The Puppy Owner's Manual: Solutions to all your puppy quandaries in an easy - to - follow question and answer format.

Read an Excerpt

How can we teach our puppy to stop chewing everything she can get her teeth on?

Chewing is typical, natural, and necessary puppy behavior. You cannot teach her to stop chewing. You can give her the opportunity to chew appropriate items.

Puppies about four months of age in particular are prone to chewing because that's usually when they start teething, and it will take several more months before the teething process is complete. Teething makes their gums sore; chewing helps the teeth break through the gums. Teething is likely to be a major contributor to the chewing problem if the puppy tries to chew inappropriate objects, whether you are home or not.

Other dogs chew because they are anxious about being left alone, which is known as separation anxiety. This is more likely to be the cause of chewing if the dog seems to chew inappropriate objects only when you are not home. More information about separation anxiety appears later in this chapter.

To prevent destruction in the house, help your puppy to form desirable chewing habits:

* Do not give her the opportunity to chew items you don't want chewed. Do not let her get into the habit of chewing anything she wants to chew. An easy way to do this is to confine her to one room with the use of baby gates. Make sure anything off limits is out of reach. The kitchen is ideal because it's generally easy to puppy-proof. Baby gates are good because they allow the dog to see out, and some dogs become anxious if they feel too confined. Confining the dog in a cage, or "crating" the dog, is an option that you'll read more about later in this chapter. Remove all objects you don't want the puppy to chew and destroy, especially from the room where she is confined. Remove chewable objects before your puppy has a chance to chew them. If there is a table with wooden legs, cupboards with wooden corners, or molding around the doorway that cannot be removed, apply Bitter Apple or one of the several other chewing deterrents available at pet stores and through catalogs.

* Provide the puppy with lots of appropriate and safe chewing objects. Give her no more than three or four at a time, otherwise she may have trouble differentiating the things you give her to chew from other objects. Keep more chewing objects on hand, and rotate them; puppies find a change in chews interesting, just as children enjoy a new toy or returning to a toy they haven't played with in a while.

* Teach the puppy not to chew inappropriate items. When you are home, sit on the floor and casually place something tempting that she's chewed before, such as a shoe or a pencil, on the floor next to you. As the dog approaches the object, give a firm "No" but provide her with an appropriate chew item instead. Immediately praise her for taking the item offered.

* Exercise the puppy before the family goes out! A tired dog is more likely to sleep than chew.

Wouldn't it be easier to crate my dog to keep her out of mischief?

It might seem easier, but it may not be the best approach. In some cases it could even make matters worse. Crating, or caging, dogs was developed as a method of house training. Caging has also been recommended by some trainers, breeders, and veterinarians as a way to keep puppies out of trouble. Some experts often recommend caging because they fear that if they don't, dogs will continue to misbehave, and their owners will get rid of them or have them euthanized. Unfortunately, bad dog behavior is the leading cause of dog death. Bad behavior needlessly causes millions of dog owners annually to abandon their dogs at shelters, where the dogs are often euthanized. Other owners, unfortunately, find it takes a lot less effort to put the dog in a cage most of the time than to teach the dog how to live out and about the house. Too often, owners don't stop to think that if they spend a modest amount of time training a puppy, they will have many years of satisfying companionship in the future.

Caging is fine if it's used judiciously - for only a few hours at a time, when you can't be there to supervise. Cages do help keep mischievous puppies from injuring themselves while the owners are out. However, caging should not become a permanent way of life for a dog!

In fact, excessive caging can lead to problems. Dr. Nicholas Dodman of Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine, a well-known veterinarian and pet behaviorist, says, "Some of the worst behavior problems I've seen are in dogs that were crated for long periods of time." Caging isolates dogs, and isolation is an unnatural state that can result in psychopathology in animals as well as people. The types of problems that can occur in dogs that are excessively isolated include compulsive behaviors such as pacing, tail chasing, and barking. In some dogs, aggression might even result, Dr. Dodman says. Some dogs cannot tolerate any time in a cage at all; they will panic and fight to get out.
It is also true that some dogs really do like their cages and find them quite cozy. Dr. Dodman believes that caging is an acceptable method of housebreaking if used in moderation. It is also handy to have a cage-trained dog if you take your pet on trips where there might not be a safe place to put him when you can't be there. But be aware that some dogs get terribly upset if they are crated, and they soon become miserable.
How can we keep our dog from chewing wildly and scratching the walls when we are out?
Some people think these dogs are spiteful, but they aren't. Dogs don't have the intelligence to be spiteful. Dogs that want to be with you all the time are experiencing separation anxiety. Even more than most dogs, they become anxious when you leave them. Some become frantic.

These dogs need help becoming more comfortable when they are alone, and they need to learn that you will return after you go out. If possible, devote several consecutive days to addressing this problem and plan on putting in time reinforcing any progress you make.
By all means, give your dog attention, but if he ventures off to another corner of the room to nap, let him be; if he doesn't follow you when you leave the room, don't encourage him to come along if it is not necessary. You want him to learn to be by himself, even if it's only in another room.

Next, start conditioning the dog for your absences. First, exercise the dog so he'll want to nap. Make sure he's relieved himself. Then, leave him alone in his space, which may be the kitchen with baby gates up. Don't make a big deal about it, because you don't want him to think that your leaving him is a big deal. For company, leave on the radio or television with voices speaking calmly. Only leave the dog alone for just a minute or two while you go elsewhere in the house or out into the yard. Do this several times throughout the first day. If he remains calm, gradually increase the time you are separated from the dog. Work up to about 10 minutes or so. If it's going well, try it again the next day.

This time, leave and actually go somewhere. Take a walk up the street or take a short ride in the car for about 5 minutes. Again, gradually increase the time you are out and the dog is able to stay alone without chewing, working up to perhaps 15 minutes. Over the next few days, gradually work up to a couple of hours.

Remember: As you leave and return, it is important to do so quietly. You want the dog to learn that your coming and going is nothing to get excited about. If your puppy has been destructive, don't scold. It doesn't do any good unless you catch the dog in the act, and for a dog with separation anxiety, scolding could in fact make matters worse by increasing his anxiety.

I've heard many owners make statements like: "He chewed the leg on the table because he was mad I left him alone. He even looked guilty when I came home." The expression on the puppy's face has nothing to do with the object he's chewed or with guilt. He's anticipating another scolding.

When a dog backslides, take a step backward in conditioning. Consider whether you may have jumped ahead too far too fast - increasing his time alone, say, from 10 minutes to 2 hours instead from 10 minutes to 15 minutes. Individualize the conditioning process based on your puppy's behavior.

If you simply cannot devote time to this project, then you must make special provisions for your dog. See if a neighbor can provide some "doggie day care" until you can condition the dog to your absence, so he doesn't become so anxious that he tries to tear down the house.

Will caging my puppy make separation anxiety worse?

Some experts believe that caging or crating dogs with separation anxiety will make the problem worse. My experience indicates this is the case. My Boxer, Beau, clearly had separation anxiety and was highly destructive every time I went out. He didn't just limit himself to the occasional shoe; he gutted an entire section of the sofa and systematically ripped off the molding around the kitchen door.

It's no wonder, however. He came from a puppy mill - a place where large numbers of dogs are bred for sale and are housed under less-than-ideal conditions. At the age of eight weeks he had been transported from Arkansas to Maryland, where he was living in a cage in a pet store. He was insecure and anxious and, I think, had had plenty of unpleasant experiences being left alone. When I got him, he was not only anxious but underweight, and in generally poor health.

Following the recommendation of a trainer, I tried crating him. I was told the dog would find the cage a cozy den and that it would prevent him from chewing. Instead, the dog went absolutely wild. He would defecate and step in it (so much for the theory that dogs never foul where they sleep and eat). He would frantically claw and try to bite the crate in his attempt to get out. I got rid of the crate right away, since it obviously wasn't helping the situation.

At the time, I did not know about the gradual conditioning process. But I found he did much better when he was confined in the kitchen with baby gates, which enabled him to see out two doors into other areas of house and to look out the window. It also limited his freedom just enough to help keep him out of major mischief. I left on the television for company. Since my office was near the house, I came home at lunchtime. If I couldn't, I arranged to have a neighbor or my mother come in to let him outside and play with him for a short while.

It took quite a number of months, and as he graduated from the kitchen to the rest of the house, he would behave for days or weeks, then occasionally destroy another item. But eventually he learned to stay by himself and that I would always come home. And instead of staying with me every minute I was in the house, he eventually would go off to take a snooze in the living room while I worked upstairs. He turned out to be a very well-behaved dog.

My point here is that if you have a dog that takes well to a cage and seems to find it comforting, by all means use it for a few hours at a time as need be; but do not force an unwilling and anxious dog into a cage.

Is there a way to keep my puppy from digging holes in the middle of the yard?

There are a number of reasons that dogs dig. Some want to bury bones (or dig them up). Others dig out a shallow hole because it's a cool place to rest on a warm day. For other dogs, it's just a way to expend pent-up energy. If your puppy has been home sleeping all day while you are at work, he's probably expending energy.

I'd first try a vigorous play session as soon as you turn him outside. Fetch is good because it requires the dog to run around a lot. If he then starts digging, redirect the behavior. If he's burying a bone, for instance, take it to an acceptable digging place, perhaps in the back of the yard, and encourage him to dig there. When he does, reward him with verbal praise. Or, when he starts digging in an unacceptable place, "herd" him to an acceptable place. If he returns to the spot in the middle of the lawn despite your attempts to redirect his behavior, try a firm "No" to discourage him, and show him again where digging is acceptable.

If you do not want him digging anywhere, conduct the play session, then take him back into the house and distract him with more play or a favorite chew. By not giving him the opportunity to form the habit of digging, he may stop the behavior if he's given other outlets for his energy.