A dog that destroys his toys.
Do you have a toy destroyer dog? Are you spending a lot of money buying expensive dog toys and you see how he converts them to small pieces in just minutes? Well let me tell you that you might think this is a highly expensive dog hobby to afford, not to mention that it will harm you dog because he may consume the small destroyed pieces of plastic, wood or whatever the material of the toy is. It also makes your dog has less toys to play, thus he’ll start chewing bigger things like your home furniture. In this article I’ll try to help you solve that problem, so that your dog can still enjoy his toys in a safer way.
The strategy to avoid this aggressive behaviour.
The strategy I’m about to explain you is excellent for that type of dog called “happy go lucky”, these type of dogs enjoy destroying things all the time. In case you have another type of dog: stressed and sensitive and toys protectors, this technique won’t work. So the first thing to understand is about the appropriate toys you should get for your strong chewing dog. Buying the proper toys for these kind of animals, will be more secure for him and less expensive for your pocket. The key here is to get bigger toys of what you use to buy him.
Teach him the right way to play with his toys.
So you get nice toys for your dog, now is the time to teach him how to have fun with them without destroying them. Sometimes the most strongest toys in the market are no challenge for strong chewing dogs. So to begin with ask him to do a trick he knows or just to sit. In the event he complies, just give him the toy and stay there with him. If he plays normally with the toy give him a treat as prize. When I say playing normally I mean mouthing the toy or moving the toy nicely. But if he starts to destroy the toy, just say eh! or hey! to make him stop. When he starts playing nicely with the toy again, reward him again and stay there with him until he stops playing with the toy. After that hide the toy so he can’t find it, and start the routine the next training session. Do this in front of the TV, to get better results.
What is he doesn’t pay attention to you when playing with the toy.
In case he doesn’t stop the destroying behavior when you say eh! or hey! you can try clapping your hands to change his focus to you. The most important thing here is not to punish your dog, but to stop him the aggressive behavior. Don’t do this in case your dog looks very tense when chewing, this means that your pet has very string issues of safeguarding. In the event the clapping doesn’t work, spray him quickly with a spray bottle containing water.
What to do when the toy is new.
Don’t leave your dog alone when you get him a new toy. You need to be sure that he has understand that a new toy is not something he just can destroy. You may experience that he might learn the lesson for old toys, but not for new ones, so apply the technique for new toys as well until you notice he plays nicely with the new ones as well. After you notice the progress start leaving him alone with the strongest toys for short periods of time. What will happen is that you’ll keep him busy and prevent him of getting anxious. After some time, you’ll notice your dog will start playing nicely with these strong toys, thus you can start giving him other types of toys he might enjoy to play with. Remember to apply the technique every time you bring him a new one regardless if it’s a strong one or a normal one.
