“Puppies can only chew what we give them access to”.
Puppies chew and explore with their mouths a lot - it’s a normal part of their development, but it can drive us mad!
When we get frustrated by our puppies for chewing things they shouldn’t, remember, they are not going to have a human understanding of should or shouldn’t or even right and wrong. There may be a dog version, but I doubt it will be the same as ours.
So instead of getting annoyed with them or constantly yelling NO (I’m sure some puppies think their name is no), set them up for success instead.
So how do you do this? Manage their access with pens, gates, doors, puppy-proof a room and put things away and out of reach etc. Certainly avoid giving them unsupervised free range of your home to chew all the things you don’t want them chew. It’s much better to teach them what they can chew, so, provide legal chews for them to keep them busy with and develop their preferences for these in the future.
If they do start chewing or biting on something we would rather they didn’t, (which they will), instead of saying NO, encourage them away and swap the item for something else or redirect them to something more desirable, and then change things so they can’t go straight back and get it wrong again.
Build good habits from the start and this will leave no room for bad habits.
Remember, when it comes to chewing, puppies can only chew what we give them access to.
