Have you ever been puzzled by your dog’s habit of only chewing your boyfriend’s things? If so, you’re not alone. This is a common issue that can be frustrating for both you and your significant other. In this article, we’ll explore the reasons behind this behavior and provide helpful solutions.
Your dog may chew your boyfriend’s things due to stress, anxiety, boredom, teething, a fondness for your boyfriend, or the material of the object. To address this issue, you can try using bitter spray on the objects, providing raw bones and puzzle toys for your dog to chew on, dog-proofing the house, using hot sauce as a deterrent, providing soothing distractions, and ensuring your dog gets adequate exercise.
To make your boyfriend more comfortable with this issue, it’s important to identify the exact reason for the behavior and find suitable solutions. With patience and training, you can help your furry friend overcome this habit.
What are the reasons why does your dog only chew boyfriend’s things?
If you are dating and when you live in the same apartment with your boyfriend and dog, how is the feeling when your canine friend starts to chew your only your boyfriend’s things?
I know it is just a disgusting and so frustrating feeling. So, you got to find solutions for this matter, because you cannot punish your dog. (If you now punish your dog, just stop it. Instead, read the whole article. I bet you it will be so worthwhile)
So, here is the list of reasons,
- Your dog may love or comfort on your boyfriend
- Due to boredom
- Due to separation anxiety
- Teething
- To release stress
- Because you leave them on easily accessible places
- Your dog may love the materials
- They can understand the relationship state between you
- The type of the breed
Your dog may chew your boyfriend’s things because he comforts on your boyfriend.
I know what you feel now. “Whaaat? my dog chew my boyfriend’s things because he loves him?” Yes, you are 100% correct. But, I’m pretty much sure that you gonna OK with this statement after reading this.
Because there is also a proven solution that is associate with this statement to use in such situations.
Think whether your dog is extremely attached to your boyfriend (If not, please jump to the next reason). If so, this issue can often happen.
If your dog’s favorite person is your boyfriend, Even when your boyfriend is not home, your dog might love to feel the scent of your boyfriend. Because he loves him.
Can you imagine the power of the sense of smell on dogs? Believe me, it can be estimated more than 1000 times what we have.
In fact, our shoes are really scent, I’m not kidding. So, when your dog chews your boyfriend’s stuff, he can really feel his favorite person. And it can make him satisfied.
Once you catch out this bad trait, giving punishments is not an option. Instead, you need to follow a specific process to make your dog understand that it is a really bad trait. We gonna discuss this under solutions.
Due to boredom
Dogs often get boredom if they don’t have any work to engage with. So, they gonna find out their method to get rid of laziness.
Often, they wanna find out something to chew. Obviously, if that thing will be his favorite person’s (In this case, your boyfriend), your dog will be happy to chew.
Besides destructive chewing, check if he is showing the following behaviors,
- Often barking
- Trying to escape
- Hyper greetings
- General mischief
But don’t worry. I also have solutions to this problem. Let’s discuss that under solutions.
Suggested Reading: Do female dogs tend to chew more when in heat?
Your dog may chew boyfriend’s things because of separation anxiety.
Separation anxiety is one of the significant reasons why this matter happens. You know that boys are really messy, and they put their belongings everywhere.
So, there is a high possibility of picking your boyfriend’s stuff. So, you need to check if your dog shows the following behaviors,
- Trying to escape
- Defecating and urinating
- pacing
- Annoying howling and barking
- Digging, destruction
If so, your dog is more likely to suffer from separation anxiety. But this problem does not happen automatically. There must be some underline reasons. So, see if the following things happened recently.
- A change in the schedule of your dog.
- Is your dog a still newbie to your house?
- Whether anyone leaves your house
- Residence change
If so, separation anxiety is the reason why does your dog chew boyfriend’s things. So, it’s recommended to consult a veterinarian as soon as possible.
Teething
If your dog is still a puppy, it can be his teething period. If this is the matter, you don’t wanna worry too much. But I do recommend you to buy some puppy-safe chewing toys for your dog.
Do you know, dogs’ teeth start coming in at 2-4 weeks. But, in the week 12-16 period, dogs are more likely to chew things.
Your dog may chew boyfriend’s things to release stress.
This is a common problem among most dogs, and they often suffer from stress due to several reasons. The fact I wanna emphasize here is that chewing things can cause to release of dopamine. So, as a result, their level of stress gonna reduce gradually.
When we think about this fact, it’s the same for humans too. That’s why your stress is reduced when you get involved with something you like the most.
So, if you understand the exact cause of why your dog is stressed, you can solve it by taking necessary actions, and your dog will not chew your boyfriend’s things.
So, how can you understand if your dog is stressed? Check if he shows the following behaviors.
- Destructive chewing
- Occasional panting
- Annoying barking and whining
- Panting
- Yawning
- Occasional aggression
- Excessive drooling
- Restlessness
- Pacing
- Licking
- Escaping behavior
- Hiding
If so, your dog is stressed. So, there must be several reasons for this to happens. Take a look at the following things.
- House change
- your dog is rehomed one
- Your dog is still a newbie to your house
- loud noises around your house
- Leaving your dog for too long
If so, your dog is stressed, and you wanna necessary actions as soon as possible. So, let’s discuss what the potential solutions under solutions are.
Because you leave them on easily accessible places
I know, this sound is more prominent. But, I do wanna mention here that dogs tend to pick items that belong to their favorite person. That happens because he knows what the scent of his favorite person is.
I mean, your boyfriend is his favorite person, and he can easily access things that belong to your boyfriend. Then guess what? IT’S CHEWING TIME…
Your dog may love the materials.
In most cases, dogs love to chew things that are made of rubber, leather, rawhide, etc. In fact, leather items have the scent of their natural origin, and in most cases, they can be yummy for dogs.
They can understand the relationship state between you.
What I mean by dogs can understand the relationship state between you is, think whether both of you always get into fights or your boyfriend is often blaming you. If so, there is a small chance that your dog chews his shoe or something else.
But I do wanna mention here that there is no scientific proof for this statement, and it’s a really controversial matter. But, I have heard some stories related to this. I’m sure you’ve also heard.
Here is why your dog is aggressive at your husband.
Your dog may chew boyfriend’s things because of the type of the breed.
This destructive behavior can occur because of the type of breed. In fact, age also can be a huge reason(which we have discussed above)
So, there is a number of breeds that are the biggest chewers in the canine world. So, Check if your dog also belongs to one of the following breeds.
- Australian Shepherd
- Basset Hound
- Beagle
- Border Collie
- Boxer
- Bulldog
- Chihuahua
- Dachshund
- Dalmatian
- Doberman Pinscher
- German Shepherd
- Golden Retriever
- Great Dane
- Greyhound
- Jack Russell Terrier
- Labrador Retriever
- Pit Bull
- Rottweiler
- Shetland Sheepdogs
- Shiba Inu
- Siberian Husky
How to keep your dog from chewing boyfriend’s things?
I assume now you have a good understanding of why does your dog chews your boyfriend’s things. I know this destructive behavior is so annoying, and that’s why I’m gonna give some practice methods that are actually working.
And I also wanna mention here that these solutions are not traditional solutions that you have heard from everywhere. So, let’s figure out what those solutions are.
- Use bitter spray
- Give Raw bones
- Give puzzle toys
- Use hot sauce
- Dog proof your house
- Crating
- X-penning
- Leave your scent with them
- Give adequate exercises
- Make soothing distractions
- Train them not to chew things
Use bitter spray
Bitter sprays are one of the handy methods that I personally like. We also call them Deterrent sprays. If your dog is not stopping chewing your boyfriend’s things, I’m pretty much sure this thing is gonna work.
Because this spray is basically water-based spray and its taste is disgusting. (Hay, don’t taste it out, okay?) So, all you wanna do is take the spray and spray it on your boyfriend’s belongings.
So, when the dog is going to chew something that belongs to your boyfriend, it will feel horrible taste to your dog, and he will go away.
Perhaps, your dog will never chew the things he used to chew on.
Give Raw bones, and your dog will never chew your boyfriend’s things.
As we discussed so far, if we can keep our dogs busy, we don’t wanna worry about their destructive behaviors. So, Giving Raw bones is another handy method.
But you wanna make sure to give them only Raw bones because cooked bones can splinter. Moreover, giving bigger size bones is always gonna give better results.
Give puzzle toys, and your dog will never chew your boyfriend’s things.
We know that most people used to punish their dogs if they found it when dogs chew something. I know, We want to make their destructive behavior disappear, but punishing is not an option.
Instead, we can use something like Puzzle toys that can keep your dog busy all the time. And the fact is, it’s working.
If you give your dog your boyfriend’s shoes and a puzzle toy as two options to choose from, your dog gonna choose the puzzle toy. Because it’s much more exciting to chew, and it’s really delicious.
So, the first thing we wanna understand is we wanna give them something that has the ability to keep their dog busy all the time. The regular toys are not going to work unless there is someone to interact with the dog.
But the fact that I wanna emphasize here is that toys with food can your dog mentally stimulated, and it can make your dog tired.
But the cool thing here is, this toy can entice your dog to play all the time to get the food out. So, it’s time to understand what is the exact process you wanna follow.
- Choose a perfect puzzle toy
- Shove food in there ( If you want, you can use kibble too)
- After that, run it under hot water for several minutes
- Take out the whole toy and let it cool
- Put it in the freezer ( But the kibble should be inside)
- Then take it out in the next day, and you have frozen kibble inside the puzzle toy.
So, in this case, it’s tough to get it out. So, you can keep your dog busy all the time.
Use hot sauce
Hot sauce also is an excellent way to keep your dog from chewing your boyfriend’s stuff. You know what, a dog’s nose is much more sensitive, and some scents they hate.
So, the sauce is also one of them. If you wanna protect something from your dog, apply a bit of them. Trust me, it’s gonna work.
Dog proof your house
When we think about dog proofing, there are two approaches you can always go with.
- Using a crate
- x-penning
Using a crate
If you feel the above solutions are not gonna work, it’s time to crate your dog when you are away. By crating them, your dog cannot chew your boyfriend’s things.
But be aware that crating your dog for a long time could cause you to develop several psychological issues. Personally, I don’t prefer this method.
X-penning
I personally like to use this method. You can dedicate a particular area to your dog and enclose it with a gate. So, it’s much more comfortable for your dog rather than staying inside the crate.
But, I know, space really matters. So, If you are living in a relatively small apartment, this can be quite difficult.
Leave your boyfriend’s scent with them.
As I always said that dogs love to chew things that belong to their favorite person. So, get a toy and tell your boyfriend to keep it between his hands for several minutes.
So, By this process, you can transfer your boyfriend’s scent to that toy, and the dog can chew it all the time. So, everyone is happy.
Give adequate exercises
If you are busy enough and not providing adequate exercise that your dog needs, he is more likely to be prone to several phycological issues.
So, this can lead to chewing your boyfriend’s belongings.
Make soothing distractions
By making soothing distractions, you can easily keep your dog from chewing your boyfriend’s things. To do that, you can turn on the TV or radio when you leave home.
In fact, playing dog relaxing music also helps with this matter.
Train your dog not to chew boyfriend’s things
There are some training methods that you can easily follow to stop this kind of destructive behavior. So, I recommend you watch the following video.
Conclusion
Have you ever wondered why does your dog chew only your boyfriend’s things? Well, there are several causes for this matter. This comprehensive guide is included all the possible reasons and solutions. I hope this helps. Have a nice day.
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