how do you make a puppy stop chewing up things?
i have a 5 month old miniture wienie dog,she is cute but chews my kids toys.i have bought her toys,but she could care less about them.i have swatted her with news paper,taken things away and hand her her own toys,but it doesnt work
I have owned, trained, rescued, fostered, & adopted out dogs for the past 10-15 years. Although I have not had kids of my own around the dogs, my friends' kids have come by, & the dogs have sometimes been adopted out to people with kids. How you can handle this depends on the age of your kids, as in how much they can understand & help with the training, & also how much time you have to spend supervising your dog & her chewing.
First of all, consider the safety of your dog & your kids in choosing what the dog CAN chew & play with. Do NOT confuse things by letting the dog play with anything that resembles "people things." This means no socks, stuffed toys, fleece toys, or old shoes for the dog to play with. Because dogs can't tell these things from the kids' stuff or yours. The dog needs to learn that dog toys are DIFFERENT.
I usually have success with dogs chewing the original Nylabones, Kong rubber toys that you can stuff with treats, other hard rubber toys, & if your vet says they are OK for your dog, try Greenies edible bones. If you give your dog any type of sterilized bones, rope toys, or rawhides, have your veterinarian check them for safety, first. Remember that if a dog chews up rope toys, she can end up with the threads caught in her intestines, which can be fatal. So, check with your vet for approved safe toys, & then check the toys daily to see that the dog is using them safely.
The idea of using Bitter Apple spray, hot sauce, pepper, & other repellant things on the kids' toys & other items to make the dog stop chewing them, does work. You just need to supervise the dog AND the kids when you use these things on the toys. It MAY help to have some toys be "expendable duplicates" of the ones that you want to preserve for the kids. So, have some spares, in case the spray or sauce makes toys unuseable for kids. Most things can be washed, though, once the dog gets the idea.
Electronic training collars DO work, but have a vet or a dog trainer go over the proper uses with you. You don't want the kids sitting around playing with the collar controller, unless they are mature enough to use it only when it is CLEAR to the dog what it needs to stop doing. Otherwise, if you overuse the "zap" of the collar, the dog just ends up confused & possibly becomes aggressive. Be fair, be firm, & be consistent. Dogs learn things in stages & by consistent repetition, similar to young kids.
One REALLY important point is that you need to give the dog HER place, & the kids THEIR places. Get your dog a crate, cage, or exercise pen, a safe place to put her, AND her toys, treats, food, water, & other belongings, AWAY from the kids & their things. Don't keep the dog crated all teh time, but DO crate her when you cannot watch her, when you are away for the day, or when you are asleep, if she tends to steal & chew things in the night. Be sure that the dog still gets time with people, gets taken outside to go to the bathroom, & gets some play time. But if she finds that her toys, her food, & all of HER stuff is ALWAYS somewhere near the crate, ex pen, or whatever HER place is, then the dog will figure out what IS hers. The OTHER half of this is, to instruct your kids to please keep THEIR toys & snacks UP HIGH, & AWAY from the dog. Except for what they are using NOW, have other toys in a toy box that the dog cannot get into. Or a cabinet, a closet, or a shelf will do, just so that the dog is not tempted to take the kids' stuff & cannot reach it easily.
Once you have followed these steps for a while, if you are still having problems, consider some additional training with a professional trainer for your dog. Your veterinarian can also give advice. Good luck!
| No items matching your keywords were found. |