How to Stop Your Dog from Chewing Up Your Stuff

If you have ever had your shoes eaten by your dog like I have then you probably know how important it is to make sure your dog knows not to chew your possessions. And don't even get me started on the time my dog ate my girlfriend's 200 dollar jeans! That happened three years ago and she still brings it up every other day.

Luckily there are some ways that I've learned from dog training expert Daniel Stevens Sit Stay Fetch program that can help keep your dog from chewing your stuff!

Chewing is a natural part of a dog's instinctual behavior. It's not that you want to try and stop your dog from chewing but that you want to teach your dog which items are ok to chew. Your dog should have specific toys or bones that are he or she uses for chewing and your dog should know that all other items are completely off limits for chewing.

Like human babies, puppies go through a teething stage which is very painful for them. During this stage puppies start to want to chew on things in order to decrease their teething pain. This is the best time to train your dog to chew on only his or her chew toys and on nothing else. If you are just getting your dog as a young puppy then this is the way to go, training your puppy during this growing stage should bring you very good results.

Dogs may also start chewing your possessions when they are suffering from feelings of loneliness. Keeping your dog in a healthy mental and physical state should help keep your dog from starting a new habit of chewing on your stuff.

Perhaps the most important thing in keeping your dog from chewing your possessions is to have cool things around for them to chew on. By this I mean you need to make sure your dog has a habit of chewing on specific chew toy items so that they are busy chewing on these toys and not on your shoes.

The two best known brands of dog chew toys that I can recommend are Nylabones and Kong dog chew toys.

Nylabones are made from odorless nylon fiber which is safe for your dog's mouth. They are available in edible and in non edible versions. The non edible Nylabone toys are to be stuffed with dog food for added flavor. This can be a great way of keeping your dog busy for a long period of time. Instead of just feeing your dog his food in a bowl if you feed him food in a Nylabone then you can keep him preoccupied with one of his favorite activities (eating) for a long time.

Kong Toys are sterilized bones that are hallowed out in the middle to stuff different kinds of dog food in. This is a similar concept to Nylabones.

In conclusion it is my recommendation to teach you dog when he is a puppy if you have the chance to chew on only dog toys and nothing else. If it's too late for that then you can still train your dog although it'll be a little bit more difficult. You need to make sure you have fun dog toys around for your dog to chew on so that he has an outlet for his chewing desire and so that he can learn that these toys are the only thing to chew on. Lastly it is also important to make sure your dog is happy. A happy dog with plenty of fun toys and bones to chew on will be unlikely to chew up your stuff!