Teach your canine companion what he cannot destroy during playtime.
Chewing and tearing things apart is an instinctive behavior among puppies. Puppies chew things like training pads and stuffed toys as a means to both explore their environment and gain attention. While training pads often include attracting odors meant to encourage puppies to use the pad for eliminating, many puppies ignore those smells and treat the pads as a toy instead.
Instructions
1. Set up a comfortable dog crate for your puppy. Do not place a puppy pad in the crate or place the pad under the crate to deny the puppy access to the pad. Place the puppy in the crate when you cannot provide supervision.
2. Place several training pads around your home's living areas. Keep the training pads away from the puppy's normal play area and feeding spot. This helps the puppy learn that he has a specific place to eliminate and prevents the puppy from using the pads as a toy.
3. Watch your puppy carefully; place him on a pad when he starts to show signs that he is looking for a place to eliminate. This helps the puppy associate the training pads with eliminating, rather than playing.
4. Keep a dog toy near the puppy at all times to focus tearing and chewing to the toy instead of the training pads.
5. Scold the puppy with a firm "no" when he destroys a pad. Only do this immediately after the destructive behavior and never when you return home to find a torn puppy pad. Scolding the dog without provocation causes the puppy to assume a negative connotation with the most recent activity, regardless of the activity.
6. Replace the training pad with a toy when you find the puppy tearing up or chewing on a pad. Firmly scold the dog with a "no," remove the pad and replace it with a toy. This helps the puppy understand what he can and cannot chew on.
Tags: training pads, helps puppy, This helps, This helps puppy, place eliminate, puppy crate, tearing chewing