Tips on Helping Your Dog With His Chewing Habit

By Tammy Craig

One of the biggest problems dog owners face aside from house breaking is chewing! Every dog owner knows dogs can find things to chew in a empty room. My dog chewed the front piece of wood on my couch yet I didn't realize it until I sat down one day and ruined a pair of pantyhose.

The area she had chewed was about 9 inches wide and went down into the wood an amazing 7 or 8 inches. It was obviously time for me to teach her not to chew on things.

Chewing is a normal pattern for dogs and one of the big reasons dogs chew is to relax. There are other reasons and they can threaten your rapport with your dog. This is a destructive habit that needs to be addressed.

Your dog may chew because he is teething, and just like with a baby it hurts a lot. So giving him frozen rawhide bones is a wonderful way to begin breaking this habit. It's good practice to keep a few in the freezer for him, just like you would do for a baby.

Because a dogs attention span is all of a foot long, it is a good idea to get 10 or 12 rawhide chews to freeze. Put out five of them, then in a few days, put them back in the freezer and take out the other five.

Each one smells a little different and this gives him a variety of things to chew on without endangering your furniture or shoes.

Also provide your dog with lots of toys. You can never have too many of them and he will get a lot of comfort from them, even when you are not around.

Play with him and his toys so he learns that they are fun to chew and he will choose them over other items he isn't supposed to have.

Never give a dog an old shoe or sock as a toy, he wont know the difference between the ones he can have and the ones he isn't supposed to have!

Boredom is another reason a dog will chew. He can't go to school or work each day like you do and he doesn't understand the soap operas and can't talk to his friends on the phone, so he chews out of sheer boredom. Another training issue solved by chew toys, isn't it worth all the times you have tripped over those toys?

If your tired of your dog not listening to you and are in need of an affordable dog training course check out the Puppy & Dog Training School, an excellent in home dog training program.