Monday, September 29, 2014

Pets & Chewing



It is natural for puppies to explore their environment; however, their natural curiosity often leads to frustration on your part when they chew your favorite slippers. While you may be tempted to punish your naughty pup, reinforcing good behavior is much more effective and will keep you and your dog happier. Chewing is a natural behavior that helps dogs relax and aids in dental health. It is important to provide proper chew toys for your dog. Additionally, giving your dog a specific time for chewing will help them ”wind” down for the night (similar to humans reading a book before bed).
Anxious chewing
However, not all chewing is good for your dog. Destructive chewing may be related to anxiety. It is important to teach your dog that he cannot always receive attention on demand. To reduce anxiety, train him to lie on his bed or in a crate, rather than constantly at your side. For dogs with separation anxiety, begin with short departures and then gradually increase the length of your time away to help them be comfortable and calm while you’re gone.
Anti-chew sprays
Anti-chew sprays can be used to deter your pup from chewing on household items. If you witness your puppy chewing on a household item, calmly walk over and spray the item with the anti-chew spray and firmly say ”leave it”. Instantly redirect your puppy’s attention by animating the dog toy in order to get him excited enough to chew it. Once the dog wants the toy give it to her and then softly praise the dog and back away (avoid turning this into an active game of tug-of-war; you simply want to get the dog interested in the toy). This will give the dog something to chew on and still remain in the calm state she was in previously.
Teething
Chew toys are a great way to keep your puppy busy as well as relieve pain associated with teething. Once the teeth erupt, the real chewing begins. The teeth seem to need “setting” into the jaw and this is accomplished through hard chewing. Present your puppy with a variety of toys to determine which types he likes best (avoid giving him chew toys that resemble household items that you do not want him to chew, i.e. a toy shaped like a shoe). Rotate different toys to keep your puppy’s interest and reward your puppy with praise when he chews on them. If the puppy seem to seek out a certain items that are not for chewing, try finding toys with similar textures because they may need that texture for dental health. Remember, buying a bunch of toys is a lot less expensive than replacing the furniture that he may chew up.

6 comments:

  1. Proper chewing of pets is one of the reason that makes pets to live a healthy life and perform their activities in a perfect manner and if it's difficult for pets to chew it's an alarming sign for pet owners so they have to quickly concerned to vet to again restart their normal routine. I would like to give applaud to Duane Dudinski for sharing this incredible info.

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  2. I've always wondered why pets chew on things around the house. It makes sense that a puppy or kitten would need to chew on things to relive discomfort from teething. I didn't know that there were anti-chew sprays. It's good to know that there is a product that deters pets from chewing things. That's actually one of the reasons why I didn't want to get a cat.
    http://www.metroanimalhospital.ca/about_the_clinic.html

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  3. For the past year I was lucky enough to stay home from work and just recently had to go back. My dog Cubby has not reacted well and when I get home from work I find a bunch of things chewed up. My husband was super mad cause he chewed on and broke his tablet. I hope we can get him to stop this, plus it is not healthy for him.
    Mia | http://www.windsorvet.com

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  4. This has been such a timely piece to talk about. There are so many reasons that pets eat inappropriately. This month we will be speaking more about this and sharing a success story with our Patient of the Month! You will be surprised to see what she ate!!

    Check out this article our local paper did about this very topic and some of the incites offered form our area Vets.

    http://www.sun-sentinel.com/health/fl-strange-things-pets-eat-palm-20140919-story.html#page=1

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