# New puppy only chewing clothing/shoes etc



## Bugglz (May 22, 2018)

We have a 9 week old pup who loves to play and bite/chew. Only problem is he’s only interested in our clothing and shoes, as we as our hands and ankles! He hardly plays with any of the toys we’ve got him, and if he does it’s only for a minute or so and then back to our clothing. 
We were thinking it’s because our clothing smells like us?
Is there any way to get him to pay more attention to his toys? We’ve tried Kongs with peanut butter, skeaking toys, everything.
We’ve tried to sticking toys in his mouth when he’s biteing/chewing is but he’s not interested


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## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

Mine prefers cardboard boxes, and water bottles over her toys. But hands, and shoes are very high in her list. 
I do a couple of things. First I make a Attt sound before giving a correction. If it's my hand she is going after, I will push it a little further in her mouth. Just enough to make it uncomfortable for her. If she is doing the running fly by, and grabbing for arms, or legs. I use a cheap spray bottle filled with water. Attt, and spray her. 
If she is overtired, or over stimulated, I just put her in the crate.
When I tell mine Attt, she will stop and look at you for a few seconds. It's like she is debating, on if she is going to try it again, or move on. It's about 50/50 on her next move.


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## 2Gingers (Jan 25, 2018)

I lived through those times recently. I wore sweatpants (old clothes) and rain boots a lot! I, too, would try to distract his attention with other acceptable toys or activities. Stick with that. It didn't always work, but sometimes it would, and the number of times it worked slowly started to increase. Teaching him to sit or using some other command would sometimes snap him out of a frenzy. I would also say, "Time Out," turn my back on him, and move into another room for at least 20 seconds or so. If he was near the bathroom or laundry room, I would say, "Time Out," and put him in there for about 20 seconds. Again, it didn't always work, but stick with it (whatever method(s) you're comfortable with). They will eventually start to work. It will just take _a lot_ of patience and time, and you will be sporting many scrapes and bruises from nails and teeth. Mine is almost 6 months now and seems to have outgrown a lot of those bad behaviors, and I began to see major improvement around the 5-month mark, so there is hope! Taking him to obedience classes when he was old enough helped, too. Good luck!


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## Gabica (Jan 20, 2018)

2 gingers` methods worked for us. patience was key. and consistency. if we did not want a certain behavior to manifest as an attitude we restrained ourselves from any encouragement (i.e. giggle) even if it was funny looking. also learned the `drama queen method` (pretending that something hurts so much that i am about to die) for shark attacks, and it worked, they want to please after all. and they learn to read body language extremely well.


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## Largo (May 8, 2018)

We had the same issue with our V. We taught him the "leave it" command and gave him a toy instead. Our pup is now 14 weeks and his chewing of laces and clothes has decreased. When he is very tired he has a tendency to be willing to chew more.


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## tknafox2 (Apr 2, 2013)

Card board boxes were a Blessing when Fergy was teething... and he loved them. I also bought those Cheep Hard Pressed rawhide bones that come in a multi pack 
and are about 6 inches long. He LOVED them... BUT... they are not good for them!!! So you only let them chew them until they start to get soft... don't let them ingest much of the rawhide... take it away. Let the dog see where you keep it... when they " ask " for the bone... either give them a new one, or wait till the old one gets dry... If it gets sharp... throw it away!! they are very inexpensive !

It is very important to teach "Appropriate chew Items" at that early age!


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