Chew On This!
Chewing
Do you have a serial chewer?
Is your furniture looking like it’s been attacked by termites?
Is there a certain fluffy little terrorist nibbling at your chair legs when you’re not looking?
It’s fair to say that MOST Puppies in their lifetime will sample some part of your house that wasn’t even intended to be chewed. Chewing is a very typical behaviour for dogs, not just puppies and something you’ll never do away with entirely – or should for that matter!
The reality when it comes to having a new puppy in the house is EVERYTHING (And I mean everything) that is accessible to your Puppy is fair game. These brand new additions to your family are LITERALLY designed to chew. Imagine asking a cat not to scratch, if they could give the middle finger – I’ve no doubt they would, they’re cats after all!
Your pup has been preloaded with a desire to gather information about his/her world to determine what things taste and feel like in their mouth. Top this with the agony that is the dreaded teething and we’re talking a serious chewer on your hands. If you’ve an older dog that is chewing often boredom or stress will lead them to gnawing away at stuff – as it provides a lovely flow of dopamine that can combat stress or boredom.
So, we know we can’t stop our puppy chewing all together because they NEED to do it and we know we shouldn’t because, let’s face it, it’s not their fault we fill our houses with lovely wooden furniture or soft furnishings that are just begging to be redesigned. So what do we do about this little pickle we house proud folk have put ourselves in?
Management is key here folks, meaning it’s important we supervise our Pup in any high risk area. If we can’t supervise then pup needs restricted access to these areas (When we go out or maybe we need a poo!). That means either taking puppy with you or popping them safely in a gated area. All these precautions will ensure your pup isn’t practising the chewing you don’t want and therefore not looking so keenly for it.
Now we need to provide an appropriate output for our pups to chew. This means stuffed Kongs, Stag Bars, Natural chews like skins, horns and hooves. You can even get hold of appropriate wood chews made of a soft root if your dog is a big fan of chewing on wood. Similarly if they’re a soft furnishing kind of dog a braided tea towel (Frozen and soaked in water for our teething sufferers) can be a cheap option for our dogs that love material chewing.
Simply put, we must embrace our dogs chewing rather than trying to suppress it. It’s an excellent way to enrich your dogs life as well as a great opportunity to help ease stress, excitement and wind down.