How to Train Your Dog to Not Eat Paper

Have you ever been on a diet, only to binge while eating out with friends? Temptation is a terrible thing and there's nothing quite like it for encouraging unwanted behavior. This is especially true for dogs, because the satisfaction of ripping up paper is its own reward. Thus, the dog happily teaches himself that chewing paper is fun. As part of retraining, you need to remove this potential source of self-reward by tidying up.

If you have a mail slot, fit a box around it to catch the mail and prevent the dog collecting it from the floor.

Look at each room from a dog's eye view. Look for newspapers, magazines, letters, printouts or anything else the dog can reach and tidy it away. Either put the papers in a secure box or up onto a high shelf that the dog can't reach

Stop giving the dog cardboard rolls to play with or rolled up newspapers to chew. If he is given these as chew toys, he won't recognize the difference when he sees the Sunday newspaper on the coffee table.

Give the dog plenty of exercise. A dog that's pleasantly tired gets up to less mischief.

The dog isn't being malicious, he's exhibiting a natural need to chew. When he picks the wrong thing (paper), distract him and substitute a more appropriate outlet for his chewing. Indeed, giving him plenty of opportunity for appropriate chewing will decrease his interest in things he shouldn't.

Avoid the pitfall of chasing after the dog when he's got hold of something he shouldn't. A game of chase is fun and actually rewards him for stealing the newspaper, making him keener to do this in future rather than preventing him.

When your dog has down-time, provide a suitable chew for him to get his teeth into. This feeds his inner need to chew so he doesn't go looking for his own outlet for this behavior. If this is rawhide or an edible chew, be sure to supervise him at all times.

The dog is about to shred a letter. You should grab a squeaky toy and squeak it like mad to distract him. When he drops the letter, heap praise upon his furry head, and reward him with a hearty game with the toy.

Alternatively, distract him with the squeaky toy and when he drops the letter, provide his all-time favorite chew toy as an alternative. You are rewarding him for relinquishing the letter, by providing something equally satisfying to chew on.

For those times when your reflexes are too slow and the dog snatches a papery snack, teaching the 'give it' command could save the day.

Take two identical toys (which your dog adores). Play with one and keep the other out of sight. Let the dog have toy #1 and play with it.

Now divert his attention to toy #2. Play with it as if it's the most interesting toy ever. Once the dog sees this, he'll lose interest in toy #1. As he opens his mouth to let go and take the second toy, say "give it" in a firm but happy voice, and let him have toy #2 as a reward.

Repeat this toy exchange, making it into a game. The secret is perfect timing and saying "give it" just as the dog was about to relinquish his prize for another. This helps him link the words to the action.

Alternatively, you can teach 'give it' by having him drop the toy to take a treat. Your aim is to have the dog automatically drop what's in his mouth when he hears "give it" since he's worked out he gets a reward for so doing and therefore there's nothing to lose.