by Janet Farricelli CPDT-KA

Created on: February 12, 2010

The secret recipe for having dogs that  do not chew and respect your furniture or other personal belongings relies on resorting to the human virtues of patience, consistency and firmness. Lack one of these fundamental qualities and you will have put yourself and your dog up for failure. One important factor that often dog owners refrain from keeping into consideration when dealing with a chewer dog, is understanding why the dog chews in the first place.  Knowledge is ultimately power and only by being a savvy owner you will be capable of dealing with  this and the many other issues that will await you during your dog owner role.

Puppies just as children go through distinctive stages where chewing is of primary importance. This often coincides with the times when puppies are found stealing the owner's slippers for a comforting object to bite or when puppies start basically destructively chewing on anything in sight. This includes and is not limited to, furniture, blankets, curtains, toys and so forth.

While teething and chewing go hand in hand, something that many dog owners are not aware of is that the chewing will eventually continue even once the permanent teeth set in. Indeed, these new permanent set of teeth will require some hard chewing in order to set in well inside the dog's jaw. Refrain from having your dog endure in some healthy chewing, and your dog may poor dental health in the future.

Even once the permanent teeth have happily set dogs will need to chew from time to time. Chewing is comforting to a dog, indeed many times dogs chew to relieve stress or frustration. In separation anxiety for instance, where dogs become anxious when their owner's leave for the work day, dogs may resort to chewing anything they can in order to feel better.

So how to deal with a dog with a chewing problem? Does this mean owners have to surrender to ruined furniture and ripped off couches? Or leaving their dog out all day, crated when owners are away or worse surrender him as a last resort to a shelter? Fortunately there are various strategies that may help dog owners keep their dog and their furniture all in one piece.

One of them is redirection. Owners must show their dog their options and aid their dog in making a valuable choice. For instance, an owner catches a dog chewing on wood piece of furniture. The owner must therefore intervene swiftly and interrupt the dog's chewing.      A sudden growly ''no!'' may

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