My puppy is chewing on everything. How can I stop it?

7 years ago

A Terrier puppy sitting on their owners lap chewing on a stuffed donut toy

Hi Darryl & Nakita,

Thanks for your question.

It is good that you are paying attention to this problem. Puppies are always at risk of ingesting a foreign body since they explore the world with their mouths. An episode of foreign body ingestion can cost a great deal of money at your veterinary office and put your dog through uncomfortable surgery. If the wrong material gets lodged in the digestive tract, it could be fatal. It would be ideal to resolve this problem behavior.

When a puppy is chewing on everything my first suggestion is to try and restrict access to the things that he is biting. At night or when you leave the house, you could consider crating him so that he can’t interact with these things. The crate becomes like a safe den for him but he would likely take a short amount of time to get used to it.

Here are some other strategies that may get his mind off chewing all of these inappropriate items in your home.

Get appropriate toys and products that he is allowed to vigorously engage with that essentially substitutes the inappropriate chewing item with an appropriate one. Focus their attention on it by placing treats in it. This will give them an outlet for the behavior that is appropriate and tolerable.

Avoid punishment if you can. If you do catch him in the act, try not to be too strict. You could discipline or punish it in the moment, but I strongly recommend not to do this as it can make the home a scary place and create other problems such as anxiety. One thing you can try is moving him away from the item he is chewing, or command him to go lay down in his dog bed and then give him a treat or chewable item that is appropriate. By rewarding him for stopping the behavior, he’ll likely learn not to do it in the first place.

Engage them as much as possible. Provide your puppy with as much environmental stimulation as you can and they may fall out of the habit of chewing altogether. By providing environmental enrichment and consistent stimulation, they may not develop the habit of chewing at all. What I suggest is to use treats, laser pointers, play scavenging games (hiding treats) and long exhausting episodes of exercise to keep them as busy as possible. If some of this behavior is due to stress, you can speak to your veterinarian about anti-anxiety supplements and medication that may help as well but with a puppy, I highly doubt this is part of the problem.