If you have a new puppy, chances are they’re teething and trying to satisfy that urge by chewing on anything they can get their hands on – shoes, furniture, and other household items.
It can be an annoying problem and difficult to solve, but the good news is that you can train your puppy to stop chewing. Let’s take a look at how.
1. Understand Why Your Puppy is Chewing
The first step in training your puppy to stop chewing is understanding why they’re doing it in the first place. Chewing is a perfectly natural behavior for puppies; it helps them explore their environment and alleviate teething pain.
When dealing with this issue, it’s important to remember that your puppy isn’t trying to be naughty or misbehave —they just need some guidance.
2. Provide Appropriate Alternatives
Once you understand why your puppy is chewing, the next step is to provide appropriate alternatives for them to chew on instead of shoes or furniture.
You should provide your pup with plenty of chew toys made from safe materials like rubber or rope that will help relieve their teething pain without damaging your belongings.
Whenever you catch them nibbling on something they shouldn’t be, give them one of their toys instead and make sure they know it’s okay for them to chew on that one.
With patience and consistency, they will learn which objects are theirs to play with and which ones are strictly off-limits.
3. Reward Good Behavior
Rewarding good behavior should always be part of any training program; dogs respond very well to positive reinforcement.
Whenever you notice your pup playing with one of their approved toys instead of something else in the house, give them verbal praise like “Good boy!” or “Good girl!” so that they know what behavior earns rewards from you.
If possible, give them treats as well so that the reward has more impact – this will help reinforce the desired behavior over time until it becomes second nature for them not to chew on things around the house anymore.
Conclusion
Training a puppy not to chew on household items may seem daunting at first but with patience and consistency, anyone can do it successfully!
By understanding why your pup is chewing in the first place and providing appropriate alternatives while rewarding good behavior when it happens, you will help teach your pup what kind of behavior is acceptable – which will result in fewer chewed-up shoes and pieces of furniture around the house!
With these tips in mind, you’ll soon have a well-behaved pup who knows how not to destroy everything in sight!
