Minnesota Valley Humane Society

Dogs live in the moment – he would only understand that chewing on plants is bad if you caught him in the act. Punishing a dog one hour, or even 5 minutes, after he does a bad behavior is too late. He’d know that you were angry and, if he were a repeat offender, he’d learn to anticipate that you oftentimes get angry when you return home, so, to get you to stop your angry tirade, he’d give you appeasement signals such as putting his tail between his legs, cowering, or avoiding your eye contact as soon as you’d walk in the door. He’d do this only to turn off your “aggressiveness,” not because he knew he shouldn’t chew on houseplants.

Punishment after the fact will not get rid of the behavior and may also cause other undesirable behaviors, such as defensive aggression or submissive urination.

What You Can Do:

• Pick-up and puppy-proof your house. Get down to your dog’s eye level to see what potential chewables are in reach of your dog. Remove or hide cords, plants, lamps and breakables are in the rooms your dog has access to. Close closet doors and bathroom doors. Keep countertops clean with nothing hanging over the edge. Hide the trash behind a closed cupboard door. Keep all clothing, shoes, socks, gloves, and hats away from your dog and never give him any of these items to play with - this will only confuse him because he can’t differentiate between old, worn-out shoes or socks and brand new ones. Eyeglasses and TV remote controls also need to be kept out of reach.

• Your new dog or puppy should be confined in a crate or a safe room until he knows the house rules. He should always have fresh water and plenty of his own safe chew toys. This means that little squeaky plastic toys or stuffed animals should never be left with him when he is not supervised. He can ingest pieces of these and could need emergency veterinary care as a result of this. Investigate durable, safe chew toys; food-stuffed Kong toys are an excellent choice! Furniture destruction and emergency vet bills are a lot more expensive than a few rawhides a day. When you let him roam the house, you should always keep an eye on him. Don’t let him slip away to tear something up.

• If your dog wanders into different rooms to chew on household items while you’re not watching, keep him in the same room as you are by installing baby gates or by keeping doors shut. If this is not possible, consider tethering your dog; tie his leash to your belt loop or around a nearby heavy piece of furniture and don’t forget to provide him with desirable chew toys, such as food-stuffed Kong toys. Never leave a tethered dog alone.

• If you catch your dog in the act of chewing something he is not supposed to chew, call him to you in an excited voice and have a very good treat ready for him. Say “drop it!” and place the treat right to his nose. When he opens his mouth to eat the treat, you can remove the valuable object. Give him an acceptable chew toy and praise him for taking it. This helps distract and divert him – you distract him from what he is doing by calling him and offering him a treat, then you divert him onto the new appropriate object and praise him for chewing this object.

• Never chase your dog to take an item away from him. This will only increase the “stealing” behavior, adding another desirable component (the game of chase) to his already self-rewarding chewing. Expect that at some time your dog will chew up something of value to you. This is often a part of his transition to a new home. Chewing is a normal part of teething and investigative behavior in puppies and is at its worst during the actual teething period.

• Exercise your dog... a lot.
  All dogs need exercise, especially those who were bred to hunt, pull, run, or do some other energy-requiring job for people. Terriers, herders, and sporting breeds all fall in this category and any dog who is young (this includes 3 year old dogs) and healthy usually cannot get enough exercise unless your family has taken up running as a sport. This is where dog parks, dog play, agility, flyball, and frisbee come in. A tired, well-exercised dog will not be looking for other outlets to release that extra energy such as digging, barking and chewing everything in sight.

• Reward Your Dog’s Good Behavior:
  Instead of waiting for your dog to “screw up,” recognize and reward him when he behaves well. When your dog is laying by your side or under the table chewing on his rawhide, praise him and pet him. Pay attention to calm, quiet behavior whenever you see it and reward your dog with attention, praise, and maybe a little extra treat. Your dog will repeat the behaviors that you pay attention to because dogs are social, attention-seeking creatures. Use this to your advantage!

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