Puppies chew!This is a fact of life so if you have anything of particular value put it away until your puppy is ‘house safe!’
Chewing is completely natural and serves to help painful gums when your puppy is teething as well as aiding his teeth during their development.When puppies are all grown up, chewing also helps to keep teeth and gums clean.
Chewing can also help to alleviate stress and some adult dogs chew simply because they like it!
Your puppy must learn what he can and cannot chew.
Make sure you provide your puppy with some good quality chew toys that are hardy so you don’t have to replace them in a few days time.
To help whilst he is learning, pick up items on the floor that don’t normally belong there.You will need to encourage your whole family to do this.
Introduce your puppy to chosen toys by playing fun games with him so he can begin to get used to holding and chewing them.
Having too many toys can cause your puppy more confusion.Choose ten good quality toys and circulate them throughout the week.This will help maintain the motivational value of each one, and your puppy won’t get bored with them.
If he approaches and takes an item he’s not allowed, such as a sock, give him a firm ‘ah ah’ and take the object from him, immediately replacing it with some thing he is allowed.
You may find at some point your puppy will grab some thing appealing yet forbidden, and run off with it as soon as you approach him in an attempt to start a ‘chase me’ game.If this happens, do not chase after him this will only reinforce the behaviour!Instead go to the fridge and cut up some tasty reward such as sausage, ham or cheese and give him a call in a pleasant ‘fluffy’ tone.As soon as he comes running to you, show him what you have and if he still has the sock in his mouth take it and say the cue ‘give’ immediately exchanging with the reward.
If he dropped the item on the way to you, reward him for coming to you and quietly collect the sock and put it away.Instead of food you could use a favourite toy instead.This will also help with your puppies future retrieve command!