How to stop my dog from chewing?

Question

I have a springer spaniel that is 8 months old and he chews everything. He will chew on absolutely anything! Shoes, hair bows, paper, wires..... What can I do to make him stop? I know about the bitter spray you can buy but some things he gets a hold of can't be sprayed with it.

Thanks for all the great tips. Just wanted to add that Max, our springer, is a wonder pup. He is house broken and has been for months. I do try to keep things out of his reach, but somehow he finds his way into trouble!

Answer 1

Discouraging Unacceptable Behaviors

It's virtually inevitable that your puppy will, at some point, chew up something you value. This is part of raising a puppy! You can, however, prevent most problems by taking the following precautions:

Minimize chewing problems by puppy-proofing your house. Put the trash out of reach—inside a cabinet or outside on the porch—or buy containers with locking lids. Encourage children to pick up their toys and don't leave socks, shoes, eyeglasses, briefcases, or TV remote controls lying around within your puppy's reach.

If, and only if, you catch your puppy chewing on something he shouldn't, interrupt the behavior with a loud noise, then offer him an acceptable chew toy instead. Praise him lavishly when he takes the toy in his mouth.

Make unacceptable chew items unpleasant to your puppy. Furniture and other items can be coated with a taste deterrent (such as Bitter Apple®) to make them unappealing. For more information on discouraging inappropriate behavior, see our tip sheet on Using Aversives to Modify Your Dog's Behavior.

Don't give your puppy objects to play with such as old socks, old shoes, or old children's toys that closely resemble items that are off-limits. Puppies can't tell the difference.

Closely supervise your puppy. Don't give him the chance to go off by himself and get into trouble. Use baby gates, close doors, or tether him to you with a six-foot leash so that you can keep an eye on him.

When you must be gone from your home or you can't actively supervise your puppy, confine him to a small, safe area such as a laundry room. You might also consider crate training your puppy. (See our tip sheet on Crate Training Your Dog for guidance). Puppies under five months of age shouldn't be crated for longer than four hours at a time because they may not be able to control their bladder and bowels longer than that.

Make sure your puppy is getting adequate physical activity. Puppies (and dogs) left alone in a yard don't play by themselves. Take your puppy for walks and/or play a game of fetch with him for both mental and physical exercise.

Give your puppy plenty of "people time." He can only learn the rules of your home when he's with you.
Encouraging Acceptable Behavior

Provide your puppy with lots of appropriate toys. (See our tips on Dog Toys and How to Use Them.)

Rotate your puppy's toys. Puppies are often more interested in unfamiliar or novel objects. Put out a few for several days, then pick those up and put out different ones.

Experiment with different kinds of toys. When you introduce a new toy to your puppy, watch him to make sure he won't tear it up and ingest the pieces.

Consider the various types of toys that can be stuffed with food. Putting tidbits of food inside chew toys focuses your puppy's chewing activities on those toys instead of on unacceptable objects.

If your puppy is teething, try freezing a wet washcloth for him to chew on.

Answer 2

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Answer 3

It is very natural for a puppy to want to chew, but there are some things you can do that will help. It sounds like you have a very high energy dog. You may need to increase the walks you are taking her on to a bit longer. She is probably also very intelligent and needs a job to do. Are you spending any time obedience training her? Just 10 minutes a day in the backyard on basic obedience commands will give her a healthy outlet for her intelligence and then she won't get into so much trouble. It's good that you are giving her lots of things to chew on, but you may need to rotate them so she doesn't loose interest. My german shepherds like nyla bones but only if I rub them for a while or stick them in my shirt for an hour to get my scent on them, but they last a long time. If you are going to use real bones, make sure you only feed raw beef bones. Anything else may splinter and perforate the dog's intestines--it's very dangerous. When you do catch your dog chewing something inappropriate, take it away and pound the object on the ground using a loud angry voice. Make the object, not the puppy, seem like the bad thing. My dog trainer says that if you don't feel silly when you're doing this you are probably not doing it right. Then replace the unwanted object with something you want your dog to chew and praise the dog and play with her. She'll outgrow it--eventually. She neeeds lots of exercise, attention, and some obedience training to divert her. Good luck.

Answer 4

Bitter apple never worked for me either. A couple suggestions. Keep a really neat house - pick up the shoes, hair bows, papers, whatever and keep them out of reach. Second, crate train the dog for times when you can't supervise it. The attached website is helpful. Finally get some acceptable chew toys - my dogs really like nylabones - especially the Y shaped ones and create a toybox for your dog where the toys are available at all times. This should help a lot.

Answer 5

He's teething and springers also have tons of energy (guess you know that already!) and get very easily bored. They also hate being left as they are very sociable (even for dogs!)There's really no way round this except to keep him active, loads and loads of activity and fun games and special toys he can chew when he's settling down. You'll have to keep a good eye on him and as soon as he starts to chew something you don't want him to distract him with a game or put him in the garden, have a fun game then leave him with something it's ok to chew.
Helpful sites http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/englishspringerspaniel.htm
http://www.yourpurebredpuppy.com/reviews/englishspringerspaniels.html
http://dogobediencementor.blogspot.com/2007/02/discover-how-to-stop-dogs-from-chewing.html
You've taken on a handful, albeit a beautiful one. Assume he's like a child with ADHD and treat him accordingly. You will be richly rewarded.

Answer 6

At 8 mos. old, he is a puppy and that is what puppies do. They "explore" things with their mouths. (As do human babies.) Be sure to keep things picked up that could harm him if swallowed, wires, stuff like that. Just like childproofing your house for a baby. Keep him confined when you can't be with him to keep an eye on him and provide him LOTS of rawhide chew things for him. Don't give him those hard rubber bones though, he will chew it and will ingest bits of rubber. Don't give him an old shoe, slipper, etc. either. Cause he can't distinguish an old shoe from your expensive Birkenstocks. Not good!! Anyway, he will grow out of this stage. I have 4 dogs of my own and one is a beagle puppy. I'm now going through the same thing. LOL. Just love him and don't lose hope. Good luck!

Answer 7

It's normal for dogs to chew at this age but you can give him special toys if you dont want him chewing your things. However if he continues to do it when he is older bitter sprays or hot and spicey things should stop him. You could also make a loud noise that he doesnt like when he does it. He will soon learn that it isnt very nice to chew things

Answer 8

Well crate training helps a lot. Plus when you can catch them chewing a sharp NO! and hand them a toy helps them identify what is acceptable to chew and what isn't.

Crate training is NOT just for potty training. It's a very good way to teach ALL the rules of good doggy behavior.

Answer 9

At eight months, your dog is still pretty much a baby. Babies chew on a lot of things. The chewing will eventually abate as he gets older. Try getting a variety of chew toys that will keep his mouth occupied and keep stuff you don't want chewed away from him.

Answer 10

its a normal stage for puppies just give him a chew toy or treats to chew on instead