Dogs can sometimes be hard on your home, which sadly contributes to many landlords and letting agents not allowing tenants with dogs. But if your dog’s destructive behaviour goes beyond normal wear and tear—tearing up curtains, chewing upholstery, and causing damage—it’s vital to address this challenge with care and understanding.
Many reasons may cause your dog to attack furniture, including boredom, excess energy, anxiety, or lack of appropriate outlets. Fixing this behaviour requires attentive care, management, and enriching your dog's environment to meet their emotional and physical needs.
Before trying to stop the behaviour, assess what drives your dog to chew or destroy items when you’re out.
Ensuring your dog is enriched mentally and physically is the cornerstone of reducing destructive tendencies.
Limit tempting opportunities and physical access to your furnishings:
Using a crate or confining your dog to a secure room can reduce damage risk and make your dog feel comfortable and safe:
A tired dog is a less destructive dog. Ensure you provide adequate exercise:
Toys and interactive challenges can keep your dog’s mind engaged and reduce boredom:
To prevent chewing on favourite destruction targets:
As your dog learns to behave, you can slowly expand their unsupervised area and duration:
Remember, every dog is unique, and patience and consistency are key. If your dog’s destructive behaviour persists, consider consulting a professional dog trainer or your vet to rule out any underlying anxieties or health issues.
When looking to acquire a dog, always seek reputable breeders or adoption centres to ensure you bring home a well-socialised and healthy pet.
By combining proper exercise, enrichment, training, and environmental management, you can protect your home and nurture a happy, well-adjusted dog.
Regular grooming is important for maintaining your cockapoo's coat condition, skin health, and general comfort. How often grooming is needed depends largely on coat type — longer, denser coats typically require brushing several times a week to prevent tangles and matting, while shorter coats are more straightforward to maintain.
Routine grooming should also incorporate checking the ears for signs of infection, keeping nails trimmed to a safe length, and cleaning around the eyes when necessary. Introducing your pet to grooming procedures from a young age makes the experience less stressful for both animal and owner. Many owners choose to use a professional groomer periodically, particularly for breed-specific styling or when the animal is difficult to handle at home.
Regular grooming is important for maintaining your cockapoo's coat condition, skin health, and general comfort. How often grooming is needed depends largely on coat type — longer, denser coats typically require brushing several times a week to prevent tangles and matting, while shorter coats are more straightforward to maintain.
Routine grooming should also incorporate checking the ears for signs of infection, keeping nails trimmed to a safe length, and cleaning around the eyes when necessary. Introducing your pet to grooming procedures from a young age makes the experience less stressful for both animal and owner. Many owners choose to use a professional groomer periodically, particularly for breed-specific styling or when the animal is difficult to handle at home.
Regular grooming is important for maintaining your cockapoo's coat condition, skin health, and general comfort. How often grooming is needed depends largely on coat type — longer, denser coats typically require brushing several times a week to prevent tangles and matting, while shorter coats are more straightforward to maintain.
Routine grooming should also incorporate checking the ears for signs of infection, keeping nails trimmed to a safe length, and cleaning around the eyes when necessary. Introducing your pet to grooming procedures from a young age makes the experience less stressful for both animal and owner. Many owners choose to use a professional groomer periodically, particularly for breed-specific styling or when the animal is difficult to handle at home.
True separation anxiety requires a structured desensitisation and counter-conditioning programme rather than simply providing more toys or increasing exercise, though both help. The goal is to gradually extend the duration your dog can spend alone while remaining below the threshold of anxiety — this often means starting with very short absences of just seconds or minutes and building up extremely slowly.
Attempting to rush this process, or using punishment when destructive behaviour is discovered, reliably makes separation anxiety worse. A veterinary behaviourist or clinical animal behaviourist accredited by the ABTC can carry out a proper assessment and design a programme tailored to your dog's specific anxiety profile. In some cases, short-term medication may be recommended alongside behaviour modification to help the dog engage with the training.