So, your pooch, whether it’s just got its new home, or moved in when you did, has been chewing on your furniture. Obviously, that’s not that great, especially considering that furniture is pretty expensive and hard to fix.
Every dog owner is going to at one time or another come home and find that their favorite chair got chewed up. Once in a while you’ll come home and find out that your slippers have been ruined due to your pups gnawing problems. It happens, if it hasn’t it eventually will, and that’s perfectly okay, that’s just the life of a dog owner. But that doesn’t mean that you should just let it happen.
So, you need to get your version of man’s best friend to stop messing up your stuff, luckily for you, you have the internet and have come to this lovely place to find all the answers your gonna need to solve this problem. So, for your convenience, here is a conveniently compiled list of how to get your dog to stop chewing on your furniture.
Understanding How Dogs Work
You know how when an infant first comes into the world and there first instinct as they grow is to start chewing and gnawing on anything they can grab. Well, they do that because they are curious about their world, and they learn threw their mouths.
They can figure out if something is toxic, if something tastes, good, if they can fit that object into their mouth completely or not, etc. It’s something that’s actually very fascinating, it’s strange to think that people grow up learning about things by using mouths as one of their major senses.
Anyways, the other major reason that infants chew on things just constantly is because their teeth are growing in and its unfortunately uncomfortable for them. So, they chew on things in order to alleviate some of that discomfort and to figure things out about their environment. There little productive scientists aren’t they.
It’s the exact same thing with puppies. Just like infants they need to be able to explore the new world they entered, figure out what they are, and what the things around them are, which is also quite fascinating seeing as its two completely different species doing the exact same thing, its very cool.
Anyway, if you have a puppy or two or three in your house and there chewing on things, then that is probably one of the major reasons there doing it. It’s just a way for them to explore, grow their teeth in, and get comfortable with their new surroundings. So, it may be frustrating having them adjust, but just remember to not get too angry with them.
Now, an older dog, about a year or older should normally be out of that phase, so they probably have different reasons to be chewing on your furniture. What sucks about this is that a dog older than a puppy could have dozens upon dozens of reasons to be chewing on the furniture, and it can take an entire article in itself to go over just the bare minimum of the most basic reasons that they could be doing it. So, to keep things on more of a time sensitive case, we’re just gonna go over some of the most basic of basic reasons that they could be doing it.
They’re bored. That is the simplest reason that there chewing on your things. They, like kids need interaction and things to do, and when they don’t get that, when there just kinda left to their own devices, or just not getting the attention that they want at their own level, so they try to alleviate that boredom by chewing on your poor couch.
Now, something that’s really important to note is that all dogs are different, and they all need a different level of attention. You could be giving your pooch all of the love in the world and they still might not be satisfied with that, on the other hand you could give them no attention whatsoever and they may not care at all (though that’s kinda rare), so don’t beat yourself up if you think this is the reason, just try to give them a little more attention and it should go a long way to get them to stop chewing on your very expensive furniture.
The second most basic reason that they may be chewing on your things is because they are scared and/or feeling separation anxiety. Basically, they are a just a bundle of nerves and they don’t know what to do about it, so they just start chewing on things.
They feel nervous about something, you are leaving the house for a few hours, lightning and thunder, past abuse, and they chew on your things as a nervous tick. Kinda like when we humans bite our fingernails because we feel nervous, we don’t know what to do, so we just stress and try to shorten our finer nails. Now, that just is very unfortunate, but you can consult a separation anxiety specialist to help you out with your pup’s feelings.
So, those are the two most basic reasons that your dog is going to be chewing on your furniture. Though something that is really important to know, is that this may not be the only reasons your pup could be chewing on your stuff. Like I said before, there could be a million different reasons for your dog to be chewing on your furniture, so keep these two basic reasons in mind, but make sure that you try to find out the actual reasons, as these may not fit your dog’s situation. Moving on, we are gonna tell you how you’re gonna be able to figure out how to keep your precious things out of your pups’ mouth and safely stored in its appropriate places.
Be Patient
All of the methods and ways were gonna show you are all very effective, but the number one thing you can do in this scenario is to have patience. Like we said before, every dog is different, just like every human is different, and they all have different ways of coping and handling with things.
So, your pup is going to have different reactions, positive and negative, to every solution that your gonna try. It’s probably going to be a long annoying journey for your pup to learn to not to chew on your things, but in the end, it’s going to be worth it, for your pup, and you. You get to keep your things intact and your pup gets comfort and discipline, making everything all around a lot better.
Keep an Eye On your Pup
This is the most basic thing you can do when your pup is chewing on your furniture, or if there doing anything really disobedient or something that you don’t really want to happen. You can keep an eye on them, figure out what they’re doing, how there doing what they’re doing, and where there doing it. Basically, when you keep a proper eye on them, and figure out their patterns you can recognize how to stop them chewing and to comfort them.
Now, a good example of figuring out patterns would be thunderstorms. Lots of dogs around the world actually have a fear of thunder, it’s a really loud noise coming out of nowhere, and they don’t know what it is, so obviously, its gonna make them nervous, thus they’ll start trying to comfort themselves, sometimes by hiding, by running to their owner’s and sometimes by chewing on furniture. So, if you can see that every time it starts to thunder and lightning you can be there for your pup to comfort instead of your favorite chair.
This one seems kind of obvious, but you would be surprised how many dog owners take it for granted, so make sure you take time out of your day and keep an eye on your pup.
Let Your Pup Exercise
Your pup may not be getting their daily walks and that’s one of the things that could be aggravating them to chew your furniture. So, if you’re not taking them on their daily walk then you need to start giving it to them. Though I’m going to be honest, I really doubt that you’re not taking your pup on walks, most dog owners love it as a recreational activity.
If you are being the amazing dog owner you are and taking your pup on a walk, then maybe you could try taking them on longer walks, or maybe increase the number of walks that you go on in a day. So, if you’re giving your pup a thirty-minute walk, maybe increase it to an hour, maybe an hour and a half. If you’re only taking your pup on one walk a day, maybe bump it up to two, maybe even three if you have the time available to you as a human being in your life.
As you know a pup needs their exercise and every pup is different, as we said before, so they all need varying exercise. Some pups are big and only need a little exercise, some small dogs need tons of exercise. Anyway, just try and get a good idea of how much your pup needs to exercise and you will find that they’ll be much more obedient, much tamer, and a lot more friendly. So, give it a try and you’ll probably see results a lot faster.
Find Chewing Toys
A big one that can really help you out and get your dog out of the habit of chewing your furniture, is to find them something else to chew instead of your very expensive furniture. There are dozens of toys that your pup can play with and teeth with, or find comfort in with their own issues, like the big scary thunderstorms.
So, you can find some at Walmart, amazon, target, any retail store, you can really find some kind of chewing toy for your pup and make life for you and your pup. All of it will be great for you guys and it will make your pup much friendly now that they have a fun little toy to play with and make your life easier.
Conclusion
In this deep dive analyze of what you can do to get your dog to stop chewing on your furniture, we talked about getting to know your dog, why they might be chewing on your things, what’s causing them to do it, what could be some possible reasons, such as discomfort, anxiety, and fear, we talked about some solutions to fixing the issue, like watching patterns, figuring out why your pup is chewing on your furniture due to outside forces, giving them a god amount of exercise, playing with them, finding different things for them to chew instead of your furniture, and a lot more.
Some of the solutions that we offered to today be really great and should be able to help you out in your time of need. The first thing we told you to do is to have patience. As long as you can stick with your pup and try not to get upset with them, then it can make the whole process easier of getting them to stop and to make sure they stay comfortable. The next suggestion was to increase their exercise, so they feel like they’re getting the attention they deserve, and the healthy lives they need, next we explained why you should get them a toy to replace your furniture and keep your possessions safe.
That is, it for today, only a few minor notes to leave you with. Your things are precious and and you didn’t spend a fortune on architectural design for home and furniture, so make sure you put them in the places that your dog can’t reach, make sure they stay safe, and they can’t get to it. Make sure to stay patient, not to get aggravated with your dog and it’ll all be great. Thank you, this was a deep dive analyze on some of the things you can do to keep your dog form chewing on your furniture.