I was once a distressed pet owner who would dread coming back home to find my furniture chewed, the upholstery torn and my shoes in pieces. I am sure there are many other people out there like me who have to put up with their dog’s destructive behavior.

One of my friends recommended a dog training school so, I took my dog to the training school and even spent a few weeks with him there. But after the training was completed, it was back to square one for my dog. No, the training did not help to eliminate the chewing problem. I knew I had to do something. I started by reading all the information that I could find on the internet. I was shocked to discover one of the articles saying that dog training schools are incapable of dealing with a dog’s chewing problem. This is because there are too many people around in the training school and since the training is usually conducted outdoors there is very little to chew on.

I also found that the chewing problem has got nothing to do with a dog’s age. So you can have a puppy bite away at your furniture as much as an adult dog, of course a puppy can’t do nearly as much damage as a grown dog.

But I was sick and tired of doggy spit and chew marks all over my wooden furniture. So I bought a book and set out on the task of training my dog and this is what I learnt along the way,

Chewing comes naturally to dogs. This habit is rooted in their past as wolves or dogs living in the jungle where they could always find bones to chew on. For most people it is not feasible to keep an animal bone in their house all the time because of the hygiene issues involved in doing so. The alternatives to a real bone are the chewy toys available in all pet shops in various shapes, flavors and sizes.

The most important thing to do here is to let your dog know that he can only chew on his toys. But you cannot really accomplish this if you let your dog munch on his toy while sitting on the couch. Inevitably as soon as the toy is all chewed up the couch will also start resembling a chewy toy.

Instead designate a particular area for your dog’s toys. You can also keep all of them in one crate. The next step is to make sure that your dog gets to play with them only when he sits in this designated area. Don’t let him take his toys out and onto the furniture.

Success comes to those who wait for it, this principle also hold true in dog training. It’s not fair to expect over night results. The important thing here is to let your dog know about how you feel. So if he does something that you want him to do like chewing on his toy, praise him, let him know that you like it when he chews on his bones. Similarly if you catch him chewing the furniture or anything else scold him sharply

Another remedy is to use taste deterrent sprays like bitter apple on your furniture and other things to stop your dog from taking a nip at it.

I tried all these training methods and they certainly worked on my dog. Today, I am the proud owner of a well behaved dog who is a pleasure to have around