How to Fix Your Dog's Destructive Chewing (Featuring Porter)

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Porter, my first rescue, was a total disaster. By the evening of the first day we brought him home, my arm was COVERED in teeth marks. Even though he was 1, he had not yet learned how to appropriately use his mouth and he was mouthy as hell. He had been returned to the rescue twice--the second time because he had chewed through the owner's floor and subfloor and then started on the wall.

So we were in for it.

If a toy was labeled "indestructible," he was destroying it. If I gave him a bed that was not made out of steel, he was destroying it. If he got near a rope leash, he was destroying it.

My 15-year-old winter gloves? Destroyed.

My favorite boots from college? Destroyed.

Shoelace? Shredded (as I was trying to tie them).

He destroyed everything we put near him. There was one week where he had chewed at least two martingale collars off of his own neck. I have no idea how he managed that, but I started buying them in twos. Every moment of our existence with Porter had the potential to turn into a tug-of-war if Porter decided to latch onto our pants or sleeves. I was getting tired of him, his 7-mile daily walks, and his bitey teeth REAL FAST.

We had to do something to get the chewing in line, but the good news is that we did finally figure it out. Keep reading to find out how we prevented Porter from turning everything in our house into party confetti.

Here's what we did to reign in Porter's destructive chewing:

1. Made the object he just grabbed uninteresting: The most annoying of the mouth habits was when he would grab our pants or sleeves and start tugging. This was fun for him (INSTANT TUG!) and not fun for whomever was getting their outfit destroyed.

   
   

   Instinctively, we would start pulling back, which Porter LOVED, but instead we learned to just stop moving. We would grab the item as close as we could to Porter's mouth so that we could arrest the tug-of-war and keep the item still. This would end the tug-of-war and then we just wait for him to lose interest and let go of the item. I was so proud of myself the first time this worked.

   
   

2. Said "Ouch": Porter did not have control over the pressure of his teeth, so we would play the "ouch" game with him. When it was play time, we would scratch him or wrestle with him or play tug, but if he put his teeth on us in excitement we would say "OUCH!!" and end play for a bit. My husband would also start fake crying but you don't need to take the histrionics that far.

   
   

3. The Chew Toy Ring of Success

3. Set up the Chew Toy Ring of Success. This is when we finally started getting somewhere.

Porter really did need to use his mouth and chew on things--it made him happy. But he had to learn what he COULD chew on and what he could NOT chew on. To support Porter in making GOOD CHOICES about his chewing, we would set him up in what we called THE CHEW TOY RING OF SUCCESS.

Here is Porter destroying a platypus for "aggressive" chewers.

To create the CHEW TOY RING OF SUCCESS, I would collect all of the things that Porter was allowed to chew (Nylabones, Benebones, stuffed Kongs, Kong toys, bully sticks, and rawhides-see below) and put them in a huge circle around where he liked to hang out in the den. This way, when he got the urge to chew something, he had a million correct options right in front of him. When he inevitably made the right choice to chew on one of the items I gave him (since we had basically barricaded him in with them), we could then praise him for his amazing decision!!!!!!!!!! Now we could start differentiating between "YES! Chew on that!!!" and "NO! Do not chew on THAT."

Sometimes he would run away from the CHEW TOY RING OF SUCCESS and I would have to direct him back to the circle and remind him to MAKE GOOD CHOICES, but this mindset helped a lot. We were just constantly redirecting him to things he was allowed to chew whenever he started chewing on forbidden items.

It does take a fair amount of trial and error to figure out what to put in your dog's Chew Toy Ring of Success. We bought everything that said "for aggressive chewers" and "indestructible" and Porter made mincemeat out of all of them. Sometimes we just bought him stuff that we knew he would destroy in 3 seconds because what was the difference? (The difference was that those toys usually had some delectable squeakers in there, so we had to watch Porter like a hawk and get the squeaker before he did. Do not let your dog eat the squeaker or any other part of an inedible toy!)

These are the things that ended up in Porter's Chew Toy Ring of Success:

Here are some of toys I bought on Amazon between 2018-2020 that Porter demolished instantly and so they did not become staples in the Chew Toy Ring of Success. Some of them he did enjoy demolishing so we would buy them on special occasions and let him destroy them but under close supervision.

	According to Amazon, I bought these 3 times.

The Last Few Tips

The last few steps we took to help Porter with his chewing were as follows;

4. Replaced forbidden chew items with acceptable chew items: Whenever Porter went running by with a pair of underwear or a brand new sneaker, we would simply remove that item from his mouth and replace it with an Approved Chew Item (see above or below).

   
   

5. Busted out the bitter apple spray: Last but not least, if your dog will not leave a certain item alone, it might be time to break out the bitter apple spray. Simply spray a bit on the item you do not want your dog chewing. This has a strong taste that they do not like, which discourages them from chewing the item. We only used this once or twice on leashes Porter kept destroying when he wanted to run free and sow his wild oats. He did not like it and he did not chew his leashes again.

   

   Apple Bitter

   
   
   
   

Other Things We Gave Porter to Chew On

Rawhides & bully sticks: Eventually we had to get rid of the bully sticks because he was scarfing them down, especially that last little chunk at the bottom. Instead of investing in the bully stick holder thing, we just phased them out. His tummy has always done well with Dentley's rawhide rolls so we just used them in various sizes. Different rawhides/snacks work (or don't work) for different dogs. We would just order things off of Amazon and try them. If he didn't choke on them or get the shits, we would order them again.

Dentley's Rawhide Rolls

He also liked Greenies and Whimzee's, so we would give him those, as well, if he seemed to be in a very chewy mood on a particular day.

Eventually we had to cut down on the 300 chew toys so that he didn't get too chonky, but the combo of toys, rawhides, dental chews, etc., got us through his mouthy phase

	Whimzees	Porter and the gang eat these every night. I'm pretty sure we put them out of business by buying and eating every Pork Chomp in the world.
The dogs love these and they meet the 10 minute minimum.	We would throw these in every once in a while.	Porter would actually eat these and they lasted a really long time. I would only let him eat 1/2 a bone at a time.

The One Special Toy

After all that destruction, Porter never destroyed this one toy that Chris brought home for him: a little pink Kong elephant. We don't know why, but he always carried this one around and never annihilated it like his other toys.

He would toss it and lightly nibble it, but for some reason this toy still exists today and has survived 4 puppies. We call pink elephant Porter's "baby."

This modern pink Kong elephant is a bit updated from the original.

If you've got a dog under two-years-old and they are in that mouthy phase, I feel for you! I hope some of the above tips help you get the chewing under control.

Let me know what has worked for you in the comments below.

Good luck!!!!!!!!!