Doggy Time
Thursday
Dec 30, 2010
Just like humans, dogs need something to do or they get bored. When dogs are bored they often get into trouble digging, chewing, wandering, etc. It’s easy to get wrapped up in so many other family activities that we forget about our 4-legged friends.
It’s important to make a daily effort to take time for our dog(s). Find something the dog loves to do. Throw the ball, take a long relaxing walk, do some obedience work, or just sit in the grass under a big tree. If it’s possible take your dog places like the dog park or the local pet store if allowed. Getting out and about helps build better social skills. Dogs don’t really care what they are doing as long as they are doing it with you.
Comments
Ace's Owners
June 20th, 2011 at 9:59 pm
Hi.. We are the owners of a great dog named Ace. He completed a basic dog obedience class. He does well with most commands (off, drop it, sit, down). We are still working on the come, when he is not on a leash. He does well with everything else: except his chewing. Please give us ideas. Examples: when his 12 year old owner was in the shower, Ace decided to read his school library book left on the bed.. (Ace looked at it and decided that the pictures would taste good.) Then last weekend the 12 year old owner, went to bed with his phone charging next to him. (Ace wanted to make a phone call at 4 am) Ace ate the phone and the charger. He loves everything of this 12 year olds, including his socks. We have about five kongs around the house, a couple of bones. He likes the kongs, tennis balls and hard dog bones. If we see him have something other than a dog toy, we can tell him to drop it and he does most of the time with one command. When we see him thinking about taking something, we tell him to leave it, and most times he walks away. We don’t want him chewing things that might hurt him and we want to keep our things. We also want Ace to be free to roam from family member to family member in the house and not have to be kennelled when we are not paying attention to him to save our items. He has a bed in the basement. He has a kennel in the kitchen that he spends time in. Outside, he chews wood and grass. He gets a lot of exercise running in the yard. He leds a pretty good dog life for a one year old. However, We need to address his chewing….can you give us ideas?
mvtvadmin
June 24th, 2011 at 2:29 pm
Chewing issues aren’t always easy to fix and alot of it depends on why your dog is chewing. Some dogs are just more likely to want to chew based on breeding while others chew out of boredom. First, Ace is still a puppy and chewing is normal. Growing dogs will tend to chew more during teething and the chewing will lessen as he grows older.
The best thing to do is to give him something he CAN chew on. You mention that he likes Kongs and bones. If you have to turn your back on him for a short while and don’t want an issue, make sure to give him the right thing to chew on and make sure that he has a reason to want it – like filling the Kong with something. Also take a minute to remove items that might be tempting for him. If he tends to ignore the right chew item and still go for the wrong one then you can consider using a spray-on deterrent (found in pet stores). Your only other option is to secure him in a kennel or safe room while you’re out of sight. Keep in mind that Ace is still a young dog and he will likely still get into things he shouldn’t. It would be best to dog proof your house, keep a close eye on him when you’re around and confine him to a kennel or safe room when you’re not around.