Gnawing on a dried, smoked pigs ear may seem pretty gross to you and me—but, to Fido it is a delicious dinner. My German short hair pointer, Barney, loves nothing better than to spend a rainy day chewing on a pig’s ear. Many times, I have even given Barney a pig’s ear to calm his excitement when I have guests over. I have taken Barney on long road trips and a pig’s ear really keeps him busy.

My friend owns a Labradoodle that barks constantly. My friend has tried everything from dog training classes, to canine anxiety medication. But the classes only made the barking worse, and the medication made the poor pup act like a zombie. I suggested he give his dog a pig’s ear to quiet his barking. And, guess what? It worked. The neighbors are no longer complaining and the car rides are no longer intolerable.

Chew or a Toy? What's The Difference?

Believe it or not there is a difference between a chew and a toy when it comes to a dog. Toys satisfy your dogs need to play, run, chase, tug, frolic and generally act like a perpetual puppy. Playing with toys is one of the best times of interaction between you and your dog. They also keep your dog active and healthy.

Toys should be played with then put away. Even the toughest toys will be destroyed if left alone with your dog for hours. Additionally, toys that are put away and brought-out for play are received with great enthusiasm, your dog will act like a kid with a new toy every time.

Although dogs play with chews, chews are designed to be chewed! Chews are pacifiers that satisfy your dogs need to crunch, chomp, and chew. In most cases, you can leave your pet with chews for hours and days. As the chew becomes more mangled the greater the dog seems to enjoy the chew. As time goes on dogs will wear down the chew normally making it smaller and before it becomes a choking hazard should be taken away and discarded.

With all dogs satisfying their need to play and chew is an endless battle so be ready to continue to add to your pup's play-things.

Scratching? Suggestions to Help Your Dog Stop.

Scratching can be caused by a number of variables including age, breed, and size but the most common cause is boredom. If a dog is bored than he will find something to entertain himself and scratching a sofa just might be the cure to boredom.

When customers would come into my store with similar bad habits I would first ask them what kind of toys do they have for their dog. And just about every time they would say, "Oh, he has plenty of toys he just doesn't play with them." With that answer I would have something to work with.

Dogs can be picky, they might have twenty toys sitting in front of them but there is usually one or two that are their favorites and they'll go right for those before going after any of the others. The key isn't quantity it's quality.

Try introducing two or three different toys one at a time. Let your dog play with it for a week or so and then introduce one of the other toys while taking the original one away. After another couple of weeks reintroduce of the the old toys again. This will give you dog the feeling he's receiving a new toy every couple of weeks. This should really help him avoid getting bored.

If it's not the toys it could be that he's just cooped up too much. Many of my customers had the problem of working all day while their dogs are at home. Then, when they come home, they will play with their dogs for a while and then it's off to making dinner, watching television, surfing the web, etc. So during the entire day their dogs would be at home all alone then their owners would come home spend about 30 minutes playing and it's off to sleep for the night. Next day comes around, same routine. So in reality their dogs would only be getting about 30 minutes of exercise and activity with their owners. If this is a routine your find yourself in with your pup try to dedicate more time to interact with him.

One more thing that could be causing the problem could be a scent that is on the sofa itself. If juice or something else you dog finds tantalizing that could be the reason for the scratching. You might want to try having the sofa deep cleaned and once that is done think about applying a repellent to a paper towel and setting it on the spot. That will train your dog to avoid that part of the sofa altogether.

The Keys to Quick Potty Training

The key to potty training dogs is repetition. Keep this in mind at all times:

When dogs are done playing, they have to go to the bathroom.
When dogs are done eating, they have to go to the bathroom.
When dogs are done sleeping, they have to go to the bathroom.

Basically, when your dog is finished doing anything he's going to want to go to the bathroom so be sure you take him to where you want him to go right away.

The Wee Wee Pads are a great way to help with potty training mainly because they're slightly scented so puppies know where to go. However, you have to remember your dog has only been alive for eight weeks and during those eight weeks he's encountered a different world at every stop which adds to the confusion. Being able to navigate your home in which he isn't too familiar with might take some time.

Smaller spaces are key. The bladder control of an eight week old puppy isn't long and the legs of an eight week old Bichon are pretty short so if those Wee Wee Pads are on the other side of the house when he has to go pee don't expect your new puppy to find them in time.

If your dog does have an accident on the carpet you will want to get a good stain and odor remover to get rid of the smell. If your dog smells the urine, just like on the puppy pads, he'll want to pee on the same spot. (Wee Wee Stain & Odor Remover by Four Paws is a good one but there are a ton of them available).

Dogs are very trainable animals so make sure you stick to a routine. Varying the routine at this age will make potty training a tenuous task. Some puppies pick it up in a couple of weeks and some take their whole lives to learn. The advice I gave my customers was stick to the routine early or be prepared to be potty training your puppy for years.

Hope this helps, John from fun4pets.com.