Puppies chew a lot, especially when they are teething. The best way to get through this phase of puppy development is to ensure your pup has lots of appropriate items to chew on. Read on for my top tips on chewing for puppies and how to survive this tricky phase of puppyhood.
Working with puppies every day, one of the most common problems I'm asked about by new puppy parents is how to deal with inappropriate chewing. Puppies love to chew, this is true throughout their lives but every puppy will go through an intense period of chewing while their new teeth are coming through. From the age of 8 weeks old puppies will start to lose their milk teeth. Chewing intensifies between 12-16 weeks old and can lead to your puppy finding relief on furniture, skirting boards or shoes if you don't prepare well enough.
Teething is very painful, chewing offers relief but it's also a great way to keep your puppy occupied during the day. Here are some tips to make sure you are fully prepared to help your puppy choose appropriate chew toys.
1 - PUPPY PROOF YOUR HOME
Puppy-proofing your home will help keep your puppy safe and help safeguard your furniture. Often an overlooked part of training, this is one of the most important rules if you want to prevent unwanted behaviours from developing that your puppy will eventually grow out of. Don't leave your puppy alone with free access to the home, everything is a potential chew toy! Give your pup a safe place with room to play and make sure they have lots of options for chewing.
2 - BEST CHEW TOYS FOR PUPPIES
Ensure your puppy has plenty of different textured chew toys to play with. Use things like interactive toys, puzzle games, Yak chews, Antlers and Kong toys to help keep your puppy entertained. Puppies need soft and hard chew toys. Toys stuffed with food, edible natural chews and different types of toys will help keep your puppy interested. Make sure you rotate these every day to give lots of variety.
3 -PREVENT BOREDOM
Boredom is another reason puppies chew. Keeping your puppy active with training exercises and brain games will help prevent boredom chewing. Scent work games are fantastic and a great way to use up excess energy. Hide treats for your puppy to find with a game of Find It or scatter food in a snuffle mat. Teach your puppy to love a stuffed Kong, then freeze it so it lasts much longer.
4 - IGNORE OR DISTRACT IF YOUR PUPPY STEALS SOMETHING
Stealing is hugely rewarding for puppies because suddenly it turns everyone's attention towards them. Ignore your puppy if possible. If you can't ignore encourage your puppy to swap the item for one of their toys or food and reward them for getting it right. Ideally, you want to distract your puppy, drop some treats on the floor and exclaim "what's this!", soon your puppy will come over to you to investigate, forgetting all about the illegal item they stole to chew on.
5 - DON'T GIVE OLD SHOES TO YOUR PUPPY FOR CHEWING
It might be tempting to give your puppy some of your old items (e.g. shoes, clothing) for chewing if you find your new puppy is obsessed with shoes. This will only teach your puppy to chew items that smell of you and they won’t know the difference between an old or new pair of shoes!
Always reinforce appropriate chewing and prevent your puppy from accessing anything they shouldn't. If you need help, chewing is part of my 1-2-1 Puppy Training Packages.
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