Episode #153 Stop Chewing My Furniture & Rugs

Is your dog a nibbling nightmare, gnawing on everything from shoes to furniture? Fear not! We're here to guide you through the process of understanding and managing your pup's chewing behavior. We get into the nitty-gritty of why puppies chew - be it teething, boredom, or anxiety. We'll share some handy tips on how to puppy-proof your home, suggest suitable chew toys, and emphasize the power of patience and supervision. This episode is packed with insights on how to use positive reinforcement techniques to modify your puppy's behavior, saving your belongings and sanity.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

This is the Puppy Training Podcast, episode 153,. Stop Chewing my Furniture and Rugs. This podcast is designed to help you on your journey of becoming best friends through love and learning, as you train your own dog from home, and I'm here to help you every step of the way. This is the Puppy Training Podcast and I'm your host, amy Jensen. Hi you guys, how are you this week? I hope you're having a wonderful time with your dogs. Some of you are getting a dog, some of you already have a dog. Some of you are doing great and some of you are probably pulling your hair out. Maybe I don't know. Getting a dog can be overwhelming, but we are here to help you. So I'm glad you're here, I'm glad you're listening to the podcast. I try to give you just little tidbits every week. That makes your life a little easier when raising a dog. I will tell you that it is the best experience, even if it's overwhelming and you are pulling your hair out. Then it is rewarding as well, right? These dogs are so fun to have in the home. They offer so much love, so much emotional support. I see it on a daily basis for me and for my spouse and my children. We just absolutely love having our dogs around.

Speaker 1: 1:13

So today I want to talk about the chewing of furniture, rugs, pillows, clothing, shoes, slippers I can name it whatever it is that your dog might find fun and fascinating. But we all know that when we get these dogs and puppies, they are cute and they are adorable. But they also get into these things, right. And why is it always the smelly, stinky socks that they want? Or they get bored and they're laying by the sofa and decide this little sofa leg looks so delicious to chew on, I'm just going to have at it. So we do need to remember that puppies are not doing this to annoy us. It is a natural instinct for them to chew, and the good news is we can teach our dogs to stop chewing our priced positions by using positive reinforcement techniques.

Speaker 1: 2:02

So today let's walk you through the process of managing and training better behavior in your dog. First we have to understand the problem. So before we delve into training methods, it's really important to understand why our puppies and dogs are chewing in the first place. So chewing serves various purposes for them, such as exploring their environment. They put their mouths on things to learn about the world around them. Also, if it's a puppy, they're most likely alleviating some teething discomfort. A lot of those changes are happening from birth on to five to six months of age. Lots of transition going on in the mouth, and it's just a way for even older dogs who aren't teething to just really boredom or anxiety. Right that can be for puppies and dogs. So recognizing these motivations, that just helps us develop a more effective training approach.

Speaker 1: 2:48

First let's talk about management. I always start there. We always pair this with the training. Starting with management sets both the person and the dog up for success, which I am very huge on.

Speaker 1: 3:02

Now, puppy-proofing your home. Let's start there To prevent your puppy from chewing on furniture and rugs or other items like socks, shoes, slippers, pillows, you name it. Start by puppy-proofing your house. You want you to remove any items that might tempt them, maybe things like shoes, wires, low-hanging curtains, things that dangle, that are fun, right? Puppies love movement. They're movement magnets, they're attracted to movement. I like to use baby gates to block access to certain rooms and create a safe and supervised play area for your pup. You will avoid a lot of unnecessary frustration by simply keeping things out of sight, out of mind. You may further puppy-proof your place by closing all doors to bedrooms and bathrooms. That's a really quick fix. Use closets to tuck things away and then put all kitchen items away in cupboards. Keeping your tables and counters clean will help prevent unwanted counter surfing as your dog reaches an appropriate height to see what's up there. Start thinking in this way how do I puppy-proof my home? How do I put things out of sight, out of mind?

Speaker 1: 4:05

Number two provide appropriate chew toys. Puppies need an outlet for their chewing instincts. They will chew. We need to give them appropriate things to chew on. So provide a variety of safe and engaging chew toys to redirect their attention away from your furniture. Make sure that these toys are age appropriate and durable to withstand dog chewing.

Speaker 1: 4:25

There are different kinds of chew toys on the market. If you look at Kong, for example, they have different types of rubber. They're color-coded. The pink and light blue colors are puppy rubber, if you will. They're a little softer. The red is their regular rubber. And then they have this black Kong that's for super chewer. So just again, pay attention to your dog and their style of chewing, because it is different from dog to dog, and make sure that you buy appropriate toys for them. You find out what's appropriate for them by monitoring them and supervising them while they're first chewing something, so that you understand how your dog chews that item, and then you can make sure they're safe. But you'll find a few of our favorite products on our products tab on the top of our website on our menu bar. And brands to look into would also be woof. It's a Pup Sickle and Baxter absolutely adores it. Then Westpaw and Kong are also great brands that we've used a lot of their products for our puppies that we train.

Speaker 1: 5:21

So number three would be supervision and patience. Close supervision is a crucial component of the training process. When I have my puppy out and about, they're not in their play area or their pen or their crate. I need to keep a watchful eye on them. So if I happen to catch them chewing on furniture or rugs, I just simply gently redirect their focus to an appropriate toy, praise them when they switch their attention, reward them, be happy that they're willing to focus on something else.

Speaker 1: 5:46

Now, you guys, it's one thing to redirect your puppy or dog, but if you always stay in that mode so puppy chews furniture, you redirect away with a reward. Puppy chews furniture, you redirect away with a reward you can see what's happening right. Your dog may start to pick up on the same pattern that you're picking up on which dogs do really well and they'll start to chew furniture so that that next step happens. Yep, that's you. That's you giving them a reward. So how do we combat that? We do this by paying attention to our dog and notice when they might go for the furniture. We have to start to anticipate the behavior. We redirect before they start to actually chew. Now the chewing is not part of the pattern at all. So both steps are important. If they are already chewing something unwanted, absolutely interrupt, redirect, but also in the future, do better at supervising them, noticing when they first look at the furniture and redirect. Then Do not wait for the unwanted behavior to happen before you do something right. We have to get ahead of it to create a better behavior chain. So repeating that process will teach your dog to do better behavior, as the chewing is not part of any learned behavior pattern. So I've done several podcast episodes on the ABCs of dog training, which is what we call this topic that we're speaking of now. If you want to know more about it, go check out our previous podcast episodes.

Speaker 1: 7:08

All right, now let's just review positive reinforcement techniques. Right, we know what this is, but as a review if you don't or are unfamiliar, positive reinforcement involves rewarding desired behaviors to encourage their repetition. This is highly effective in teaching puppies new habits. So one we use food in place. Puppies need to eat, so food is a great motivator. When your puppy chooses to chew on their toys instead of furniture or rugs, capture that right. Catch them in the act, reward them for being good, and I like to do this just by adding to what they already have. So this positive association helps them understand that good behavior leads to positive outcomes. And again, just walking by dropping a little food reward in addition to that, whatever their current chew toy is, and then walk away. Just keep making their pile a little bit bigger. Dogs Love this.

Speaker 1: 7:58

Number two consistency is key. So consistency is vital in positive reinforcement training. Be consistent with your rewards and interruptions. Every time your puppy makes the right choice, we reward them. Conversely, if they start chewing on inappropriate items, we gently redirect them without scolding or punishment. Those are just aren't needed. Number three teach your dog a leave it cue. That's a really big one, and we teach you how to do that in both our basic training module and in our Intermediate training module, and by going through both of those segments your dog is Good enough with the leave it cue to generalize it to other items, any items really like household items, items you see out on the street. So it does take a process, you know that several weeks of basic and several weeks of intermediate, but by the end your dog is proficient at leaving things alone when you give them that cue. So we can walk you through that entire process.

Speaker 1: 8:51

Number four is to rotate toys. Puppies happen to get bored with the same old toys, so rotate what they get to chew on. Every so often pop out something new to chew on. It keeps them more engaged and interested and they're designated chewing items unless interested on your in, on your furniture. So this prevents them from seeking out alternatives like your slippers, shoes, rugs, pillows, whatever you name it right.

Speaker 1: 9:13

When we moved to our home 13 years ago, my kids were small. We packed up all their toys into a rental cube to be delivered once our new place was complete. And you guys, the day came when we moved into our new home. It was like Christmas for my children. They were five and three at the time and they would say, hey, I used to have one of these, I love this toy, and your dog's Excitement will be similar hey, I used to have one of these and it's so fun to play with.

Speaker 1: 9:38

So rotate their toys to wrap up today, teaching your puppy not to chew on furniture and rugs or whatever it is in the house that they're chewing on, using positive reinforcement techniques as a process. It requires patience and Consistency. By understanding the reasons behind their behavior, providing appropriate chew toys and reinforcing good behavior with food and praise, we can successfully redirect our puppies chewing habits. While we're doing this, just remember, you guys, that it is important to be gentle and loving, as we're really trying to build good Relationships. So don't forget that. Don't forget that we are trying to build a strong bond with our dog, and that's just as crucial as teaching them important, proper behavior. With time and dedication, your dog will grow into a well-behaved and cherished member of your family.

Speaker 1: 10:29

It's not going to be a simple, straight-line journey. It's going to be more like a roller coaster. You're going to have ups and downs, but I promise you can do that and we're here to help you whenever you need us, so don't hesitate to reach out and contact us for help. All right, that's it for today. You guys have a wonderful rest of your weekend and I'll talk to you soon. Happy training. If you have a question about anything you heard on this podcast or any other puppy training question, visit my site backster and bellacom to contact me. You.