Does your puppy love to play bite, or chew on inappropriate items like your socks, sofa, curtains, or the carpet? While playbiting and inappropriate chewing are normal puppy behaviors, they can be redirected by teaching appropriate toy play. So, how do you get a puppy to chew toys? In this blog, we’ll share some of our favorite toy suggestions and tips for correcting inappropriate chewing and playbiting.
Feeding meals with toys
A simple way to encourage your puppy to play with toys is to feed half of their meal from toys.
You can fill Kong toys with your puppy’s meal instead of feeding them from a bowl. You will want to feed them the same volume of food as you would give in a meal, so you may need to purchase a large or extra large Kong, regardless of the puppy’s size.
We recommend moistening your puppy’s food with water, then filling the Kong with their kibble and other enticing foods such as peanut butter, pumpkin, or cheese. You can serve this meal fresh or partially freeze it. For one of our favorite methods, you can check out our blog on “How to Stuff a Kong Like a Dog Trainer”.
We recommend purchasing a variety of Kong toys to help keep your dog more engaged. While also serving as replacement toys while you clear out any dirty Kongs, or have other prepared Kongs in the freezer.
Using flavored toys to encourage engagement
Nylabones are flavored chew toys that also serve as dental chews to help reduce tartar and plaque buildup. Nylabones are particularly engaging for a pup because they come in different flavors, including bacon, chicken, and peanut butter. There are various Nylabones available, including Chew Bones, Dental Chews, and Textured Rings.
What to do if your puppy is chewing inappropriately
Even if your puppy is chewing on toys, they may still chew inappropriate items such as your clothing and the corner of your lounge.
Have you caught your puppy chewing on something they shouldn’t be or playbiting? You should immediately get them to stop and redirect them to an appropriate toy. Once your puppy has redirected to an appropriate toy, you should give them lots of reinforcement, which can include verbal praise and treats.
Rotate their favorite toys
Just like kids, dogs can get bored with their toys and enjoy getting new ones. To help keep your dog engaged, we recommend rotating eight to twelve chew toys. Chew toys that we recommend include:
You should always give your dog a chew toy that is large enough so that your dog can’t ingest or choke on them. Split antlers and rawhides can become choking hazards, break into small, sharp pieces, and be dangerous if digested. Always monitor your dog around toys so you can take them away if they are chewed into smaller pieces, as this can be a choking hazard.
We are here to help
Do you have any questions on how to train and socialize your puppy? You can schedule a free consultation with our Pet Behavior Team. We offer personalized training programs that use science based training methods. All of our programs are developed by our co-founder and Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist, Dr. Kristyn Echterling-Savage.
All of our programs are personalized to your unique needs and delivered through private one-on-one sessions at your home or in your local Houston neighborhood, a virtual training program, or a board-and-train program.
