If you have come to this article, that means you might have tried to find out more on how to stop dog from chewing across various search platforms. In fact, what motivated me to write the article on how to stop dog from chewing is that I myself face the same problem! My dogs simply love to chew on my furniture, and I had a tough time trying to make them stop that habit. Of course, it is precisely because I know the pain of damaged materials, that’s why I decided to share more on the problem in this article.

How To Stop Dog From Chewing

If you ask your friends or the local vet, they can indeed provide you with good advices that you can follow. Of course, before we can eliminate the problem, let us first find out why are the dogs chewing on our furniture then.

When it comes to chewing, there is a research that says puppies are especially curious and playful. This is actually in line with human beings, and this is precisely the reason why it is much easier to teach tricks to dogs when they are still younger. Just for the record, it is also easier to teach children languages when they are younger too. This is because when they are younger, they have lesser inhibition. This goes the same for dogs too.

It is actually encouraging that puppies are investigative in nature. You should be worried if your puppy is not socializing or not curious enough. Hence, when the puppies are curious, they tend to explore things. For humans, I am sure your baby does destroy certain objects when they are younger. Hence, we can expect the same from the curious puppies too. The puppies rely heavily on their senses when it comes to investigating. They can sniff, taste and sometimes chew their way through too. In addition, they love to chew partly because they they can be teething. During teething, they will sometimes chew through items, which actually helps to keep the teeth healthy too.

So now we know that puppies chew because of teething or because of their curiosity. While this can be forgiven (at times), then what about that of the larger dogs? Can it be forgiven that the large dogs chew too? Well, it really depends. In for example, some dogs chew simply because they want attention from owner. While this is wrong, sometimes it can be reinforced by their owners, unknowingly however, by giving them treats and attention.

Here are some of the tips to stop dog from chewing.

Determine  If Your Dog Have Any Inherent Illness

We place this at number one as some owners totally overlook this. Yes, sometimes dogs can be suffering from illness or diseases that is causing them to chew more often than usual. These illness or diseases can sometimes be caused by a lack of a nutritional diet for your dog. When this happens, your dog will suffer from nutritional deficiencies , which can cause a huge repertoire of problems for your dog. One of the common problems that nutritional deficiency can bring to your dog in terms of chewing is that it can bring about intestinal parasites that will eventually lead to pica. Pica is a term that is used to describe the problem of the dog’s craving for the consumption of an invalid food object.  Hence, in order to stop your dog from chewing, you might want to bring your dog to the vet for a regular checkup.

Give Your Dog Appropriate Attention And/Or Toys

For the second tip of how to stop dog from chewing, you will need to set a few ground rules for yourself and the dog. You might wonder, why ground rules for you? This is because one of the top few reasons why dogs chew anything is that they are being rewarded , albeit unknowingly, by the owner. Hence, if you set some ground rules for yourself, then you will know when is it appropriate to shower your dog with attention.

Also, you can purchase some chewing toys for your dogs too. When this happen, if they really need to chew for whatsoever reasons, they can chew on the said toys too. There are plentiful of the toys in the local store. However, when you purchase the toys, do ensure that you know which kind of materials is suitable for your dog. Also, do take into consideration that some toys can be lodged into your dog’s throat if they are small enough.

Having said that, when we say appropriate toys, we have saying that you shouldn’t purchase any toy that resembles any of the furniture or items that you do not want your dog to chew on. Like for example, you should not buy a dog toy that resembles your shoe, or your child’s soft toy. If you do purchase a dog toy that resembles an item in the house that you do not want your dog to chew upon, chances are they cannot differentiate them apart at all.

If your dog loves to chew, then you might want to employ preventive measures so that they will not bite some of the more dangerous items. For examples, keep chemicals and other sensitive materials out of the reach from dogs. Actually, this is very similar the way we prevent our own children from being compromised at home.

Play Often With Your Dog

You should try to play often with your dog. When your dog is constantly engaged in activities with you, they will often be tired at the end of the day. Hence, they will not have the energy to chew on random household items. In addition to that, if your dog is not bored, chances are that they will not chew things too! So in the essence of it, you should always play with your dog. Walking your dog often can help to stop dog from chewing too!