How To Use Taste Deterrents To Prevent Your Dog From Chewing

Dogs, mostly puppies, have natural tendency to chew on virtually everything within their reach. Most dog owners have had the misfortune of having their shoes, toys, books etc chewing up and destroyed by their dogs. Various dogs training are out there to correct this destructive behaviour; however, this article would focus on how to use taste deterrents to stop your dog from chewing.


Taste deterrents are bitter and or spicy hot substances that are meant to leave bad taste in the mouth of your dog to the extent that it would henceforth move away from any material the substance is applied to or sprayed on. Basically they are not harmful to your dog; there are just to leave an unpleasant taste in its mouth.

The most common taste deterrents in the markets are Grannick’s Bitter Apple® Spray or Gel, Veterinarian’s Best® Bitter Cherry Spray, Yuk-2e Anti-Lick Gel, Bitter YUCK!® No Chew Spray and Chew Guard® Spray and so on.

Now before you rush out to buy any of these substances with the hope of stopping your dogs from chewing, you must be aware that dogs react to these substances differently. For instance, Dog A might taste “Bitter Apple” and spit it immediately whereas Dog B might swallow it and ask for more!

So you need to find out first which one would be effective as deterrent to your dog by applying a small portion of it first to the dog’s favourite food or apply a small amount to cotton wool or tissue and carefully put it in its mouth and see if it will eat it or not. If it does then you have to look for another deterrent but if it doesn’t, then you can now get larger portion and apply it to the items you don’t want the dog to chew again.

Once you are able to find out the taste deterrent that is effective on your dogs and you have applied it on all the items that you don’t want it to chew, you must ensure you consistently apply this for a reasonable time until you are sure the dog has been conditioned not to move near any of the forbidden items anymore.

Finally, you must ensure that you understand how to apply any of the deterrents, especially the spicy hot substances by asking the shop attendants on the appropriate usage or application.

You can learn more here on how to train your dogs properly and give you peace of mind at home.