HUMANS FOR DOGS: My dog chewed up my brand-new jacket. What do I do to discipline him? I put his pen but that did not work.

– Camryn

Photo by BuzzFarmers

Camryn, you have a chance to tell your dog “no” when you take away the jacket. There’s no way to discipline him later because there’s no way to tell him you are upset about the jacket. If your dog can’t be trusted alone yet (and some dogs can’t be trusted until they are several years old), then you should crate him whenever you are not around.

You train dogs by correcting them when they are doing something wrong, not punishing them for something they did wrong. It might take some creative work to figure out how to catch them in the act!

For example, you can try showing your dog the jacket and saying no. I think that’s confusing because you are showing or giving it to him which makes it ok for him to pay attention to it and then you are saying no. If you do want to try setting him up, I’d leave the jacket on the floor and then let him “find” it and say “No” very firmly when he goes over to sniff it.

– Humans for Dogs