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Dogs love to chew, and if their owners let them, they will chew anything, and everything.

It seems that the newest, and the most expensive things to chew are the most tempting for any dog.

So they need to be trained about what they can, or cannot chew. Because if you leave them to their own devices they could cause untold damage.

How To Manage What Gets Chewed

Basically dogs and puppies will chew anything they can get their teeth into. So they will be tempted by many things that you would have left around before you had a dog in your home. They seem to have an unbelievable sixth sense to pick out the things you can least afford to replace, and chew them into a pulp. Puppies and dogs like to chew up cell phones, tv remote controls, purses, socks, knickers, shoes, and underpants. Canines also like to eat books, papers, and your children’s favorite toys.

Whenever possible put away everything that you do not want your dog to chew. If they cannot reach it then they cannot chew it, it is definitely a case of keeping them away from temptation. Depending on the size of your dog anything from the ground up to waist height could be fair game for being chewed. Do not try to placate your dog by leaving them old things to chew, as they will not know the difference between a battered pair of shoes, and the brand new pair you recently brought for work.

Dogs will be dogs, and will chew things as soon as they can. Perhaps the best thing to do is buy toys, chew bones, and food treats to chew up. Dogs have no sense of right or wrong, so give them things to chew that are meant for them. Nylabone make a range of these toys that will help your dog get trained, whilst being entertained.

Sometimes dogs like to chew furniture, and you cannot really lock tables and chairs in a cupboard. You can buy sprays with a bitter smell / taste that deters dogs, or you could cover exposed areas in kitchen foil or tape until your puppy has become an adult dog.

Puppies and Their Urge to Chew

Puppies not only love to chew, they feel that they have to chew things. Just as teething babies have to chew things to take their minds off the pain, so do puppies. When puppies are teething is when your belongings are in greatest danger of being eaten whole, or partially chewed.

Again it is best to prevent valuable things being chewed up by your puppy, hide or move whatever you can out of harms way. Buy some chew toys from nylabones, and bring in chew sticks that are designed especially for puppies that are teething, so they do not destroy anything you want kept in one piece, and they can grow their adult teeth sooner.

Ideally you should have taken sensible steps to dog proof your home before you let your new puppy into it for the first time. Puppies if left to their own amusement and devices will find their way into many places that you believe you have blocked them from going into. Many new dog owners have discovered that their puppies have managed to chew items that they believed were perfectly safe, until they find the remains of a pair of shoes, or a wallet. It is always advisable to keep a close eye on puppies, they are surprisingly fast, especially when they are doing something that you do not want them to do. It only takes a few seconds to eat most of a pair of shoes, or the school books your kids did not actually put away even though you had asked them to do so.

Aside from chewing things because they are teething, or due to having a strong urge to do so, puppies and adult dogs are known to eat things when they are bored. Perhaps the best way to relieve boredom is to take them for a walk, it will burn up their excess energy, and give them enough exercise to get fit (and maybe you with them). Play is also a sound means of avoiding boredom, and if you give them chew toys, or toy bones then they can get through teething, or safely deal with their urges to chew things.

Remember that all puppies and dogs are individuals so you cannot train, or treat them in exactly the same ways as each other. Yet they all need to know that you are the boss, and that they cannot do everything that they want to do.