Chewing and Digging
Silky Cosmo and Aussie Terrier Tally feel superior in giving advice on chewing and digging. (But I won’t tell you about what they did when they were puppies!)
Small dogs are not generally big time chewers and diggers. But sometimes puppies go through phases on this, which can become permanent if not nipped in the bud.
Anyone who has viewed the moonscape that once was their backyard can feel helpless in curbing the amateur landscaping of their four legged friends. The cures takes some work but are actually pretty simple.
Chewing
Puppies sometimes enjoy chewing on things as their molars appear at 8 to 12 months of age. They can decide that table legs or electrical chords are especially yummy. Dealing with this is a two part process.
1. There are products available to put on furniture or electrical chords that are harmless but taste horrible.
You can also make this at home too by mixing petroleum jelly with generous amounts of cayenne pepper. Your puppy may try the object once, but then never again.
2. Ramp up the stuff your puppy can chew. For example, there is no better chew toy to a small dog than a real bone. Best are beef marrow bones; you can get them at the grocery store, and are best raw.
Digging
Every once in a while a small dog decides that your landscaping is inadequate to his needs, and wants to take matters into his own hands.
1. The solution is rather simple. When you notice a hole, put a roll of his stool in the bottom. When your small dog goes back to expand on his work, he will quickly decide that he doesn’t want to dig there any more after all.
After you’ve done this several times, he will look for a different pastime.
2. There is nothing wrong with putting a decorative fence around the plants and flowers you really want your buddy to stay away from. Will this keep away a determined landscape artist? Nope. But it will remind him that this part of the backyard is not his.
3. For a truly inspired canine entrepreneur, consider blocking off the part of the yard you’d really like to be a flower or vegetable garden by using an electronic fence to keep your intrepid buddy out.