Dear Miss Paws: I have adopted a dog who has many charming qualities, but he loves to chew on things – things that I don’t want destroyed, such as shoes, socks, table legs, etc. How can I get him to stop? A. Generalized destructive behavior is a sign of a dog who had too much house freedom too soon and never learned appropriate house manners. Sometimes people mistake this behavior as separation anxiety, but this behavior may occur when the owner’s home, even in his presence. In the owner’s absence, it tends to be non-specific general chewing, as opposed to the focused destruction of separation anxiety. First of all he must be managed. Remove all opportunity for him to misbehave. Use crates, tethers, baby gates, exercise pens and closed doors to prevent his access to vulnerable items. Keep things out of his reach. Provide him with plenty of legal chew objects while you restrict his access to forbidden ones. As I’ve said before, don’t forget adequate exercise. Remember, a tired dog is a well-behaved dog.
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