My family has come to describe the time during which my rescue Husky came into our home as “Adventures in Mira Land.” Of all the animals I have ever owned Mira has been both the most challenging and the most rewarding. She seems to know me, can sense my moods and actually has a sense of humor. By this I mean I have had funny dogs before. Dogs that did comical things, Mira is the first that seems to do things with the express purpose of amusing me. This all sounds great until you take the time to consider that as an owner it is my job to clearly define what is good, funny behavior from what is destructive, unacceptable behavior.
I have a large family. When we brought the Husky home there was a 17 year old, a 14 year old, a 3 year old and two 1 and a half year olds here to play with. Add in my husband, me and any one of ten regular friends in and out of our house it would seem that chewing from boredom wouldn’t be a problem. Wrong. I actually think it may have worked against us a little. Even with that many people in and out of a house all day there are still going to be times, even if they are few and far between that the house will be void of humans. With an animal as social as she was, coming into an environment filled with company, when the house went totally empty, silent even, it must have been torture. The first few times she had to be alone the damage was minor, a stray shoe she had found, the bathroom garbage picked thru, the usual list. This is where I committed my first mistake. Since I was busy and the damage wasn’t major I kind of gave half assed disapproval, cleaned it up and went on, after all we didn’t all leave at once very often, right? Bad move. By not nipping it in the bud I added to my own problem.
One of the things to be careful of when you find that your dog has begun to chew is what they find to chew. I came home one afternoon, after only being gone for a short time to find that someone had naturally enough, thrown a disposable razor in the bathroom trash. I freaked. Off to the vet we go. A few hundred dollars later we found that she hadn’t eaten the razor part so she was fine, but that could have been a disaster. Other things you might not think of like, a length of twine or fishing wire, with or without the hook, small bottles that contain cleaning fluid, children’s toys that have sharp removable objects or that can be chewed into jagged pieces, like anything made of hard plastic. All these things can become lethal.
A few things combined, that cost little or nothing, and are basically common sense helped overcome Mira’s chewing. In one of the courses that I had found reviewed on rltopreviews it was suggested to keep the dogs toys obviously distinguishable. If you have small children that enjoy stuffed animals it’s probably not a good idea to buy your dog stuffed animals. My kids are out of the stuffed animal point so all we have are a few cherished favorites that are kept out of the way in a display function. Not toys that are carted around and loved on and played with. Don’t give them an old sock unless you want socks to be fair game, no old shoes etc. you get the point. This next one is especially important if your dog is young, and try to remember a young dog, a dog that can have those puppy tendencies can be all the way up to three years old. Police your area. You wouldn’t let your child down to roam around with small coin and butcher knives laying around, so really take a few minutes to regularly go thru the rooms that are accessible to your dog and make sure things you wouldn’t want chewed are out of reach. Next, limit the roaming area to an area you can have direct control over until you have established what’s OK to chew and not. This one is really important and goes to all type of training, only reprimand, with a loud voice or redirection if you catch your culprit in the act. Yes, it seems that that they know what they are being punished for if you show them something they have destroyed hours or minutes afterward but this is just not the case. What you see is submission to you and your authority, not recognition of the crime.
Concentrating on the toys themselves, rotate them if you can’t afford a steady supply of new ones. Take a few away and hide them for a week or so, when you give them back take the ones he was playing with and do the same. If your dog still has more interest in “off limits” things than his own toys, consider the type of toy you can hide an edible treat in. This will start to condition him to go for the right kind of treat automatically. When you are going to have to be gone for a period of time and you find alot of the destruction happens then, secure your pet in a crate, or small area, free of enticements. This next tip works especially well on working or high energy breeds. Work on the “drop it” command. This covers two bases. A mentally stimulated dog, a dog that is trained to do some tricks and obedience commands gets positive attention by way of praise. He/she also gets the craved for one on one interaction with his/her person. This particular command is also useful if your pet is caught red pawed.
If these things don’t do the trick take a few minutes and think if any changes have occurred that might have caused, say less attention to be given to your pet. Are they misbehaving to get attention, even if it’s negative? Does the chewing always take place after something that is upsetting or scary to the dog occurs? Some animals chew due to separation anxiety. Does your dog follow you from room to room, go crazy when you come home or act anxious when it’s obvious that you are leaving? If so your dog may be prone to or have separation anxiety. If this is the case you may want to find information on curing the root of that larger problem which will probably solve all the smaller issues like chewing that stem from it.
