How To Stop Dog Chewing Furniture Using Home Remedies?

Chester is my one-year-old pet dog. He is a friendly and enthusiastic fella. Despite how amicable my dog is, sometimes he can be a bit of a troublemaker. Chester loves to chew things at home, especially furniture. So, I thought discussing how to stop your dog chewing furniture by using easy home remedies.

I’ve heard that dogs chew things when they are still puppies, but Chester keeps doing it although he is no longer a puppy. Seeing my dog chewing the furniture raises my temper, but we all know that having a dog has perks and problems. So I wanted to find out solutions to this problem. This article will look into home remedies that will help stop your dog from chewing furniture.

So, how to stop dog chewing furniture using home remedies? If your dog chews furniture at home, you can use different home remedies to avoid them doing it. Whether we like it or not, dogs mostly love to chew things. You can use lemon or a similar citrus fruit peel and rub it on your furniture to keep the dogs away from chewing. Dogs are uncomfortable with the citrus scent, so they avoid chewing the furniture. Vinegar is another remedy that you can use similarly.

Suppose vinegar alone doesn’t seem to work. In that case, you can make a homemade bitter apple recipe using lemon juice, apple cider vinegar, and cayenne pepper. Other ways to help your dog not chew furniture include providing them alternative things, such as DIY chew toys.

Dogs naturally pursue certain habits, and chewing is one such habit. It doesn’t matter to them whether it is important to you; if they find it as a chew toy, they will not hesitate to chew it.

Furniture is one of the ordinary household stuff that dogs chew, and they do it because of several reasons. If you want to stop them from doing it, you should act smart; luckily, it is not as hard as you think.

Read through to understand better why dogs chew furniture and how natural remedies help to make them stop. 

Why do dogs chew furniture?

It could happen for several reasons if your dog chews furniture at home. As said, chewing is a spontaneous habit followed by many dogs, especially puppies.

Dogs also tend to chew things when bored, anxious, angry, or even for no precise reason. Let’s comprehensively have a look at these causes.

• Teething

When you bring home a new dog, you will surely see how they try to chew pretty much anything chewable. Why do puppies like to chew furniture so much? This typically happens as a result of its teething process.

Incoming teeth can be somewhat painful for your young dog to handle. To numb the pain, they chew into things, especially furniture. When we lose our baby teeth and adult teeth start to come in, it can be quite an uncomfortable process; the same for dogs.

Puppies start teething around three weeks, and their baby teeth will begin to fall out by twelve weeks. Permanent teeth will start coming in.

This is certainly not the most pleasant experience for your puppy to go through. Hence, they manage the discomfort by chewing furniture in your house.

• Separation anxiety 

In the simplest sense, anxiety is how one responds to a stressful condition. Just like humans, dogs also have emotions and experience stress and anxiety. One of the most common forms of anxiety among dogs is separation anxiety.

As the name implies, dogs undergo separation anxiety when left alone for a considerable period. If your dog experience separation anxiety, it will act anxiously when you leave them home on its own.

Dogs show their anxiety through different physical gestures, and chewing is typical to indicate stress. 

• Boredom 

Dogs need attention. When you decide to raise a dog, you should also be clear on its responsibilities. Pet dogs love spending time with their family, and as much as they show attention and affection toward the family, it also expects the family to reciprocate.

This does not mean you have to spend the entire day with your dog, which is not practical, but you must give the dog enough attention when you are around. If the dog follows you and seeks attention, cuddle them, speak to them, and show that you give them attention.

If you keep ignoring the dog, the dog will feel bored and act negatively. So under such circumstances, it is common that they tend to chew furniture.

When the dog has no one to get along with, it may try to find ways to keep itself occupied, and chewing is certainly a fun way for dogs to keep themselves entertained. 

• Natural instinct and excessive freedom 

As mentioned earlier, chewing is a natural habit among dogs. Puppies mostly do it to cope with the teething process, but chewing is not limited to puppies; grownup dogs also love to chew furniture in your home.

Dogs instinctively chew things because it helps them occupy their selves and strengthen their gums and teeth. So despite their age, dogs will chew into things. However, you can prevent your dog from chewing furniture at home through training and alternatives.

Still, if you do not train them and ignore them chewing furniture in the early stages, they will likely continue as a habit. When you have a pet dog, you have to ensure you train them to behave well.

Some instincts of dogs cannot be completely eliminated, but you can manage them. If you give excessive freedom to the dog without any rules, they will take the unwanted advantages out of it. 

• Anger 

Anger is another possible reason that makes your pet dog chew furniture. Suppose your dog did something mischievous; if you yell at them or punish them harshly, it could possibly make the dog angrier.

When dogs are mad, they likely show destructive behavior, such as chewing household items. 

Stop your dog chewing furniture using these home remedies

Now you may clearly understand what motivates a dog to chew furniture at home. As this behavior mainly triggers naturally, how can you stop it? You can use the below-mentioned home remedies to tackle this issue. 

• Lemon peel 

Lemon contains citric acid, which is not something dogs can hold. The strong scent of citrus does not attract dogs; therefore, you can use this to keep them away from chewing furniture.

The use of lemon also might raise the question of whether it is toxic for the dog. Lemon and similar citrus fruits contain essential oils and a chemical compound that can be toxic to dogs; however, it will only be harmful if they directly consume the citric acid in a considerable amount.

To keep them away from furniture, all you need is the peel of the lemon. Apply the peel on furniture; the citrus smell will automatically keep the dog away.

You can also boil the peels in water and store the liquid as a spray so that you can use it when needed. As the dogs do not directly consume the acid, it will not cause any harm to the pet.

• Homemade bitter apple spray

This is another home remedy that will help to keep your pet dog out of chewing furniture. This spray requires water, lemon juice, and apple cider vinegar.

You can spray this on your furniture daily, and the smell is uncomfortable for dogs, so they will stay away from the furniture. 

• Cayenne pepper spray 

Homemade cayenne pepper spray will also help to stop dogs from chewing your furniture. You can mix cayenne pepper into boiling water, and once the mixture comes to room temperature, you can spray it on your furniture.

Cayenne pepper has a strong smell that dogs dislike, so the smell is what keeps the dog away from chewing the furniture.

Cayenne pepper is not harmful to dogs, so you do not have to worry about using it; however, do not use it excessively because your pet dog can find the smell quite irritating. 

• DIY chew toys

The above remedies will help you keep your dog away from chewing furniture. However, as said, chewing is something that dogs do instinctively; young dogs especially need to chew into things when they are teething, so you can make DIY chew toys at home.

They are cheap, safe, and will avoid dogs chewing other stuff at home when they have their own chew toys. You can use a tennis ball, cover it with socks or old fabric strips and give your dog as an alternative chew toy. 

Final thoughts 

In this article, we primarily looked into the reasons why dogs chew furniture and how we can avoid it with the use of home remedies. Dogs love to chew, so if you have a dog at home, you usually have to deal with this.

So without just complaining about it, you can utilize homemade remedies to avoid your pet dog chewing furniture. Such remedies are cheap, easy to find, harmless, and, most importantly, effective.