Natural instinct dictates that dogs, including puppies, explore the world with their nose and mouth. While sniffing may be harmless, biting and chewing can cause major destruction to a home. Below are some suggestions to help prevent problematic chewing.

• Puppy-proof the area that belongs to puppy such as a crate, cage or sectioned off area of a room.
To Puppy proof:
• Remove any item that a puppy could chew such as socks, shoes, furniture and plants.
• Place tape over electrical outlets
• Keep all electrical cords out of reach
• Confine puppy to the puppy-proofed space while away.
• Keep an uncrated puppy under constant supervision. Dogs, much like toddlers, need to be monitored at all times.
• Provide plenty of chew toys made specifically for dogs. Dogs are unable to distinguish between a tattered old pair of sneakers and a brand new pair. Not providing these items to chew on will help the process.
• Before leaving the puppy alone, rub the dog's toy between your hands. This will leave your scent on the toy and assist with seperation anxiety which may lead to destructive chewing. This will make leaving a low key experience and possibly prevent nonstop barking and whining as well.
• Two significant factors resulting in destructive chewing are boredom and excess energy. To alleviate these factors, make sure that your puppy is exercised regularly.
• Correct inappropriate behavior. If a puppy is found chewing on something other than an appropriate chew toy, remove the object and replace it with a chew toy.
• Work with your puppy to ignore non-toy objects
To do this:
• Start by placing tempting objects on the floor along with the chew toy.
• Pretend to not be watching
• If the puppy attempts to chew on the non-chew toy ojbect, use a firm "NO!" and point to the chew toy.
• Once the puppy begins to chew on the appropriate toy and not the other item, leave puppy alone for a few minutes.
• Removing yourself for a couple of minutes but being near enough to catch puppy in the act if needed will help reinforce the goal.
• Should puppy continue to chew on the other object and not the chew toy, continue to crate during unsupervised periods.