Chewing

Chomp, chomp, munch

Prevention

There are many different steps you can take to head off problems before they start. Many of the puppy stage woes can be prevented by good management.

Chewing

Do you want to avoid your puppy destroying your home, furnishings and possessions? When you first get your puppy they will want to chew on everything, it's how they explore the world, just like babies everything goes in their mouths. The best form of prevention means 100% supervision while you are home in the early puppy days and a safe space when you are not.

Get a running belt with a bungee leash so your pupper can be tethered to you. If you know where your pup is- you know what they are chewing. Have suitable chewing things easily available (to you) so you can be ready to substitute anything picked up that isn’t allowed. Don't just leave toys lying idly around, instead have them all in a cupboard, or out of reach i.e on your desk. Your puppy has to learn toys and fab chewing things are a privilege that come from you. Toys that are made from preferred chewing material (some dogs love chewing certain materials Keiko loves wood, Kuma loves metal) will have a higher value for your pupper. Make toy games interactive with you, teaching tug and drop, and fetch games. You can teach your pupper how to tidy up toys too. If it’s a chewing toy then teach your pup they only get it in their place/crate. This will stop puppers thinking the whole house is a free for all chew toy.

Place

There are of course times when it is just not practical to have a puppy attached at the hip. This when when having a safe place comes into practice. When you are looking for your pupper to settle quietly while you work/cook teach ‘place’ it could be a crate mat/bed or simply a towel that you bring out when you want some quiet time. To teach 'place' we are going to build value, this place is going to be an awesome place for your puppy, great things happen when your pup is in this place, your puppy will be excited to get in/on this place. For crate training see here- Crate Training

If you are using a mat/raised bed/or towel, start by simply rewarding your dog for going on their place. Make it easy for them by standing directly in front of the mat. If they are reluctant at first to step on, you can use a tiny piece of tasty food throw it onto their place. Click as soon as your dog steps on their place and reward. As you need to do many repetitions reset by throwing another piece of food away and ask them to search. You want to repeat this many times until your pup antisipates you wanting them to be on the place and goes there first. When they have got the hang of this, wait until they offer another behaviour on the mat. This will usually be a sit, jackpot the sit (give several rewards) before sending them off to search. The next sit should be quicker, reward and release. When they are continuously sitting on the mat, wait again for a new behaviour, you are looking for a down. When they down, jackpot again, continuously before releasing. Getting a down this time should be easier, keep giving high rewards for down. Next you can build on duration.

When he knows ‘place’ you can start giving him kong with pate, frozen to last longer this will soothe his teething and give you time to get your work done.

Other management for Chewing

Try to prevent as much unwanted chewing as you can, this means clearing away all shoes/bags/garbage so he does not have access to these things. If you do catch him chewing something substitute it for a chew toy but put it in his place. You can use baby gates or crate to restrict access to other soft furnishings like sofas/beds.