German Shepherd Training - How to Stop Puppy Chewing

How to Stop Puppy Chewing

Puppies will chew on just about anything. Keeping items you do not want chewed out of your puppies reach will help keep those items safe.

Puppies need to chew. Chewing helps their adult teeth come in. Chewing helps relieve stress and frustration. Chewing is a natural behavior that should not be discouraged. With that said, you should control what items your German Shepherd puppy is allowed to chew and keep those items that are off limits out of your puppies reach.

Shoes, remote controls, wallets, belts, childrens toys, all of these items should be put up to ensure you puppy cannot chew them. If you, like many, expect your puppy to ignore these items then you're going to have a long road to helping your puppy stop chewing.

Chew toys that are dog appropriate, digestable, and are not made of leather (rawhide chews) are the best solution to puppy chewing. Giving your puppy a chew toy every so often will help satisify their desire to chew and this will lead to them learning that they can chew those items but not your favorite pair of shoes.

Side Note about Rawhide Chews: Rawhide is nothing more than dried leather. Rawhide smells just like your leather wallet, your leather belt, your leather purse, your leather shoes, your leather gloves, I think you get the idea. Rawhide is extemely hard to digest as well and has been known to cause intestinal blockage.

Caught in the Act - How to Teach Your Puppy Appropriate Chew Habits

Like potty training your puppy will eventually grab something they shouldn't and start to chew it. When you catch your puppy chewing something they shouldn't instead of getting upset you should calmly (keyword there) walk over and offer them something they are allowed to chew. Over time they will start to seek out the appropriate chew toy and avoid the inappropriate items. Remember to put inappopriate items up and out of your puppies reach to help keep your puppy from chewing on them.

Punishment is not necessary and you are not rewarding the dog for inappropriate chewing. This is a common misunderstanding that people make and it is a clear indication they do not understand the principles of dog training. In order for a dog to be rewarded for doing something they must be rewarded immediately after doing something. In the case of the inappropriate chew item the puppy has already gotten the item and enough time as passed that he/she will not associate the exchange of an appropriate item as a reward.

On that note, you can praise the moment your puppy drops the inappropriate item and takes the appropriate item. In this case you are rewarding the puppy for dropping one item and taking the other. Which is how you will teach them what items are allowed to be chewed and which ones are not to be touched.

How to Teach Your Puppy to Drop Things on Cue

As you work on exchanging appropriate items for inappropriate items you can teach your puppy how to drop items on cue. A common way to do this would be to use two appropriate chew toys and give them one. As they start to chew it and hold it in their mouth you take hold of the item and say, "Drop" or whatever word you want to use for the cue while at the same time offering them the other item. When they take the other item praise them.

Work on this exercise for 4-5 minutes per day and avoid using the cue if your puppy gets an inappropriate item unless you know for a fact they will spit out the item. If you have any doubt simply do the exchange exercise with an appropriate item. Continue your drop cue training until you are reasonably certain your puppy will drop items on cue.

If you have been working on the exercise consistently it won't be long until you can tell your puppy to drop an inappropriate item and they will drop it.

A "secret" that you should remember is whenever you take hold of anything your dog has in their mouth do not move it. In other If they start to pull the item away from you move towards them making sure there is no resistance on the item. This will take the "action" out of the pulling and your dog is more likely to let it go.

Stop Puppy Chewing Summary

The title of this article is a little misleading in the fact that you are not trying to completely stop puppy chewing. Instead you want to manage your puppies chewing and make sure they chew appropriate items instead of inappropriate items.

If you put inappropriate items up, teach your puppy to drop things on cue, and be patient your puppy will learn much faster and you won't have to spend thousands of dollars on new couches, shoes and the like.

Be consistent, be fair, and remember, they are puppies and puppies chew things.

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