Arriving at home after a tiring day at work and finding your favorite sandals destroyed as your puppy chewed it can be frustrating. For a moment, you forget that he is just so adorable, cute and innocent, that what he does is just because he thinks that your sandals are you, and he just loves chewing them. Of course, you cannot just let this to happen all the time. Before you get angry with your puppy, or even worse, decide to get a new puppy, you have to know that he has some reasons for doing this. One of them could be your mistake for letting him chew your sandals. Furthermore, his habit of chewing sandals can be stopped. So, be quite patient, and if you want to know how to stop your puppy chewing your sandals, learning the reasons why they do it and what you can do to stop is useful. Only then, you find your puppy welcome you and is ready to play with you after your arrival at home from work. Why Your Puppy Chew Your Sandals? There are several reasons that never cross to your mind for why your puppy chews your sandals. You must not know that adult teeth can be quite uncomfortable for him and your puppy needs to cut them. Puppy is also just like a human that can get bored. These reasons will make you think twice whether you have to be angry seeing your destroyed sandals. Cutting Teeth Sandals are just a few things that your puppy will chew. Basically, he chews anything he can and the reason for this habit is his adult teeth. They become quite painful and your puppy tries his best to cut them. The only way he can is by chewing anything he gets. Besides, your puppy does not yet learned anything just like a toddler that likes to put anything in his/her mouth. The simplest ways to stop him from chewing teeth can be done like by keeping your sandals out of his reach or giving your puppy dog treats. In certain time if you find your dog does not chew your sandals, perhaps you have to reward him. However, those methods above might be useless since it is the nature of a puppy for not to stop chewing until his adult teeth are successfully cut. Boredom and Anxiety When you are at work, leaving your puppy at home alone makes him really bored. He will try to overcome his boredom and one of the easiest ways he gets is by chewing your sandals. Besides, when he gets bored, he becomes nervous. Chewing your sandals is something he can do to get rid of this boredom. Besides, your puppy also chews shoes or sandals when he feels anxious. During storms and he has to be alone at home, you will find your puppy chew. In this situation, he needs such a kind of crate, a place that can make him secured. To overcome his boredom, you may have to hire a dog walker that will take your puppy out while you are at work. Smell Puppy is really funny. He always wants to get close with you all the time. Even when you are not at home, he wants to figure out what you have been doing all day. He will try to find anything that can be associated as you and sandals are one of them. On your sandals, your puppy finds your smell on them. For your information, puppies are primarily driven by their noses. Their ability of smelling is a lot more powerful than humans. The slightest smell is has been enough to associate it as you. You do not smell any scents from your sandals, but your puppy really does. He will start chewing. If your sandals are made of leather, he may smell them as food to dogs. Attention Be careful when you yell at your puppy. He may misunderstand what you want. For instance, you find your puppy chewing your sandals, and you yell at him. You may think that you teach him that chewing sandals is not allowed, but don't be surprised if your puppy even thinks that he has to chew something else since chewing sandals gets a strong reaction from you. So, instead of yelling, you just need to grab your sandal from his mouth, take it and walk away without making eye contact. Proper Methods to Stop Your Puppy Chewing Your Sandals Despite some suggestions you can do to stop your puppy chewing sandals, the solution is not simply staying sandals out of his reach. He can find other things to chew like shoe or else. Thus, you need more prevention that willy-nilly makes him stop chewing. A simple training below will be helpful. Go to Your Vet for Medical Check Chewing habit may also be triggered by health problems like psychological problems or infecting parasites in his body. Before you begin to make him stop, you had better go to your vet to check up his health. Your expert will diagnose the real problems and give you the best plans to recover him from health problems particularly if the chewing habit is accompanied by other symptoms like gastrointestinal problems or weight loss. Command and Prohibition Your puppy does not understand your language. A dog that sits on your command does not mean he understands the meaning of "sit". It is because he already has an idea that "sit" refers to sit. So, now you have to teach your puppy to understand that chewing sandals is not good, and chewing toys is good. In the beginning, you can teach him that chewing sandals is not allowed. Here are some tips you can do as prohibition. Use prohibition expressions like "No!" or "Bad dog!" anytime you find him chewing your sandals. As a replacement, you can give him something that is good to chew. If he is willing to take the object it, praise him by saying like "Good dog!" Beating your puppy is highly prohibited. It is just another trigger for him to get anxious. Scolding or punishing is not allowed, as well. If you see him chew a good object like a toy, give him award like a small treat. It will encourage him to do a good behavior. Do those consistently to train him that chewing sandals is completely prohibited. Acceptable Chewing Alternatives A toy is the most recommended object that is acceptable for your puppy to chew. It is a lot better to provide a lot of kinds of toys at home as chewing alternatives in most places your puppy can find. Only then, you can find an acceptable object right away when you see your dog playing around. However, some other objects are quite acceptable to chew, such as: chewing strips rawhide treats ropes teething rings raw bones Furthermore, all possessions that look similar to acceptable objects to chew have to be kept away. Your puppy can be confused. For example, you allow him to chew old sandals, but when you prohibit him not chew new ones, your puppy cannot decide which is acceptable to chew. Therefore, all possessions that can be associated to unacceptable objects to chew have to be resembled and kept away. Spare Your Time with Your Puppy Despite your tight schedule every day, your puppy needs a quality time with you. Toys are not enough to stop him chewing your sandals if you do not spare your time with him, playing around and training him. It is a lot better to have it every day around 20 or 30 minutes per session. This period is enough to give him a short training session. Playing and exercising enables your puppy to get tired. Being with you prevents him from being anxious and bored so he will not spend extra energy to do inappropriate chewing, like your sandals. Whenever you are with your puppy, make him active. Play new tricks that make him discourage from chewing sandals. Keep Your Possessions Especially Sandals Out of His Reach Sandals are normally put in places that are easily accessed. However, if you have a puppy around and you leave him at home, you need to protect them from being chewed. Then, prevention is needed to stop your puppy chewing them. The first step you have to do is to place all your sandals, including all your possessions that are likely chewed, where your poppy unlikely reaches them. Other possessions include shoes, books, remote controls, cleaners, electrical cords, dangerous objects and so forth. Only then, your puppy loses his temptations to chew. Warnings Teaching your puppy takes time. Sometimes, what you do seems useless and results nothing. Your puppy still likes to chew your sandals in fact you have spared your time everyday with him to for training. When it happens to you, there are several things that you have to know. These are what you must not do when you teach your puppy. Punishment is prohibited even if he does not want to let your sandal from his mouth when you try to take it away. When you find him steal your sandal, do not chase your puppy. He will think it is a kind of game; consequently your puppy will steal more sandals in the next time. Old sandals that even you do not want to wear have to be kept away from your dog. Your dog cannot differ which sandal can be chewed or not. Be very patient when you see your puppy chewing your sandals. No matter what, he is just a pet. Training needs discipline and regularity, so keep practice those methods of how to stop your puppy chewing your sandals until you get successful.