A primary concern for many dog obedience training households is chewing destruction. In order to stop digging and chewing behaviors, it’s important to reference the dog training tips of a top dog trainer and to utilize those dog training techniques to train your dog to keep his mouth off of things that simply don’t belong to him.

You’ve probably noticed, while training your dog, that he uses his nose and mouth to explore his world. Many things, harmless and otherwise, end up in his mouth.

Besides wreaking havoc on your landscape and your interior dcor, plant chewing can wreak havoc within your dog. Amputated plant leaves grow back, but damage to your dog, caused by eating that plant, can be as serious as death.

Beware of these plants, on behalf of your dog:

Lantana: Also known as Ham ‘n Eggs or Yellow Sage, this tropical plant’s blooms appear in clusters of red, orange, yellow, blue or white. It contains lantadene A and B, which causes photosensitization, jaundice, loss of appetite, constipation, weakness, and ulceration.

Dieffenbachia, or Dumbcane, is a dumb snack idea for dogs. Its ornate green leaves contain needle shaped cells than cut into soft tissue, resulting in irritation of the oral cavity, swelling, extreme drooling, a burning sensation, edema, and erythema.

Philodendron is great for household oxygen levels, but this common vine isn’t good for your dog’s health if consumed. It causes vomiting, swallowing difficulty, excessive drooling, and irritation of oral tissues.

Caladium also has heart shaped leaves, but there’s no love in it for dogs. It’s beautiful, with its white, pink, and green patterned leaves, but the extreme drooling, swallowing difficulty, vomiting, and oral irritation that it causes aren’t pretty.

Elephant Ear leaves are bigger than your dog’s head, and if he eats one, the symptoms might be bigger than he can handle. Symptoms include vomiting, swallowing difficulties, drooling excessively, and oral irritation.

Ivy’s a good creeper, and it proves that by creeping through your dog with symptoms like diarrhea, vomiting, excessive salivation, and abdominal cramping.

Rosary Pea, or Prayer Bean, bears red berries that have historically been used to create rosaries. You might want to pray, after calling the vet, if your dog ingests any of these, because he will be subjected to shock, fever, elevated heart rate, bloody stools, bloody vomiting, tremors, and possible death.

Mistletoe is great for kissing, but terrible for eating. Characterized by its holiday white berries and glossy, round leaves, it causes vomiting, diarrhea, dyspnea, bradycardia, cardiovascular collapse, gastrointestinal complications, unpredictable behavior, and low blood pressure.

Castor Bean might be the source of castor oil, a common remedy, but its blue, prickly beans house seeds which contain ricin, which can cause bloody diarrhea, fever, central nervous system decline, loss of coordination, breathing difficulty, trembling and weakness, appetite loss, convulsions, kidney failure, vomiting, excessive thirst, and irritation of oral tissues.

The Peace Lily delivers anything but peace to a dog’s system. This plant is characterized by its large, draping leaves and sizeable white lilies. It contains calcium oxalate crystals, which cause extreme drooling, swallowing difficulty, and oral cavity irritation.

Schefflera: Also known as the Umbrella Tree, this plant has woody stems and sectioned, multi leafed bunches of glossy green foliage. If ingested, it can cause oral irritation, excessive drooling, vomiting, and difficulty swallowing.

Chrysanthemums, or Mums, are well known for their colorful fall blooms. They’re also known for their ability to cause loss of coordination, depression, diarrhea, vomiting, and gastric disturbance in dogs.

As extensive as this list may seem, the inventory of plants that are poisonous to dogs doesn’t stop there. Iris, Daffodil, Poinsettia, Aster, Fox Glove, Delphinium, Hyacinth, Jack in the Pulpit, Lily of the Valley, Sago Palm, Narcissus, Tulip, Rhododendron, Azalea, Marijuana, Oleander, Cyclamen, Kalanchoe, Amaryllis, Yew, and Autumn Crocus are also notable villains.

Firstly, put houseplants out of your dog’s reach. Then supervise her when she’s outside. The dog training techniques included in practices like clicker training and crate training will assist you in training your dog to “leave” plants alone. Training a dog can greatly contribute to her safety, especially when positive dog training tips teach her to make the good decisions that you expect: the ones that will keep her mouth off of poisonous plants.

Learn more about dog obedience training. Stop by Dr. Nortey Omaboe’s site where you can find out all about dog training and what it can do for you and your dog.