Are you familiar with this scenario? You go out to the shops for a couple of hours, leaving your Border Collie at home. He is happy and content and you've trained him to know you'll be back soon so he doesn't bark and carry on when you leave the house, all is fine, until you return home to find a disaster zone.

In the space of a couple of hours your beautiful dog can change from sweet and good-natured to a hurricane force. It happens in a very short space of time. He gets into your bedroom and chews shoes and clothing. He pulls the stuffing out of your living room cushions. He lives up to the saying "the dog ate my homework" by shredding your books and paperwork.

If you have faced this problem before you know how frustrating it is, especially when your pooch is so happy to see you come home and all you can do is yell in anger at the sight of the mess and destruction.

When your dog chews your favorite shoes or anything else of value it puts a rift between you and your dog. It is important to find a solution to this chewing problem. The first place to start is to find out why your Border Collie is chewing in the first place.

Here are 5 reasons why your dog chews your possessions:

1. Instinct - a Border Collie, like any dog, has a natural tendency to chew, it is what a dog does. If your Border Collie is a puppy it will instinctively want to chew. It will chew even more when it is teething and its gums are sore. This is not an excuse to put up with the chewing problem, you can still train a Border Collie puppy not to chew the wrong things.

2. Boredom - if your dog is left on his own with little to do he will create his own game and this invariably involves chewing. Even if you leave his own chew toys for him he will usually find your possessions more interesting to play his chewing game. You can solve this problem by training your dog to chew the correct chew toys even when you are not there. It is best to start his training as young as possible (even from 8 weeks of age) so don't delay!

3. Lack of exercise - Border Collie's need lots and lots of exercise. They are working dogs and they're bred to be able to keep herding sheep for hours each day. Ideally you should ensure your dog gets about 2 hours of exercise, including running, each day as well as play time. If your dog has too much excess energy he is likely to turn to chewing.

4. He doesn't know right from wrong - if you haven't trained your Border Collie then he doesn't know what you expect from him. It is not up to your dog to figure out what you are saying, he can't understand the words. This is why dog training is so important, it allows your dog to know what you want from him.

5. He is anxious because you are gone - your dog may be anxious when you leave the house and may think you are not coming back. Sometimes when your dog is anxious in this situation he may seek out your clothes or shoes to find your familiar scent. He just wants to be consoled. To stop this behavior you can train your Border Collie as a puppy or as a fully grown dog to learn not to fret and therefore not chew as a way of dealing with his anxiety.

The common thread is dog training. If you want to stop your dog chewing everything in sight it is important to train your Border Collie early to avoid all the stress and heartache that so many dog owners face when they feel their dog is out of control.

If you own a Border Collie then you know they are an extremely intelligent and energetic breed of dog. They respond well to dog training and they enjoy pleasing their owner. Border Collies are lovely family pets so avoid any disappointment and start training your dog today.