How do I stop a puppy chewing?

Our first two dogs were destructive. They chewed anything. Skirting boards had to be replaced, kitchen units had teethmarks, chairs had legs gnawed.

They chewed up books. After Terry took ‘No Bad Dogs’ by Barbara Woodhouse back to the library, and tried explaining the gnaw marks away, she refused to take any more back. The next lot of library books were utterly destroyed, and I ended up lying to the librarian that I had lost them on the way back from holiday and paid for their replacement rather than tell her the dogs had mastered the knack of finding library books from among our own.

When we got our first GSP we were living in rented accomodation, and I was terrified that we would end up owing hundreds if not more. So we bought a crate. Actually we got it to use in the car, but the breeder mentioned that crates were a really useful thing to stop dogs chewing. It seemed so simple an idea, but Shale was immediately confined to a crate whenever we went out and left him on his own. This went on until he was nine months old and through the chewing stage.

Now don’t get me wrong, the dog wasn’t confined all the time; only when we went out and left him, and that was never more than for an hour or two at a time, and overnight. What was more, he actually liked it. I know this because he would put himself in the crate whenever we started getting ready to go out, or when he was tired, or when there was nothing much going on in doggy terms.

So are there other advantages to a crate for a puppy? One of the main advantages is preventing separation anxiety. When the puppy is in the crate he is in his own space, unable to do any damage. You are relaxed, and that feeling transmits itself to the puppy. When you return, he is not immediately under your feet, so learns that he is not the sole reason you come home, and learns a little patience. If you are bringing the shopping in you do not have to worry about him running out of the front door and into the road.

Probably the best bit of training we have ever done!

Ken