Seven Months Old And Still Destroying Everything!

[The Spotted Devil]

My Dally has so much potential for destruction it's terrifying

The only reason I have a relatively untouched house and yard (apart from adequate physical exercise and LOTS of mental stimulation) is that he is with me at all times when I'm home so I can praise appropriate behaviour and distract/correct inappropriate behaviour and is in the laundry in his open crate when I am out. Fortunately, I am at home a lot and he is learning to exhibit much more appropriate behaviour......at least now, at 18 months of age, I can trust him on his own for 10 whole minutes while I have a shower.....of course that's only after an intense training session and a good gallop on the beach!

[labsrule]

He's a Golden Retriever. I thought they were supposed to be mellow?! We live semi-rurally on a house block (not acreage) but can walk to the beack and the creek. He has a good life, and he better learn some self control!

I've said it before and been flamed for it.. adolescent gundogs can be incredibly destructive.. if bored and under stimulated. Who told you GRs were mellow? They might be when fully mature but he's not the first demon child GR I've heard of. Where did you get him from? They can be demons but they shouldn't be constantly hyper.

Do you still train him formally eg. at a dog training club? You may think you're giving him enough stimulation. He appears to be telling you otherwise. Obedience training at this stage is as much, if not more important than as a baby puppy IMO.

Sounds like you need better boredom busters. I think you should also consider building a safe secure run. Ultimately, if you are unable to meet his needs and he to fit into your family, you may wish to discuss it with his breeder(?) but you're now at the stage with him that I consider the most trying in puppy raising.

In the interim, if you don't want him ruining stuff, you have to keep him from accessing it.

Jack is our second Golden. Our last one was very mellow and had a great temperment, always tried to please. I got Jack from a reputable breeder. He's a pedigree from a champion bloodline. I do still train him formally. We are just in between classes at the moment.

I feel your pain! I have a 2.5yr old GR bitch called Karma and she's a world class digger! I sectioned off part of the yard, built fences, laid crusherdust and had it compacted down. Two days later she had dug thru the crusherdust and was tunneling underground like some possessed beast. So ordered in road base.. compacted that down.. less than a week later.. she had dug thru this and dug up a water pipe! Thanks for that Karma!!! After almost 24 hrs of No water, plumber has been and fixed said Pipe. So this time i go out and buy rolls of dog wire.. i lay this in dog yard, then cover this with 3 inches of compacted road base. she STILL gets thru the wire! The dog yard looks like a nuclear bomb site! She has dug up (and out) the computerised watering system i had installed shortly before she arrived I think 3 times now. Lawn man loves me Im one of his best cunstomers! Most people only have a watering system installed once!

I have actually found her BELOW ground level several times she has dug so deep! I live in fear the ground above will cave in and smother her! At least i now know EXACTLY where my sewerage pipes are! yep she dug them up as well.. it was beyond gross.. the muck was overflowing.. and she was thrilled with her achievement "look what I did today mum!!". I would have the dog yard concreted but its hotter than the fires of hell here in summer and the dogs would blister their feet (I live in Broken Hill), also I don't think concreting over sewerage and water pipes is the best idea. She is walked, played with, has a wading pool and a yardful of toys, is never without the company of other dogs etc.. she jsut loves to dig.

Apart from her digging obsession she is no longer destructive. She is just very intelligent and very determined to dig! But I live in hope that one day in the distant future she will outgrow her digging fetish!

sorry Indigirl, but this is just so funny and I really needed a good laugh tonight

Know your pain guys, I can emphathise with you all as I am an owner of Labradors, and have had my own "Satan's Spawn" as a puppy/teenager whose antics and destruction were legendary . There is hope and light at the end of the tunnel, just takes a few years and lots and lots of patience to get there

[KOE]

Satans Spawn has been dropped off at my house, here 5 minutes and ate the hose dug three holes pulled washing off the line raked all the rocks out of my fountain and is just being a total destructo machine, I really dont know why he is so badddddddd he is only 8 months.

Oh yes and his colouring is as black as soot

[labsrule]

Satans Spawn has been dropped off at my house, here 5 minutes and ate the hose dug three holes pulled washing off the line raked all the rocks out of my fountain and is just being a total destructo machine, I really dont know why he is so badddddddd he is only 8 months.

Oh yes and his colouring is as black as soot

Are you trying to tell me he is a Black Labrador? what do you mean only 8 months? they start young, so much to do, not enough time to do it in, must start early heard of that saying, "Here for a good time, not a long time" that is a Lab's motto

[MotherKing]

Far out - I thought I had problems with "Dirty Harry". Sorry to say it, but all these tales of woe have helped me enormously - I'm not alone!! Yeah!! Everyone keeps telling me my dog is the most mental thing they're ever seen. I can now prove there are more just like him! So, thanks :-) Now - how do we fix it again?

[GoldD]

I think our dogs are the norm....it's all those other perfectly trained weirdos that need serious help!! LOL

[indigirl]

I think our dogs are the norm....it's all those other perfectly trained weirdos that need serious help!! LOL

LOL.. its jsut the price we pay for having intelligent 'creative' dogs

I think they are on a mission to show us how 'shallow' and 'materialistic' we are !

[badboyz]

One of my sons asked "why do you like these dogs" - thank you all for reminding me again! Shar Pei don't really do things like that - well mine don't anyway. Even the young ones. This is coming from someone who used to have beagles - so I know all about doggy destructing, and escaping thrown in as well at the most inconvenient times! Threads like this remind me why shar pei are a breed I can live with!

[Monah]

My Dally has so much potential for destruction it's terrifying :D

The only reason I have a relatively untouched house and yard (apart from adequate physical exercise and LOTS of mental stimulation) is that he is with me at all times when I'm home so I can praise appropriate behaviour and distract/correct inappropriate behaviour and is in the laundry in his open crate when I am out. Fortunately, I am at home a lot and he is learning to exhibit much more appropriate behaviour......at least now, at 18 months of age, I can trust him on his own for 10 whole minutes while I have a shower.....of course that's only after an intense training session and a good gallop on the beach!

;) ;) This is exactly what I have to do too!!!!! :D

[KOE]

Satans Spawn has been dropped off at my house, here 5 minutes and ate the hose dug three holes pulled washing off the line raked all the rocks out of my fountain and is just being a total destructo machine, I really dont know why he is so badddddddd he is only 8 months.

Oh yes and his colouring is as black as soot

Are you trying to tell me he is a Black Labrador? ;) what do you mean only 8 months? ;) they start young, so much to do, not enough time to do it in, must start early heard of that saying, "Here for a good time, not a long time" that is a Lab's motto

:D not a lab a cross breed but is wicked as

Talking about black labs my friends chewed the end of my port how lucky am I it is the only way I could see it was mine at the airport :D

Good labrador :D

[Andanin]

Indigirl, so glad I'm not the only one with an enthusiastic digger! Todja was obviously a miner in a past life! It's entirely normal in our family to come home to a bright red dog (very attractive on his black & tan coat ;)) One day we came home from work, and found a huge hole in the middle of what we thought was fairly compact, solid road base. My ex went in to see just how deep it was - He was over 6', and it was above his waist!

Though I suppose where we are, its not unusual behaviour, we live in Alice Springs, so it gets very hot in summer, and that day was no exception. He managed to dig to a level where it was quite cool. He came very close to the sewerage lines though! I had no idea a dog could move so much dirt in such a short space of time! As for the pop-up sprinkler system, he had that up within two weeks of moving in, and we never got it replaced. We tried toys and two long walks a day, but he's just a digger. I'm just thankful that he learnt to stick with the one spot, and doesn't dig up the lawn anymore!

[EVERYLABDESERVESAKID]

heeeheeeheee. I love it, I am feeling your pain, I had the Labrador from hell, she was the single most destructive dog I have ever seen, she just destroyed everything, she did all of the above. I even came home from work one day to a big brown Labrador eye peering at me through the closed wooden back door, yes she had dug and chewed a hole straight through the back door, so that she could see into the kitchen. Take heart though, it stopped completely when she was about 7 and now she is 9 she is just a lovely dog. She accidently got locked in the house all day (9 hours) a couple of weeks ago and my blood ran cold when we unlocked the front door and saw her sitting there waiting to greet us, a search of the house ensued and NOTHING, not one thing touched all day ;)

[indigirl]

heeeheeeheee. I love it, I am feeling your pain, I had the Labrador from hell, she was the single most destructive dog I have ever seen, she just destroyed everything, she did all of the above. I even came home from work one day to a big brown Labrador eye peering at me through the closed wooden back door, yes she had dug and chewed a hole straight through the back door, so that she could see into the kitchen. Take heart though, it stopped completely when she was about 7 and now she is 9 she is just a lovely dog. She accidently got locked in the house all day (9 hours) a couple of weeks ago and my blood ran cold when we unlocked the front door and saw her sitting there waiting to greet us, a search of the house ensued and NOTHING, not one thing touched all day :p

haha thats jsut evil! Telling us to take heart cos when your dog got to 7 she stopped destroying stuff.. ye gods.. only four and a half years to go.. UGHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!

[indigirl]

Indigirl, so glad I'm not the only one with an enthusiastic digger! Todja was obviously a miner in a past life! It's entirely normal in our family to come home to a bright red dog (very attractive on his black & tan coat :p) One day we came home from work, and found a huge hole in the middle of what we thought was fairly compact, solid road base. My ex went in to see just how deep it was - He was over 6', and it was above his waist!

Though I suppose where we are, its not unusual behaviour, we live in Alice Springs, so it gets very hot in summer, and that day was no exception. He managed to dig to a level where it was quite cool. He came very close to the sewerage lines though! I had no idea a dog could move so much dirt in such a short space of time! As for the pop-up sprinkler system, he had that up within two weeks of moving in, and we never got it replaced. We tried toys and two long walks a day, but he's just a digger. I'm just thankful that he learnt to stick with the one spot, and doesn't dig up the lawn anymore!

Because the silly watering system cost me so much to have installed and i now actually have GRASS instead of a backyard that looks like the surface of the moon - red with craters - i jsut cant 'let go' of the silly watering system! She digs is up I have lawn man come and strut his stuff.. you know he prolly feeds her over the fence and coaxes her to dig it up.. "here karma here girl.. dig here.. look what i got for you? mm a nice big bone.. now dig girl!"

[EVERYLABDESERVESAKID]

My dog actually chewed not only the pop up part, but the actual pipes themselves, leaving a little 10 inch gap between the two ends so you couldn't just add in a joiner, she also chewed it off at ground level where it came out of the ground to attach to the tap. We used to smother it with tabasco sauce, we even tried wasabi and Vicks and that damn dog would huff and puff and froth and drool and run back and forth between the tabasco covered pipe and her water bucket, but she kept chewing. I gave up in the end after several hundred dollars worth of running repairs, it hasn't worked for about 8 years now and I have got used to the backyard looking like the surface of the moon, be careful of the craters though, you can break an ankle in one of those trying to hang washing out in the dark. :D

Edited June 10, 2008 by EVERYLABDESERVESAKID

[Andanin]

Hehe, my dog just developed a taste for tabasco. nWe solved the no lawn problem by putting him in the house while the sprinkler was on. Yes, the old fashioned hose type, which then gets put back in the shed as soon as it's finished.

[labsrule]

My dog actually chewed not only the pop up part, but the actual pipes themselves, leaving a little 10 inch gap between the two ends so you couldn't just add in a joiner, she also chewed it off at ground level where it came out of the ground to attach to the tap. We used to smother it with tabasco sauce, we even tried wasabi and Vicks and that damn dog would huff and puff and froth and drool and run back and forth between the tabasco covered pipe and her water bucket, but she kept chewing. I gave up in the end after several hundred dollars worth of running repairs, it hasn't worked for about 8 years now and I have got used to the backyard looking like the surface of the moon, be careful of the craters though, you can break an ankle in one of those trying to hang washing out in the dark.

OMG, I can visualise her running back and forwards frothing at the mouth she sounds like the perfect mate for my 9 yearold black lab boy who was a "Satans Span" as a pup/teenager and was a VERY determined & VERY destructive little terror - thank god they never got the chance to meet and mate ;) the mind boggles at the havoc their off spring could have wrought Butter wouldn't melt in his mouth now and he is perfectly behaved, but still full of energy and always ready for a good time and I'm sure he could still be sweet talked into getting up to some mischief with a lovely 9 yearold labrador lass with similar scallywag tendencies My boy has given me many many laughs and so much fun over his 9 years and so many memories and horror stories to regale with his antics and I am sure your adorable girl has done the same - think how boring life would have been without these scallywags.

[harper]

I have the terrible twins here. One of them has learnt to pull down door handles and open doors from either side so it makes it a bit tricky when you cant even put something away safely behind a closed door. Naughty pups but just too lovable. Whats a pair of shoes (or 4) between friends?