third and final reason why pets chew:
THIRD - Dogs lacking sufficient exercise often use chewing as a way of using up nervous energy and giving themselves something to do.
* So, How Are You Going To Do It? *
Dogs are completely capable of learning not to chew your personal possessions you just have to put
in a little effort first, thats all. Sounds simple ... huh?
1. Spend lots of time in active supervision. Sure, it might be easier for you to just keep her penned up in her crate, run, or the front yard but thats boring and terrible for her, and hardly much fun for you either. (if you wanted a pet that you didnt need to interact with, you should have gotten a goldfish, right?) She cant learn what you expect of her if shes spending all her time boxed up in the dog-proof zone: she needs the opportunity to explore the limitations of your guidelines, so she can understand whats appropriate and whats not.
2. When you catch her chewing something inappropriate, stop her by making a loud noise: clap your hands or make an Ah-ah-aaaah! noise. Then, immediately hand her a tasty and dog-appropriate alternative (a rawhide bone or other chew toy); as soon as her jaws close around it, praise her lavishly. There is no better way to get your dog to understand that chewing only "her" toys equals love from you, but everything else equals trouble.
* Maintain a Productive Attitude *
Above all, always keep your expectations appropriate. Youre not perfect, and neither is your dog: theres likely to be at least one incident where a beloved item is damaged by her curiosity.
Especially in the early stages of your relationship, shes still learning the ropes: itll take a bit of time before shes completely dependable (and even then, if shes left by herself for too long or feels neglected, she may sacrifice your stuff over hers to occupy her time and exercise jaws with.) Remember to give her time to learn the new rules, and plenty of you-time to help her learn faster and dont forget to take precautions and keep your beloved things out of reach until shes got the hang of the chewing rules!
So that's it. Easy wasn't it? :-)
See you in the kennel.
To learn more information on dog training techniques and how to deal with problem pet behavior (like chewing), check out the complete manual for dog ownership that is designed to fast-track your dogs learning.
Learn about the "Secrets to Dog Training" by clicking on the link: http://www.happy-petz.com/dogs/obedience.htm
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