How do a keep my puppy from chewing stuff up?

Question

We have have a puppy that's a few months old now and stays outside with an older dog. We give her a pillow to sleep on in her dog house but she keeps dragging her pillows out, chewing them up, and taking all the stuffing out. We've gone through several pillows with her and she keeps destroying them every time we give her one to sleep on. We've caught her in the act at least once so it's not the other dog and she also has a tendency to steal shoes and sunglasses and whatever else is left unattended on the floor but usually we catch her before she does much damage to anything else than her pillow. It's just that when we get home or feed her in the morning, we keep finding her pillow all torn up. Does she not like having something soft to sleep on?

Aside from tearing stuff up, she's a very sweet dog and still very young. Is there a way to discourage this kind of behavior or find out why she keeps doing it?

Answer 1

Puppies need to chew.  They are teething from the age of about 3 months to about 6 months old.  Make sure she has something appropriate to chew on and she will leave the pillow alone.

Kong is a good chew toy.

Please stay away from rawhide chews.  They can provide a choking hazard.  Unless it is the pressed rawhide chews.  The pieces in it are too small to provide a choking danger.  

Answer 2

You need to teach her the leave command. To do this, take a treat between your finger and thumb and when she goes to eat the treat gently tap her on the nose with your other three fingers and say "leave" and keep repeating until she gives you a signal she's given up. Reward her with a treat from your other hand (not the same one you're practising with). Once she has learnt to leave it between your finger and thumb, put the treat on the palm of your hand and practise that way, eventually move on to leaving it on the floor.

When you don't have treats with you and she leaves something you don't want her to chew, praise her and replace it with something she is allowed to chew.