Does your dog CHEW your life up?

Chewing is not a character flaw. It is one of the most normal things a dog does, and for most dogs it is the single easiest thing to reward. The problem is never that your dog chews. The problem is what your dog chews when nobody has taught him the difference.

Before you treat chewing as a training problem, rule out the medical side. Not all chewing is behavioral. Dental pain, gastrointestinal discomfort, allergies, and skin irritation all show up as chewing, and no amount of training fixes a dog who is chewing because something hurts. Stay on top of your dog's health first, then work the behavior.

Puppies

Puppies are curious. Chewing is how they investigate the world, the same way a toddler puts everything in reach into his mouth. Around five to six months, when adult teeth are coming in, most owners notice the chewing get dramatically worse. That is normal, and it is also your best window to teach.

Puppies chew different things to find out what they can get away with. They are working out where they fit in your house. Do not waste that window.

• Be consistent. All shoes are bad shoes. If you do not want your puppy chewing your good work shoes, your old sneakers have to be off limits too. A dog cannot read a price tag.
• Watch the toy line. Be careful with plush toys. There is essentially no difference to a dog between the stuffed toy you handed him and the child's stuffed animal you expect him to leave alone.
• Keep it positive. Reward the right choice more often than you interrupt the wrong one. A confident puppy learns faster than an anxious one.

Adult dogs

Adult chewing usually traces back to boredom, a compulsive pattern, attention seeking, or plain enjoyment. The teaching job is the same as it is with a puppy, but the stakes are higher, because an adult dog can destroy a couch, a door frame, or something that will land him at the emergency vet.

Compulsive chewing is a dog obsessively working on himself or on one object. Interrupt it early and redirect into something else, a chew he is allowed to have, a walk, a training session. Compulsive patterns are very hard to change once they are established, which is exactly why puppy chewing should never be ignored. These habits escalate.

Destructive chewing is the dog who simply enjoys taking things apart, shredding and tearing. Most of these dogs are under-exercised. Energy that goes into a real walk, a swim, or a structured training session does not go into your baseboards. If your dog is quietly dismantling the house every time you leave, that is a specific, solvable pattern, and we walk through what it takes to leave a dog alone in the house without coming home to damage in our behavior library.

Attention chewing is the smartest and the most misread. Dogs learn quickly what gets a reaction. Some dogs will grab the one thing they know is off limits precisely because it brings you across the room. To that dog, any attention is good attention, and the scolding you meant as a correction lands as a reward. Manage the environment so the option is not available, and give him real attention when he has earned it.

One more pattern worth knowing: dogs commonly chew clothing when their owners are out, because your clothes smell like you. Laundry on the floor is a target, not an accident.

Prevention beats correction

Put most of your energy into preventing chewing rather than responding to it. Chewing is far easier to manage the earlier you set the rules.

• Start early and go one behavior at a time. Do not try to fix everything in a week. Patterned habits are built in small, repeated pieces.
• Use the crate. A crate is the surest way to keep a dog out of trouble when you cannot supervise. Think of it as the babysitter, not the punishment.
• Control access. If it is on the floor and you would be upset to lose it, it is not the dog's fault. Pick it up.
• Trade, do not just take. When you remove what your dog was chewing, give him something he is allowed to have. An empty mouth goes looking.
• Deterrent sprays help at the margins. A bitter deterrent on a table leg or a cord makes that object less rewarding. It supports the plan, it is not the plan.
• Repetition is the whole job. Solid training is repetition. There is no version of this that works overnight.

The point

Chewing is probably your dog's favorite thing to do, and one of the easiest ways to make him happy. It does not need to be eliminated. It needs to be aimed. Keep the objects you care about out of reach, make sure he always has something appropriate that he is allowed to destroy, and be patient while the new habit sets. Do that consistently and you get to keep your house and your dog gets to keep his favorite hobby.

If chewing has already cost you furniture, doors, or a vet bill, call us at 480-595-6700. We have campuses in Scottsdale at Shea Boulevard by the 101 and in Cave Creek.