As this is the puppy issue, and as most behavioral problems other than those genetically determined (such as temperament problems) are caused by improper primary and/or secondary socialization, or by mistakes in, or lack of exposure to, challenging experiences, I recommend breeders, prospective or recent buyers and dog people in general go to the Gun Dog website, gundogmag.com. Click on the training section and you will find four articles on puppies that I have referred to many times in my columns when addressing puppy problems.

These are: "The 49th Day," "Producing Behaviorally Sound Pups," "Giving Pups a Head Start" and "New Pup Coming, Now What?" The articles should be read and studied and considered in light of what you have learned previously. They will answer many of the questions you have before you have to ask them and they will keep you from making some well-intentioned mistakes.

(Problem) First, thanks for the advice you gave me a few months ago on training Jethro to "whoa." Now I have another question about my new GSP pup. He is nearing six months and is a wonderful, smart, bird-crazy dog. However, he is chewing up beds, couches, toilet paper, you name it.

 

 

I threw away all his soft chew toys and replaced them with hard plastic or rubber ones, but he is more interested in tearing and shredding than chewing. I keep my dogs in the house as family hunting dogs rather than kennel dogs. Another thing is my mother takes care of Nick when I am gone for work, which takes me out of town from three days to a week at a time. It is getting hard for her to keep track of Nick like I do when he's with me, and puppy proofing isn't as easy for her. But she and I will work any way we can to deter him from demolishing our homes. Do you have any suggestions?

(Solution) Puppies chew things, especially when they are replacing their baby teeth. This should be pretty well done by six or seven months. However, if it gets attention from anyone, pups will chew just to get you to play with them. Anything you do, like yell at them or punish them, shows you are paying attention to them and reinforces their behavior, so they will do it more.

The best thing to do when they are chewing something you don't want them to have is to substitute something they like better. That way they are getting a reward for stopping chewing without being told. So ignore the chewing or ripping, act like nothing is going on and give your pup a rawhide bone to chew or a soft chew toy that squeaks to get his attention away from the unwanted chewing he was doing. Another thing you should do is crate train the pup so he has an enclosed space that is all his. It should be his favorite place, not a place where he is put as punishment. Get a nylon bone and drill holes in it, say a quarter-inch or three-eighths-inch holes. Stuff the holes with cheese and give it to him in his crate.

Anytime he is destroying something, give him his bone with the cheese in it, but only in his crate. The Kong hard rubber chew toys also have holes that you can stuff with cheese. Only give him the cheese-stuffed chew object in his crate, never outside, so it becomes associated with good stuff and going into his crate. That way you can use the crate as a "time-out" place whenever he gets a bit out of control or whenever you are away from home or your mother is taking care of him and has to go out for a while. The crate has to be a pleasant place for him, not an unpleasant one. He should be happy to go in and always want to.