Help! My ESA is Ruining My House

Published on: June 8, 2020

By: ASP Administrator

Finding your emotional support dog chewing, scratching or tugging on your nice household items can be nerve-racking. These dog behaviors can prevent you from getting an emotional support letter and from renting with your ESA. Therefore, it’s important to understand the cause and find solutions.

Luckily, not all is doom and gloom. You can still get your emotional support animal letter and get your ESA dog to stop chewing and scratching.

Effective Solutions To Calm Your ESA

First, find the cause of why your ESA is Chewing and scratching. The reason why can result from different things. It’s important to identify the root cause to find the right approach to rectify the problem. It’s advisable to rule out medical problems that can cause undesirable behavior in pets first.

By identifying the cause of the problem it’s easier to pick solutions that apply best to your pet. If the problem is medical, then treatment is the best approach.

Make your stuff feel and smell bad to your dog

If the problem is behavioral, there are a few tricks to protect your home and keep your pet away from your nice things. One of them is coating the furniture and other items with a taste deterrent. Bitter apple is an excellent choice for this trick.

If it is unappealing to your ESA, then he/she won’t pay much attention to it. However, some dogs can still chew furniture even with the task deterrent.

Booby trap the house

Another great idea is to set booby traps. This works well for pets that are persistent. For instance, you can fill a soda can with pennies and place it on furniture that your dog likes to scratch. You can also pin an alarm on your doorknob.

The unpleasant noises made by the booby traps can deter your pet from such behavior. A more economical option would be to tape balloons around the problematic areas.

Provide alternatives

A subtler approach is to give your pet acceptable alternatives that they can chew and scratch on. Chewing and scratching is natural behavior in pets. Changing it might be difficult. But, if you give them something acceptable to chew, they can keep up with their natural traits while staying away from your household items and furniture.

Investing in enticing toys like marrow bones and rawhide can help keep your puppy away from your valuable possessions. You can also stuff some toys like Marrow bones with liver treats for hours of entertainment and fun.

Give more attention to the pet

Lack of attention can have a multitude of effects on your pet. Mischief and acting up is one of these effects. Spend more time with your emotional support dog doing things he loves and taking him to the park. This allows him to let out physical energy. You should also engage your dog mentally by teaching him new tricks.

As your ESA dog grows, find new ways to keep him engaged and give him plenty of attention. If that doesn’t work, you can try introducing another pet so he/she has a new pal to play with.

To get an ESA letter for your pet especially when moving into a new apartment, your pet should exhibit a lot of restraint and discipline. If he still has problems chewing and scratching things, take your emotional support dog to ESA trainers for further training and diagnosis.

Need more help? Contact the American Service Pets for more information.

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ATTENTION

Due to the new Department of Transportation (DOT) policy, Emotional Support Animals are NO longer allowed to fly in airplane cabins for free. However, Psychiatric Service Dogs are eligible.