The Toy Graveyard

How do you stop a puppy from chewing? You don't. Puppies chew like it's their full time job, so it's in your best interest to make sure that puppy always has appropriate chew toys. If you don't provide chew toys and you find that he's eaten your favorite pair of Jimmy Choos, you should roll up a newspaper and hit yourself in the head with it. You should have given Fido an appropriate outlet.

There's a rowdy little bugger named Miles who's living with me at the moment, and little Miles is about 8 months. His job duties include tearing up toys, running with his brothers, and snuggling with my socks and earmuffs. (Don't ask me to explain this behavior, it's beyond me). His mom and I make sure that he always has access to plenty of appropriate chew toys so that he's not tempted to chew on inappropriate chew toys, like shoes and laptop cords (two items that have fallen prey to Miles the bandit).

He has access to a huge basket of toys when we're home, and he's crated with a frozen peanut butter filled Kong toy when we're gone. This is how you handle puppy chewing - you give the pup an appropriate outlet, and you manage the situation so that he doesn't get a chance to sneak off and destroy things when you're not watching. Training is almost always a combination of rewarding the behavior you like while managing the environment so that the dog doesn't get a chance to practice behaviors that you don't like.

At the moment, the toys in the basket have seen better days and most of them need to be thrown away and replaced, as you can see from the toy graveyard show in this pic. Sigh.

That's okay, I'll never be upset with him tearing up a toy. That's what they're for!

Now I have to run. I have some toys to order.