Friday, July 31, 2009

How to stop a dog from chewing on our families shoes.?

My lab husky mix is about 8 months. He continues to chew on a good shoe. What can you do to teach him not to chew on shoes.
Answers:
First, put all the shoes up and out of reach; clothes too. Then take the puppy for a lot of walks and play with him. The more you tire him out; the less he will get into trouble.

Labs and Lab mixes are chewers and so are Huskies. You need to keep him worn out and he will not chew and do not leave him alone in the house because he will make a big clothing salad and eat anything he can find while you are gone. Mine used to scheme to get into a closet or the laudry room so she could make a big beg for herself out of our clothes.

I had a Lab/Chow mix. She was a wonderful dog but she broke both her legs when she was hit by a car at about 3 months old - long story - my son was supposed to be watching her and he left her outside while he went to the bathroom. Anyway, we could not walk her for months and she chewed anything she could find for years after. I had to pay a dog walker to take her out every day because I worked really long hours and so did my ex. She finally calmed down when she was about 5 years old. We just did not spend enough time with her except when we took her to our lake cottage - which she adored. Big dogs need a lot of exercise and attention.
You need to run your animal for 45 minutes a day to get them to stop chewing. Watch the dog whisperer, but exercising your animal will help them to stop causing problems.
Put the shoes away?
Give the dog a suitable chew?
Crate the dog until he is more mature?
These worked for me with lots of the dogs I've owned over the years :)
This is what I did when our rotties chew on our shoes it worked. I took the shoe that was chew up and turned the dog around and spanked her with it just like a kid. Told her NO! she never touch another shoe.
Keep all shoes put away, it is good housekeeping. Do not hit the dog with the shoe, she likes soft things to chew and sniff. SHe wants shoes. They are perfect in every way. Only put out shoes you want her to chew. Think of it like a baby.
Pepper on the shoes, dogs have an extra sensitive smell ability and they chew things that either smell a certain way or familiar items that are connected to memory by scent. Using pepper causes them not to be able to pick up the scent as well as causes them to remember that these items cause them to react to the smell in a negative way.
Put the shoes away.
They have stuff in the store, its kinda like a powder if you put it around your "dont chew up" stuff. it willl most likely keep them out of it.


but you could just hit em on the nose everytime they do it.
wear clogs instead or diving flippers
Cause the dog and the shoe to be in distinctly separate locations at all times.
You can spray the shoes with bitter apple or some other bitter spray (test a small area to make sure you don't stain the shoes.) If you catch your dog with the shoes, tell him no firmly and take the shoe away from him. Give him something to chew on (like a rawhide/bone) after you take the shoe away. Also, simply keep the shoes out of the dogs reach and make sure he has plenty of his own toys to chew on. Kongs are great for them to chew on, if you stuff them with peanutbutter it will keep them occupied longer.
One way you can teach him to not chew on your shoes is to use a bitter no chew spray, it helped with my two dogs, a golden retreiver and a rot/shepherd mix. But, I also learned that a lot of times when a dog chews on inappropriate objects, it is becuase they are board try buying some iteseting toys that you can hide treats in. When you see him chewing on your shoes or any other item you don't want him chewing on, tell him no and when he stops you praise him and take the item way and give him a toy that it is ok to chew on. Hope I helped and happy training.
They sell sprays at dog stores that you can spray to anything your dog bites and it repels from the item until the dog learns he dosn't like the taste anymore.
you should definetly watch the dog whisperer!! he is veryyyyyyyy good with that stuff!! umm.lets see.. say chhh chhh and say no. dont say his name and no or else he will think that his name is a bad thing, say no, take the shoe away, and give it like a rawhide chew.
I really liked beating them with the shoe. That's what I would try.

My favorite is leaving out a fresh unopened tube of bengay deep heating rub. Came home and found two tiny teeth marks, the tube slightly pressed down, and that dog never chewed another thing that I didn't give him for the rest of the 13 years that I had him.

For those in who prefer treating 20 pairs of shoe to smacking the dog.

Put a little WD-40 on the shoes with a rag.
Dogs don't like the smell or taste, and it won't cost you 30 bucks like 4 bottles of bitter apple spray would. For cloth or suede, put it on the soles.

Use this on cables - works pretty much everywhere and save the Bitter Apple for what you can't use WD-40 on.
most chewing is boredom related.. he needs to be mentally simulated.. make sure he is in Obedience classes and that you practice stuff at home to keep his mind happy.

also LABS are bred to WANT things in their mouth (retreivers) so make sure he has lots of stuffed animal dog toys to fulfil this need.rope toys are very good for this kind of dog as well as kong type toys, which you can fill with peanut butter
Spray bitter apple. Can find this spray in pet centers.

No comments:

Post a Comment