Dog vs. Carpet: How to Control and Prevent Destruction

When moving into a new place with a dog, or adopting a new dog, carpet is often considered. Adopting a puppy into your life can be one of the most rewarding and beautiful things you will ever do. Your dog, if treated as a member of the family, will always remain loyal, loving and true. Yet, there is one complication that nearly always poses a problem: your carpet.

Although many dogs eventually learn to live in peace with carpeting, it generally takes time before the dog/carpet relationship matures enough for you to not have to bother yourself with it anymore. For example, some puppies have an overwhelming urge to dig, and if they cannot have an outlet for their urges while outside in a yard, they may turn to your carpet to let out their emotions. It’s important to realize that, if your dog is trying to dig through your carpet, she is only doing so because she wants to dig for her own reasons. It is not due to frustration on her part, and it’s never revenge of any kind. Punishing her for doing so in not only unproductive, but it’s cruel.

If your dog wants to dig, give her a place where she can dig. That way, whether the reason for her digging is food-burying, nest-building, or even boredom, she’ll at least be able to do what she naturally wants to do. (Supplying a cushion to sleep on can also be sometimes effective.)

One great way to fix this issue is to provide your dog with a digging pit, similar to the way you might provide a human child with a sandbox. A small 3 x 6 foot area two feet deep in dirt should be enough.

While in front of your dog, dig it up yourself to loosen the dirt and mix in a little sand, which will help in drain more effectively. She’ll be sure to want to help while you’re preparing her digging pit; praise her liberally for this, and you’ll get her started on a lifetime of enjoyment in her digging pit. Once you’ve finished making the pit, take a few of her favorite toys and bury them while your dog watches. Then call her over to you and both of you dig up the toys together.

After she falls in love with the digging pit, remember to keep it fresh and interesting for her by burying treats and toys in the pit from time to time. At first, you’ll need to bury something once a day; over time, once a week is sufficient. Be sure to vary how many items you bury—if your dog cannot predict how many things are in the digging pit nor which day things are buried, that will give her that much more enjoyment when she does find them.

Another common problem occurs when dogs start chewing on carpet or other furniture. When dogs chew on your belongings, it’s because they’re nervous. If you leave your dog alone during a part of the day on a regular basis, your dog will start anticipating your return each time you leave. If it expects you at a certain time and you don’t actually arrive until later than she had expected, it isn’t uncommon for your dog to start chewing on whatever it can find in nervous anticipation.

Never punish your dog for chewing on your property, regardless of the situation. That will only confuse your dog. Remember that, to them, chewing on things is as perfectly natural as wagging their tail or barking. Imagine if you came home, made coffee, and took off your shoes, only to suddenly be punished. How would you even be able to determine which of the things you did warranted the punishment? In the same way, your dog will not be able to learn not to do things solely by punishment, which is unnecessarily cruel.

The easiest method you can use to prevent your dog from chewing what you don’t want it to chew is to give her things you don’t mind her chewing. Give her a liberal number of toys she can chew on, and be sure to make each toy individually interesting. One trick is to soak vegan rawhide in soups of varying types to give each piece its own individual flavor. After they dry, your dog will go crazy over each of them at different times, depending on her mood. Hide them one at a time in her digging pit to be found at her leisure.

It isn’t enough to just give her these toys; you’ll also need to help her understand that you want her to chew on them whenever she nervously anticipates your homecoming. Praise her whenever she chews on the toys on her own, until it becomes second nature to her. Then, upon arriving home each day, be sure the first thing you do is get her to chew on one of her toys. Only after she has her chew toy should you greet her normally. Eventually she will learn to anticipate your arrival with a chew toy in her mouth rather than anything else in your house.