Understanding The Destructive Chewing Behavior Of Dogs
The destructive chewing habit of the pet is a common concern of dog owners. A puppy owner may tolerate the chewing behavior of the pet as it will be attributed to teething. Anything that can be reached will be chewed by the puppy because the action soothes the pup’s sore gums and strengthen the jaws. Additionally, puppies are very inquisitive creatures and in the absence of hands, the mouth and the teeth will be used to investigate things.
At the age of three months, the puppy start chewing excessively because the teeth would start to come out. The chewing habit will persist until the puppy is about six to ten months old. By this time, the permanent teeth have fully come out. The pet’s inclination to chew anything will be lessened to a great extent as there will be no need to soothe sore gums. In some dogs though the habit to chew will worsen. The dog will be more destructive as the strong teeth can now chew almost anything.
The propensity of older dogs to chew is attributed to other reasons. Boredom is the most common reason for the dogs destructive chewing behavior. Being social animals, dogs would need interaction with other dogs or attention from the human family. A dog that has nothing to do will become bored and would find anything that can occupy its time and often times, the activity is a destructive one. Bored dogs would try to gain the attention of the owners by barking excessively or by peeing and defecating inside the house. Another manifestation of the dog’s boredom is excessive chewing that results to the destruction of the belongings of the family.
Dogs that have grown too close to the owners normally suffer from separation anxiety. This condition happens when the dog’s owner died or when the owners travel leaving the pet behind. Dogs trying to cope with the change in routine often develop destructive habits.
Dogs would not know which object can be chewed thus the development of the destructive chewing habit can be prevented if the pet was trained early on. The dog would not know the difference between an old shoe that is no longer used and a shoe that is newly bought. Discriminate chewing training is one of the tasks an dog owner has to undertake to prevent the dog from being destructive. Instead of discarded shoes, it would be much better to provide the pet with chew toys.
