Tired of Your Dog Devouring Your Expensive Furniture?
5 Essential Steps to Stop Dog Chewing
Wondering how to get your dog from chewing on the furniture? Well, keep reading if you…
— find that you get home only to find your dog has been busy…while you were away, much to your horror, it was busy chewing on everything in the house…again!
Your once beautiful wooden chairs have been gnawed on so much it looks like you have a pet beaver in your home, not a dog!
Not only that, but the soft, comfy couch you love to just sit back on and relax after a hard day’s work is on its way to becoming stuffing free!
Wow, now your couch is kinda like those dog toys with no stuffing inside!
This can be not only frustrating, but expensive!
Are you left wondering if there’s any possible way to stop this destructive behavior your dog has chosen as its favorite pastime while you’re gone?
It would be soooo much nicer to come home and not have to clean up the mess your mischievous canine friend has caused! I know, I’ve been in your chewed up shoes before…so, I thought I’d take the time to share what worked for my dogs.
(btw, the dog over there in the picture is one of our dogs…Jade.
She loves to chew, but she no longer chews on our furniture…or our shoes.) ⇓⇓⇓⇓
Okay, here they are:
Five Things You Can Do
- Give your dog something it CAN chew on!
- Exercise your dog
- Remove or put away things you don’t want your dog chewing on
- Make chewing on furniture an unpleasant experience
- Keep your dog in a crate
Here’s Something To Chew On!
Yes, even if you have an older dog it is important to have something that it can chew on! Not only puppies like to chew!
If you’re the proud owner of a puppy that’s still growing and possibly teething, it’s much more likely to happen, but some older dogs still love to chew on anything and everything they can get their paws on.
Usually an older dog doesn’t chew on things as much, but most of them do still like to chew on things, so give your dog something to chew on!
Otherwise, if it is home alone and bored, it just might start thinking that your furniture looks pretty darn good to gnaw on!
Tire ‘Em Out!
Exercising your dog or puppy is a great way to prevent a lot of behavior problems since it gets rid of some of that excess energy. Plus, it gets pretty boring if it’s just laying around the house all day or just left out in a small area in the back yard.
If the only time your dog gets out of the house is to go potty, don’t you think it’s getting sick and tired of seeing the same old scenery day in and day out? Why not take it out for a walk and a change of scenery for a bit? It’s a good way to keep both of you a little healthier!
Pick It Up!
Well, I have to say it… if you don’t want your dog chewing on things in your house, THEN PICK IT UP and PUT IT AWAY!
If it’s not laying around where the dog can get to it, then it won’t get chewed up, RIGHT?
That way you won’t get this look when you get home…(Click image to enlarge)
What About The Furniture?
Well, the furniture is another story….you can’t possibly pick up all your furniture and put that away now, can you?
A Few Things You Can Try To Save Your Furniture
- Products that make it unpleasant to chew on – there are many products out there that are made especially for this problem that are safe to use for your dog and your furniture. You can click the following link to check out my review of anti-chew sprays for dogs.
- Keep your dog away from its favorite furniture to chew on – for example, if your dog is chewing only on one specific piece of furniture such as the kitchen chairs try keeping it out of the kitchen while you’re away. Although it may then start chewing on something else! There really is no guarantee, but it MAY work with some dogs. It all depends on how much your dog likes to chew and what its temperament is like.
- Again, chew toys may work! Give it something it REALLY loves to chew on instead of your furniture!
- Teach your dog it is wrong to chew on the furniture
When you’re home and you see your dog starting to nibble on the furniture, let it know it is doing something wrong.
Tell your dog a firm NO! and, then give it a chew toy that it CAN chew on. This is positive reinforcement, it does work!
It may take awhile, but your dog will eventually learn that you do NOT want it chewing on the furniture.
How do I know it works? Well, because I have tried it…and if you have already read my home page, you should be able to tell I am not new to owning a dog…in fact, we’ve owned and trained quite a few and still do.
Get a Crate!
If you can’t completely trust your dog while you’re away from home,
the NUMBER ONE, BIGGEST PIECE OF ADVICE I CAN GIVE YOU is
CRATE TRAINING!!!
Sure, it’s nothing new and I’m sure you’ve heard it all before, but it’s the
Safest and Most Effective Way
to keep your dog or pup from chewing on the furniture and whatever else it can get a hold of. So, if you do NOT trust your dog 100% at home alone, I would recommend getting a properly sized crate.
There are many crates available, some even look like and serve as furniture! Although I have never owned or used one of these, they do look really nice! Plus, these crates have a lot of good reviews by people like you who do own and use them for their dogs!
>>Click the following link to check one out at Amazon! Merry Products Pet Cage with Crate Cover, Large
Let me tell you from experience, it will save you money in the long run! Until your dog is completely trustworthy not to chew on things it shouldn’t, a crate is the best way to keep your furniture safe!
…and no, your dog will not be sentenced to be behind bars forever! There does come a time when your dog learns between what is right to chew and wrong to chew.
Do you have any tips on how you can keep your dog from chewing furniture? Do you have a dog that is chewing up all your furniture and don’t know what to do? Let me know, maybe I can help.
Please feel free to share them in the comment box below. I’d love to hear ’em and I WILL get back to you!
Oh, and one more thing…
Please share this if you liked it, found it helpful, or know someone with a furniture destroyin’ dog… Thanks for reading! 🙂 -Sherry
Looking for Chew Toys for your Dog? Not sure what toys are the best?
You may also want to check out my page Dog Toys for Aggressive Chewers. There, you’ll find the toys I recommend. I’m sure they’ll make both you and your dog happy!
Is chewing a destructive behavior? Here’s the simplest answer: Only if he’s chewing on the wrong thing. So give your dog something that’s okay to chew.
Puppy chewing is an important part of the teething process. As adults, dogs often chew for fun, or to relieve boredom. Chewing or tearing things up (like paper) can also be a displacement behavior, a way to release pent-up energy or stress.
Best way to keep your dog off chewing on the furniture and other things is to give him interactive, engaging and durable toy it can play with and chew on it!
This genius little Bob-a-Lot is weighted on the bottom, so it wobbles all around like those inflatable “bop bags” we had as kids. It comes in a few different sizes. The yellow part at the top screws off, allowing you to put kibble inside, or any kind of small and fairly hard treats. If you feed your dog kibble, you can put his entire meal in this thing. It makes mealtime last ten times as long, which is a good thing for reasons both behavioral and healthful.
My dog Amos eats about four of his meals from it each week. A tiny sliding door over the outside hole and a movable flap covering the internal one makes it possible to basically set it to different levels.
The Bob-A-Lot Dog Toy is a great way to stimulate your dog mentally and physically. I prefer the Bob-A-Lot over the Kong Wobbler because you can adjust the level of difficulty with the Bob-A-Lot. This toy will teach your dog to work for her food, be patient and also to be a bit clever. You always want to stimulate your puppy and tire them out mentally and physically. A tired puppy tend to be less destructive. Tired puppy = good puppy.
Shop now: StarMark Bob-A-Lot
Hi Maggie,
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your experience here! I definitely agree, chewing is only a destructive behavior if your dog is chewing on the wrong things.
Puppies especially need to chew since it’s part of the teething process, and many adult dogs do enjoy chewing on something occasionally too. Some more than most, I’ve found with our many dogs over the years. It’s better to have some sort of chew toy for them to enjoy rather than have them chew the furniture or whatever they may find laying around the house.
I’ve never tried the Bob-a-Lot with our dogs yet…it sounds like a wonderful toy to keep them busy! I’ll definitely take a look at these, since yes, I agree, a tired puppy is a good puppy. Dogs that are bored tend to find trouble to get into, such as chewing on shoes, paper, and anything else within reach.
The Bob-a-Lot sounds like an excellent way to feed our dogs too, I’m glad you shared how you feed your Amos…great idea! It’ll slow our dogs down at meal time, especially our Jade who tends to devour her kibble as fast as she can, which can’t be good for her digestion.
Thank you so much for the helpful advice Maggie! I’m sure other readers will find this helpful as well for their dogs.
Best wishes to you and your dog Amos!
~Sherry
Hi I have a 5 month old beagle mix she has a lot of energy, we take her out for walks and we have bought so many chew toys but nothing seems to hold her attention as much as my leather and wood kitchen chairs if she is not with us. Then we have to keep her in the kitchen because she still has some potty accidents which I could use some help with this also) but as soon as I walk away she’s chewing on my chairs.
I don’t want to keep her in the crate all the time, but I have a 2 year old grandson to take care of too and she jumps up on him all the time, so I have to keep them separated at times because I get so frustrated trying to stop her from jumping and chasing him. He is always pushing her away so she goes after him more. I guess we have a lot more problems than just chewing but if I could take care of 1 problem at a time would be very helpful. If you have any advice for me it would be greatly appreciated.
Also, I have taken her to puppy training for six weeks but I think all that taught her was that she should get a treat all the time she sees us and tries to bite at our hands or jump on us cause she thinks we have a treat I am at a loss I love our little pup even though she is a pain but I have never raised a pup before and she is making me regret getting her even though I know she is better off with us instead of the woman who owned her. Thank you, any help would be appreciated.
Hi Angela,
Thanks for stopping by and commenting! I hope I can be of some help to you and your beagle mix puppy here…
I know how hard it is to have a puppy full of energy and a two-year-old child to take care of as well. I’ve been there before and it’s not an easy time, but try not to worry it does get better eventually.
(1) Stop Puppy Chewing on Wood Furniture– Since you need to keep your puppy in the kitchen by itself at times I’d recommend trying one of the chew deterrent sprays available on your wooden chair legs and even the leather areas on the chairs. I’d test a small area with it that’s not too noticeable on the chairs, to make sure it doesn’t affect the color of the wood or leather first just to be on the safe side.
However, many of these state that they won’t stain or discolor any material or wood they’re applied on. I did write a review on different stop dog chewing deterrents here awhile back ago if you’d like to learn more. You can find it at How to Stop a Dog Chewing – Does Bitter Apple Spray Work? I’d recommend the smaller-sized bottle of Grannick’s Bitter Apple Spray to try it out first. It works well for most dogs, but of course, not all dogs are the same and it doesn’t always work for others…so, if it doesn’t work try another brand or type of no chew spray, one of them will hopefully work to keep your pup from destroying your chairs.
The only thing is Grannick’s Bitter Apple is not recommended for leather as it might discolor it.
(2)Potty Training a Puppy – A few things that might help to stop your pup from having these potty accidents are to stick to a schedule of taking her outside every two hours, right after she wakes up, and after eating. I’d also recommend noticing what type of behaviors she exhibits each time she needs to go potty. Usually puppies and even older dogs start searching for a spot to go potty and often go in circles just before doing the deed.
So, if you see your puppy sniffing at the floor as if it’s searching for something, I’d think it’s a good idea to take it outside to go potty. And, if she’s already circling, I’d get her attention with a firm Noand then get her outside right away! Make sure to praise her once she goes potty in the right place, eventually she’ll get it. Don’t worry if she has an accident now and then, it happens especially with a puppy. Just an FYI, since you mentioned you’ve never raised a pup before… punishing or yelling at a puppy for this isn’t a good idea. Dogs have no idea what they did wrong if it’s already done.
They have to be caught in the act for them to realize that it’s a no-no to go potty on the floor. Usually a firm NO! every time you catch the puppy attempting to go potty works to get them to realize they’re doing something wrong. You might want to check out an earlier post I wrote here on How to Avoid Puppy Potty Accidents to read more about potty training.
(3)Jumping up on People/Biting – I realize this one can be a tough issue especially with your small grandson. This was something we went through with both our two kids and our puppies at that time. The things we found to work were taking them for daily walks to burn off the excess energy and it also helped for us to have a fenced in yard for our puppies to run around in. Most dogs enjoy chasing a ball or even a toy of some sort, so playing fetch often tired them out a bit more too.
If your puppy is biting at your hands, tell her a rather sharp, firm NO! each time she does it and don’t play or pet her for awhile. Eventually she’ll understand that she won’t get any attention from you if she bites. You might find the post Stop Puppy Biting Chewing helpful to read. The same goes for jumping up on people…tell your pup No once and then turn your back towards her. Don’t say anything else at all until she calms down for awhile. Just ignore her completely. I’ve found ignoring a puppy or dog that is jumping up on you to work at least for our dogs.
You’re right that your grandson’s pushing her away is only encouraging her to do it more. So, when your grandson is around maybe a leash on the puppy would be worth a try. This way you can keep the puppy away from him as much as possible. Tell her no every time she gets too rambunctious and pull her away from him. Of course, this might be a bit tricky since I know how two-year-old kids can be as well, especially boys! My son was a handful at that age, compared to my daughter!
Try telling your grandson to ignore the puppy, although that may be easier said than done. Tell him no as well if he keeps going towards the puppy and pushing at it. Another thing you might try is to teach your puppy to Sit. It’s a great command for them to learn and one of the first things I teach our puppies. This way you can tell your pup to sit and once it does, give it praise and a good treat. All of our dogs will sit and wait for their treat, so I’m thinking once you can get her to learn this and learn it well, it would probably help to curb the jumping and biting issue as well.
It will take time and lot of patience, but it’ll get better as your puppy gets older. They eventually settle down more as they grow. But, it’s important to teach them it’s NOT okay to jump or bite when they’re young, so you’re on the right track already by realizing this and trying to get it to stop. Work at it each day and keep doing like you have been by putting your puppy in the kitchen for awhile when you need to do so.
I really hope this helps you out with your puppy. So sorry to hear that the puppy training class didn’t work…doesn’t sound like it taught the right things there, but maybe there are other ones in your area available or even dog trainers that may be more helpful if things don’t improve after awhile.
Best wishes to you and your puppy! Let me know if you have any more questions, I’d be happy to help if I can, and I’d love to hear how you and your puppy are doing sometime in the future.
🙂 ~Sherry