Got an angry call yesterday.
The caller was none too happy with his dog.
The dog had decided to do some redecorating with his teeth and had destroyed some expensive objects.
He wanted to know how he could stop this behavior and that a friend had given him some bitter apple and was hoping that would work.
Luckily he called me.
Because I instructed him on how to use taste deterrents. Taste deterrents are popular in pet stores. You can easily find bitter apple or sour grapes. Spray this concoction on whatever your dog is chewing and PRESTO, chewing problem solved.
Not so fast…..
…..this almost never works.
There are a few reasons why this does not work:
Your dog’s sense of taste is no where near as strong as his sense of smell.
Your dog may like the taste of bitter apples or sour grapes.
There is almost always a strong underlying reason for the chewing – like boredom.
I instructed the fellow to first ask his dog if he likes the taste of the deterrent. Asking your dog is simple. I told him to spray some of the bitter apple onto a slice of cheese and offer it to his dog.
If his dog ate the cheese with the bitter apple on it, there is no way it would stop his dog from chewing. If his dog refused the cheese he had a chance at stopping the chewing.
I added that if he ate the cheese with the bitter apple on it he had to find another deterrent and repeat the process. Once he found something objectionable enough to stop the dog from eating the cheese he was on his way.
Once the dog refused the cheese he was to offer it three of four more times over the course of the day. We want the dog to make a strong negative association with the deterrent.
Once that happens the dog sense of smell will help the deterrent work. He can then put it on the objects the dog is chewing.
I added that the dog would also probably need more exercise and there may be other underlying problems but he could get started with the taste deterrents.
And that if he had any other problems the best place to leave questions was on the Dog Training Inner Circle forum. Included with The Dog Training Inner Circle is the Good K9 Manners program which has step-by-step videos details help with this problem.
And you can start for just $1.00. You just need to go here NEXT:
Best,
Eric