How To Stop A Dog From Chewing On Furniture

As I mentioned in one of my previous posts, having your dog merely sit or lay on your furniture can be ruinous in of itself depending on what type of furniture it is. But, having your dog chew on your furniture can result in more severe damage being done to it. Not only that, but chewing on furniture can be dangerous for your dog as doing so can injure his/her mouth. Your dog can also become sick after chewing on your furniture if he/she accidentally swallows something that wasn’t intended for digesting.

To be sure, chewing is a natural behavior for dogs. In fact, younger dogs chew in order to relieve themselves of teething pain while older dogs do it to keep their jaws and teeth strong and to loosen any debris from their teeth. But, furniture isn’t something you want your dog to be chewing on. So, you will want to know how to stop a dog from chewing on furniture. Here are three ways you can do that.

How To Stop A Dog From Chewing On Furniture In Three Ways

1. Develop A Positive Habit

One way that you can discourage your dog from chewing on your furniture is to nurture a positive habit in him/her. I would encourage you to nurture your dog to a positive habit from as early an age as possible.

To help your dog to develop a positive habit, you will want to have chewy toys on hand for your dog. One of the best chewy toys for dogs is called a Kong which you can order here.

Kongs are designed to be durable which means that they will take time for your dog to finish chewing off. Kongs are filled with treats that your dog can eat once the chewing is finished.

The Kongs come in five different sizes – extra small, small, medium, large, and extra large. So, just pick the one that is best suited to your dog’s size. You can fill the Kongs with delicious treats like Canine Carry Outs Dog Treats.

I would suggest that you freeze the Kongs in order to further enhance their longevity. Once you give your dog a Kong, stick with him/her as he/she chews it. Pet your dog every once in a little bit in order to encourage the positive chewing habit.

In addition to encouraging your dog’s chewing of a Kong, you will want to provide him/her with something that he/she can play with.

So, let’s have a couple of balls that your dog can play with indoors in a spacious room like a living room. Have fun playing around with your dog by pushing around the balls with him/her.

That will help to keep your dog entertained and active so that he won’t get bored and feel tempted to turn his attention to furniture chewing. If you don’t have any balls to play around with your dog, one great option worth checking out is the Jolly Pets Bounce ‘n’ Play Dog Toy Ball.

2. Use Deterrents To Discourage Furniture Chewing

If you are worried about your dog being tempted to chew on your furniture, there are at least a couple ways that you can discourage the furniture chewing behavior. The first way is for you to make use of a non-toxic, bad tasting chewing deterrent.

What you want to do is to spray that all over the furniture. The idea here is that if the furniture sucks when your dog tries to taste it, then he/she won’t want to proceed to chew it.

It is important to note that this won’t always work though. So, you may still need to supervise your dog. Even so, one popular option for a tasting deterrent worth checking out is the Grannicks Bitter Apple Taste Deterrent.

Another way for you to deter your dog from chewing on the furniture is to use what I would refer to as a noise maker. It is basically a device that is used to make a noise in order to signal your disapproval of the chewing behavior.

So, if you see your dog get on the furniture and start chewing it, use the noise maker to tell your dog to stop the chewing behavior. If you aren’t sure what a noise maker looks like, I would suggest that you look this one up.

You can use the noise maker in combination with the taste deterrent that I just mentioned above, to create the ultimate deterrent against the furniture chewing behavior by your dog.

As soon as your dog gets off the furniture, give him/her a stuffed Kong to chew on instead. If your dog chews on the stuffed Kong instead of the furniture, praise and reward him/her with an immediate treat in order to encourage this appropriate chewing behavior.

3. Block And Command Your Dog

If your dog has already begun the habit of chewing on your furniture, you will want to find a way to prevent your dog from doing so again. So, as soon as your dog is about to approach the furniture, immediately put yourself right between him/her and the furniture.

Then give your dog a command in order to push him/her away from the furniture. Saying the words like “Leave it” or “No” should work here.

Once you have given the command, tap the side of your dog’s body and use your own body to move him/her away from the furniture.

As soon as your dog is away from the furniture, go ahead and give him/her the stuffed Kong. If your dog chews on the stuffed Kong, praise and reward him/her with a treat to enjoy right away.

You will want to repeat this process for at least the next several days until your dog develops a healthy chewing habit. Also, whenever you aren’t able to supervise your dog, you may need to put him/her in a separate room and use a baby fence, just like this one, to block him/her from approaching the furniture.

There You Have It For How To Stop A Dog From Chewing On Furniture

These are my suggestions for you for how to stop a dog from chewing on furniture. If your dog gets his/her way and chews on your furniture, he/she could get injured or sickened to the point that you will have to take him/her to the veterinary.

So, you will want to do all that you can to stop your dog from developing the furniture chewing habit in the first place.

What are your thoughts? Are you at all worried about your dog chewing on your furniture? Feel free to leave a comment below.