Taradiddle81 Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 (edited) Hi All, We picked up an 8 month old rescue Rotty, Bandit. We have now adopted him. He is untrained. We have made some progress in that he doesn't jump up anymore and he will walk on the lead without pulling (for DP anyway!) and will sit intermittently. We have him booked into dog training starting in a few weeks. He has chewed various things (the watering system, the outdoor lights that were wired in, plastic pots etc) but nothing that we weren't prepared to lose. Our 5yo Rotty Elly normally sleeps in her kennel and has a foam filled mat that is (was!) in her kennel with a cotton blanket on that. We gave Bandit Ellys "day bed" which is one of those steel frames that normally has hessian but DP replaced it with potato sack when Elly was a pup and chewed through it. After about a week, Bandit started pulling Elly's mattress out of her kennel. He would just pull it out and sleep on it. So we bought another mattress (but cheaper, because we figured he might chew it!) and gave him that. Next morning there is foam everywhere. Today during the day, he has pulled Elly's mattress out and chewed it into pieces. DP is beyond annoyed (he is angry that Bandit has destroyed Ellys things.) So, how do you get him to stop chewing? I figure there is 2 choices... get another bed and fix it into the bottom of the kennel and hope he doesn't try to rip it out anyway. Or put the mattress out at night and take it back in, in the morning and hope he doesn't chew it at night. I guess I can give #1 a go with a cheap bed and see how it goes. So, given he is 8 months and we have him booked into training, is age or training going to help? At 8 months, I figured he should have stopped, which means that he hasn't been stopped by his old owners. My biggest concern is that we live in the ACT and in winter, Elly will need a mattress in the kennel for warmth! If Bandit chews his own and is then cold, then that is his issue, but I don't want Elly affected! ETA: I suspect his previous owner may have been at home during the day, as she had small children, whereas we are at work. Edited March 7, 2011 by Taradiddle81 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BMAK Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 8 months a still chewing ouch! Trying taking your new pup for a big walk and run (if possible) in the afternoon and morning and some mental exercises like obedience inbetween, come night time your new pup should be buggered enough to not chew anything hopefully! It has worked for most of my fosters dogs. Also leave some toys like kongs filled with food that take a long time or an ice cream container filled with water and treats, frozen and left out like a slow melting treat to keep him busy if you don't have enough time. And you can also buy deterant bitter sprays to keep him from chewing vaulable objects that belong to Elle but other that what i have personally used, training and exercise has been the best combo for destroyers that have come from a kennel. good luck that is all i can suggest from personal experience. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taradiddle81 Posted March 7, 2011 Author Share Posted March 7, 2011 Thanks Catherine! He gets walked 4km a day! It has been suggested to me that he is being walked too much for his age, so I don't think that I can increase it anymore! It was during the day that he destroyed it, not at night though. I tried leaving a kong wobbler, and Elly loves it, and if he goes near it she gets possessive of it (I don't blame her, he has taken everything else!) So I can give it to them when I am there to supervise, but not alone. Mind you, she needs to stand up for herself and put him in his place, so perhaps it's not a bad idea. I will give it to them on weekends when I can keep an eye on it, until I feel happy with leaving it, but it wont' really solve anything because Elly will have it! I might get him one of the normal kongs. I do have a rubber bone with holes in the end that I stuff with peanut butter, haven't done that for a couple of weeks, might give that a go too! I will also try rotating his toys every day. Biggest problem is that it will get VERY expensive if we have to keep buying beds until we find what works! Definitely think the spray might be a go for keeping him from chewing her bedding... she doesn't chew it, so it shouldn't worry her (unless the smell turns her off!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andisa Posted March 8, 2011 Share Posted March 8, 2011 (edited) ah the joys of having youngsters. Put away all your nice bedding and replace it with blankets from the opp shops, cheap bedding or carpet off cuts. This could go on for a very long time yet. I agree that you were walking too far for young joints and maybe playing in the yard to wear him out a bit might help. Might be worth investing in a dog run especially while he is destructive so you can keep him and everything else safe when your not home. We were through the destructive stage a long time ago but when Hamish came back home at 15 mths old he must have had too much fun destroying his bedding that his litter sister thought she should give it a go too. I was not impressed. Fingers crossed at 2 years old they are over it. So out with the good bedding and in with carpet. Luckily for me a friend was replacing their carpet and I have heaps stored above the dog runs to keep us going for a while. I removed their kennels over summer and replaced them with metal framed flea free bedding (almost wrecked now too) and will bring the kennels out of the shed soon and use carpet as bedding. Will see how they go but they will be on carpet until I can trust them again. Just as well they leave their mothers good bed alone or they would never be allowed on it. Good luck.. eta: can you nail a few layers of carpet to the bottom of the kennel so he can't drag it out? Edited March 8, 2011 by Andisa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taradiddle81 Posted March 8, 2011 Author Share Posted March 8, 2011 (edited) Andisa, that is actually our next plan of action! Nail carpet to the bottom of the kennel for Elly! There are no more good beds, to put away, he ate it DP hasn't had an issue with Elly since she was a pup. Luckily he doesn't appear to be chewing the metal frame bed with the potato sack (yet!) We also will wait until there is someone giving away a couch for free on the classifieds and we will put that on the deck for them, and if he destroys it, well it was free! heheh Great idea on the blankets from Op Shops, I will check out Vinnies and Salvos. My only concern is keeping him warm in winter. I don't think he is a kennel dog and its cold here in winter, so hoping that he doesn't destroy the couch, and they might snooze on that together for warmth. Plus he's a skinny thing atm! Hasn't put on his big boy bulk yet. Might have to get DP onto trying to make something that would fit them both, because even the XL kennel would be too small for them both. So for now, I will dream about getting them lovely Snooza beds... it will be a while before they would be safe heheh ETA: Lucky he's a smoochy thing, otherwise DP may not have been so forgiving! Also, I don't think we need a dog run as such, he's pretty much damaged what he can, there isn't much in our yard that he can damage. Edited March 8, 2011 by Taradiddle81 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazzy4 Posted March 10, 2011 Share Posted March 10, 2011 My only concern is keeping him warm in winter. I don't think he is a kennel dog and its cold here in winter, what about a garden shed to put the kennels in, we used to live down that way - just outside of the ACT yrs ago, we had two dogs and we bought a garden shed and had the opening close to the house so that the wind would not get in & put both their kennels in that, we had put bricks on the floor and this raised their kennels off ground level & put some boarding down on top of the bricks then covered this with loads of newspaper, then got some removalists blankets from magnet mart and put those on the flooring for insultation, works wonders, we left the door off and had it about 3 foot out from a wall of the house, this stopped the rain & wind from getting in, & plugged up all the joins and added a small gutter so as to stop the drips at the door they can have their own home :rolleyes: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
persephone Posted March 10, 2011 Share Posted March 10, 2011 I wouldn't buy a couch, or carpet or anything... the texture is what he wants ..and the fun. flattened cardboard cartons and thick layered newspaper is one of the warmest (no, not snuggly) insulating bedding materials :rolleyes: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taradiddle81 Posted March 21, 2011 Author Share Posted March 21, 2011 (edited) they can have their own home :p They do now, they have the deck and we have put a tarp over the top to keep it dry and it also goes down one side (where they sleep) for protection, I wouldn't buy a couch, or carpet or anything... the texture is what he wants ..and the fun. flattened cardboard cartons and thick layered newspaper is one of the warmest (no, not snuggly) insulating bedding materials My only concern is that then poor Elly gets relegated to sleeping on cardboard too! We got some couches and just put one out this afternoon. He has already pulled the cushion off and chewed through the chair underneath. Elly was NOT happy and had a go at him, so maybe she can get him to stop. Her teeth are probably far more scary than anything I can would do to him! Worse case, he ends up on cardboard in the kennel in winter outside, and she can sleep inside. I have now put one of the op shop blankets on it, so hopefully if he gets the urge, he can chew the blanket. (We got awesome Aussie Wool Queen size blankets from Salvos for $5 each!) Hopefully he will only chew the blanket, though I won't hold my breath. DP is really starting to run out of patience and quite frankly so am I. I don't want Elly to suffer because we wanted to keep Bandit. We start obedience training in 2 weeks, but I doubt that will help. He never chews when he is with us anyway, he just sleeps at our feet. He just chews at night or during the day. Basically whenever we aren't out there with him. Edited March 21, 2011 by Taradiddle81 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Her Majesty Dogmad Posted March 21, 2011 Share Posted March 21, 2011 (edited) I never take dogs under 2 yrs of age because in my experience they are all pretty destructive. I had two girls under 2 here for a few months and although I walked them for 2 hours every day, 1hr each morning and 1 each night, they destroyed so much stuff it was unbelievable. One was a JRt cross and the other was a Papillon cross. They were the saem when I reehomed them but I had warned the new owners and they were prepared, they'd had puppies before. I currently have (never say never) a 1 yr old female here, she's a very abused dog, an Italian Greyhound cross. She's destroyed 3 dog beds so far and other things (she cannot be walked at this stage due to her previous mistreatment, I cannot get a harness on her). She's also got a fetish for my underwear - she climbs furniture to gain access to it and leaves it all over the garden. She's just had to go on Clomicalm to see if that helps and I think she's calming down a bit - it's not for the destructive part though but for her nervous behaviour. You've had some great tips here, the key to success is to give it quite some time and to remove anything you value, ie your other dog's things and just use cheap alternatives. With the two foster dogs I mentioned above, I'd just bought a new coffee table and they rebevelled the edges for me ... Oh the joys ... this is why I don't take the young dogs! Edited March 21, 2011 by dogmad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burkes Posted March 21, 2011 Share Posted March 21, 2011 (edited) How much other training do you do with him? It may be better to do a quick training session every morning and leave the big walk to night time. My male Rotty destroyed everything in my yard too and he kept it up until he was three years old and I started training him each morning. He was 18mths when I got him. Just like yours my female has never been a problem, she is perfect. A behaviorist would probably tell you not to let it get to the point where Elly needs to tell him off. This is where fights can occur. I had to get one in recently after my foster dog attacked my own dog. Everything she said about making sure that my dogs knew that I was in control and not leaving it up to them to sort out rang completely true. Just keep getting cheap blankets and replacing them. Unfortunately these are the breaks with having a young dog. Happy to pass on the name of the trainer/behaviourist I used. She was fantastic. PS, your dogs are gorgeous. Sadly my boy passed away at age 5 but my girl turns 10 next month. I will always have Rotty in my life. ETA: can they sleep inside at night? This would save the cold problem! Edited March 21, 2011 by Burkes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Her Majesty Dogmad Posted March 21, 2011 Share Posted March 21, 2011 I'd missed the part about them needing a mattress during the cold weather - they will need a lot more than that!! Far too cold in the ACT to have short coated dogs outside, esp at night. Surely there is somewhere like a garage at the very least? If not, you will need coats and very warm bedding. This of course is the old inside outside debate but the ACT is extremely cold, VIC is even worse. If you are cold then so is your dog! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taradiddle81 Posted March 21, 2011 Author Share Posted March 21, 2011 In the ACT the coldest part of the night is at 8am, so they are going to be outside when its cold anyway. Elly always slept outside in Bega (and Bandit came from there too) and it gets down to -2 at night through winter, so ACT is not a lot colder than what they are used to. We only just moved into our house, and have put a tarp over the deck so that it is dry and the tarp also goes down one side of the deck, with the next side being against the house, so the have protection from the winter etc. our long term plan is to put a permanent roof on and some bistro blinds so that it becomes and outdoor room and then it will be warmer for them. But I am not putting blinds on while Bandit is leaving a path of destruction in his wake! Once we have done obedience training then I am willing to entertain the idea of having them sleep inside at night. Elly slept some nights inside last year, but she doesn't chew anything, except for her toys. She also is very calm and sedate. Unlike Bandit who has the normal ADHD puppy thing going on. As of this morning the cushions were still on the couch and even the wool blanket was still sitting on top of the cushions. So, we will see. I don't mind him chewing up the garden hose or remove all the outdoor lights etc (so long as he doesn't hurt himself) it just that I want them both to have nice comfy beds, but he just won't comply hehehe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poodlefan Posted March 21, 2011 Share Posted March 21, 2011 I would buy Elly a coat and fill the kennel with straw. Straw is very warm and as they are smooth coated, it won't make a mess of them. Buy your young boy lots of bones and take him to training. Chewing is something a lot of dogs grow out of but is is a stress and boredom reliever. No point in getting cranky at the dog. Just divert him onto more acceptable things to chew. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taradiddle81 Posted March 21, 2011 Author Share Posted March 21, 2011 I don't get angry at him, I just shake my head, his own worst enemy. I am just hoping that he does grow out of it and he isn't a chewer for life. I can live with it for the next year or so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poodlefan Posted March 21, 2011 Share Posted March 21, 2011 I don't get angry at him, I just shake my head, his own worst enemy. I am just hoping that he does grow out of it and he isn't a chewer for life. I can live with it for the next year or so. In the meantime, if you want them to sleep inside at night, you could crate train them and sleep them in crates. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taradiddle81 Posted March 21, 2011 Author Share Posted March 21, 2011 I actually think he will be fine if he's inside, because when we are outside he is by our feet all the time and if we sit down for more than 1 minute he lies at our feet and then has a snooze. So I don't think he will need a crate, I think he will happily snooze on the floor next to the bed (so then I will just have to tip toe through 2 rotties and 2 kittens to go to the loo!) We will just need to toilet train him. He has been in the house a few times, once when we picked him up from the vets when we had him desexed and despite us trying to get him to wee on the grass near the vet, he went inside our place instead! (Our dogs have a weird thing where they will only toilet at home, in Elly's case, she was trained not to poo when we walk her, but neither of them will pee either, and they will run inside and wee as soon as we finish our walk.) Though when he is allowed inside, he refuses to leave and we have to drag him out! But I am sure that would improve when he is allowed in more and also when he is trained. So I just need to talk DP into letting me let them inside. But I am sure that once it gets cold it won't be an issue. It is still 11/12 degrees at night here, so it isn't cold yet. We will have until the end of April before the cold snap and by then he will have have 4 weeks obedience training. Plus, when I am on holidays it will be easier to start having them sleep then (when the sleep deprevation won't matter as much! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poodlefan Posted March 21, 2011 Share Posted March 21, 2011 I actually think he will be fine if he's inside, because when we are outside he is by our feet all the time and if we sit down for more than 1 minute he lies at our feet and then has a snooze. So I don't think he will need a crate, I think he will happily snooze on the floor next to the bed (so then I will just have to tip toe through 2 rotties and 2 kittens to go to the loo!)We will just need to toilet train him. He has been in the house a few times, once when we picked him up from the vets when we had him desexed and despite us trying to get him to wee on the grass near the vet, he went inside our place instead! (Our dogs have a weird thing where they will only toilet at home, in Elly's case, she was trained not to poo when we walk her, but neither of them will pee either, and they will run inside and wee as soon as we finish our walk.) Though when he is allowed inside, he refuses to leave and we have to drag him out! But I am sure that would improve when he is allowed in more and also when he is trained. So I just need to talk DP into letting me let them inside. But I am sure that once it gets cold it won't be an issue. It is still 11/12 degrees at night here, so it isn't cold yet. We will have until the end of April before the cold snap and by then he will have have 4 weeks obedience training. Plus, when I am on holidays it will be easier to start having them sleep then (when the sleep deprevation won't matter as much! You can use a crate to assist with toilet training and to make sure he doesn't chew inside. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burkes Posted March 21, 2011 Share Posted March 21, 2011 You might be putting a bit too much faith in the obedience training. Learning how to behave inside a house, house training and learning what they can chew needs to be trained at home by you. Could you put in a dog door and housetrain both if you don't want to crate train? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taradiddle81 Posted March 22, 2011 Author Share Posted March 22, 2011 Dog door isn't an really an option, we have indoor cats, one of which wants to get out to play with the dogs. It's not that I think training will train him for indoors, obviously that is a separate issue, but I think that is makes more sense to wait until he will sit on command before letting him loose. Plus I worry about the security of having a dog door that is huge (after all, they are very large dogs.) Elly is pretty well housetrained, we just let her out for 10-15 min every few hours to give her a chance to pee and again before bed, then first thing in the morning. The only accidents we've had is when she's had a nap in the arvo and we've not put her out for a while, so it's our fault. To be honest, it's not the toilet training that is stopping me from letting them inside, it's DP, and also the fact that we don't have him to a point where he listens to us closely enough yet. Elly eats her breakfast inside every morning and on weekends when we have more time she stays in for a little while and plays with the kittens. Perhaps I might try to start letting him in for extended periods of time, once it stops raining, because of course we can't stay out of the torrential rain despite having a carport that is enclosed on 3 sides and a deck with a cover! LOL! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poodlefan Posted March 22, 2011 Share Posted March 22, 2011 This youngster needs to learn self control. Unless he's put in learning situations, he won't. The timeline you have for getting that self control solidly grounded is closing. Talk to your OH today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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