How Do I Stop My Dog From Chewing Wood?

Why does your dog chew wood? Why does your wood furniture look so appealing to your dog? Well there are a couple of reasons why your dog might want to chew wood, and most of those reasons have to do with tgheir age.

You see, when dog's are puppys they go through the same thing that your son or daughter goes through as a baby....teething. Yes, dogs do teeth. In this case however it's called "erupting". This "erupting" starts at about 4 weeks with the onset of their baby teeth. It can go on until around 8 months when those same baby teeth are replaced with their permanent teeth.

During this time your little puppy is just like your baby. He or she will be exploring the world, trying to taste everything that they come into contact with. Your dog however, will be tasting and chewing on anything that can help him to relieve the pressure of the new teeth "erupting" through their gums.

Now that we know one of the reasons that your puppy might start chewing on your wood furniture, let's talk about one of the reasons why your older dog maybe doing the same thing. Please keep reading...

Now that we know why your puppy might be chewing wood. Let's say that you have an older dog that does the same thing...what's his problem? Why does he chew your wood furniture? Well it's like this... he's probably bored! That's irght! Dog's get bored too!

Earlier I said that your dog is just like a child when they are puppies, and this is so true when they get older! They are just like your adolescent son or daughter! If you leave them alone in the house with nothing to do for 8 or 9 hours while you go to work...you're just asking for trouble!

Dog's are like children! They need physical and mental stimulation to keep them occupied or they will get themselves in trouble by chewing and destroying everything in your house! What can you do to stop this behavior? Please keep reading...!

Okay, now that we know some of the reasons that both puppies and older dogs chew on wood, what can we do about it?

Well for a puppy the solution is to relieve some of the pressure of the teething that they are experiencing. To do this you can make sure that you purchase chew toys. Lot's of chew toys! But it doesn't stop there. To help soothe the swollen gums I recommend that you put these chew toys in the freezer. The cold temperatures will feel really good against their swollen gums. Now for a older dog it's a little bit different.

The first part is the same. You still have to buy them chew toys, but with the older dogs you will have to reinforce that it's the chew toys that you want them to chew on and NOT your wooden furniture! You do this by giving them a little verbal reinforcement when you see them chew on their brand new chew toys. A " good dog!" or " good boy!" should suffice. After that the wood in your home should be in the clear because they will be too busy chewing on their chew toys to worry about chewing on your wood furniture!

To find out more information about how to stop your dog from chewing wood and other annoying dog behaviors, please visit: Dr. Dog's Behavior Solutions!