Guest donatella Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 For a small dog when left to her own devices mine likes to destruct anything she can (except the mountains of toys she is left with). Even when i'm home but having a sleep in (like today i finished work at 11pm last night and decided to lie in till 9.30am) she has managed to chew and ruin the cords that join the vertical blinds :eek: i've only been here a few weeks, i'm now online looking at companies who can fix it ASAP, it is highly embarrassing that my dog would do that, i'm not happy at all She does cords, my dvd player went again last week, she gets behind the tv cabinet and gets the antenna that joins to the wall (last week 3rd one in a few months). She is segregated to the living, dining and kitchen areas and everything moved high, the blinds I never thought she'd go for and this is a new low something drastic must be done now, cords and dvd players are replaceable but when she's attacking someone else's property i'm very very very upset :mad :mad I'm of the notion that I cannot berate her for it unless i catch her in the act and she never does it when we're up and about with her (I should also note my flatmate has been away for the xmas/new year break so she's just had me and i've gone back to work so she's had more time alone and seems to get naughtier). She is now 8 months old, is she still in the puppy chewing phase or just being a little biatch? Should i run off to the pet store now and buy some spray to spray on the rest of the blinds in case she goes again while i'm at work this afternoon? How do you train a naughty dog who sneakily does things when you're not around but is confined to areas and things are hidden but because she's small she gets to them. she's almost earnt herself time in a puppy pen but i worry she would try and jump it and therefore hurt herself while noone is home, she's pretty limber, gets up and off my bed no problem. the next option would be to lock her in the courtyard but i'd need to 100% puppy proof that and I do worry about small dogs outside for too long. Sorry but this blinds thing has really pushed me! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
persephone Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 Sounds like a young ,bored dog ;) What does she have to DO ..to think about, to exercise her brain, and to chew ? What is her normal routine? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest donatella Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 maybe I should walk her more? although i get scared about walking on the streets with all the off leash attack scenarios are way too common. she doesn't have a routine because I'm a shift worker, but if i'm working a late like today, i'll wake up and go downstairs and open the back door for her so she can play in the garden (which seems to occupy her for a while digging holes and bringing sticks in). she'll come in and out for zoomies while i watch tv/play on my laptop. she's got every toy, plush toys, squeaky toys, tennis balls, chew toys, it actually looks like a small child lives here the amount of toys strewn through the house. Maybe if i set my alarm early in the morning to open the door for her and let her play in the garden might help? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
persephone Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 What does she DO? 'playing' is not 'doing/working/thinking' It won't satisfy her ... She has a fully functional brain/body, and these need to be tested and exercised by walking/training, puzzling.. put most of her toys away ... and rotate them ...only a couple at a time maybe provide more interactive toys ..that bounce, make noise, can be chewed, hold food . Freeze her bones ... so she has to work at chewing! Instead of one 10 minute training session each day, do two! or three! :D Walk her along a street where the shops are ..not many dogs behind fences there ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red Fox Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 (edited) Confine her top a crate or pen when you aren't watching her. Buy a dog run for the day if you dont think your courtyard is secure enough. Letting a dog that chews roam around the house unsupervised is asking for trouble IMO. Dick Smiths sells cable tidy things that are great for protecting power cords (try having a cat that eats them!!). Looks like this: At 8 months old she is no longer a teething puppy... Edited January 4, 2012 by SecretKei Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest donatella Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 Thanks! I'm doing some google reading and I should be rotating her toys (she has bags and bags of them in the cupboard so that is no problem). I'm still nervous about the walking, and its harder in this heat as she's a long coated breed so she doesn't get far before she gets under a shaded tree, sits down and refuses to move and I have to carry her home. She does enjoy runs at my mums house and her 3 dogs which I do at least weekly as a treat (for as both and my tummy :D ) All her bones are frozen (I worry about bacteria) but i will get online now and buy one of those puzzle toys that you fill with treats that keeps them busy, problem is she's not much a food motivated dog, although she does love her schmacko's chomper chews (which she can do one in a day). I'll check out that cable tie thank you SK, I to think how much i've spent on cords and dvd player in the last few months. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tralee Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 (edited) For a small dog when left to her own devices mine likes to destruct anything she can (except the mountains of toys she is left with). she has managed to chew and ruin the cords that join the vertical blinds :eek: She does cords, my dvd player went again last week, she gets behind the tv cabinet and gets the antenna that joins to the wall (last week 3rd one in a few months). I'm of the notion that I cannot berate her for it unless i catch her in the act and she never does it when we're up and about with her She is now 8 months old, is she still in the puppy chewing phase or just being a little biatch? Should i run off to the pet store now and buy some spray to spray on the rest of the blinds in case she goes again while i'm at work this afternoon? How do you train a naughty dog who sneakily does things when you're not around but is confined to areas and things are hidden but because she's small she gets to them. Hi donatella. Young dogs will chew things. And they should be encouraged but in the right way because mouth stimulation is very important for dogs. You need to get her biting, chewing and tugging on things is a constructive, developmental and inquisitive way. Games of tug are excellent. Dr Robert Holmes, the dog behaviourist, prescribes mouth stimulation for dogs as part of their environmental enrichment. The other thing is that everything has to be put up from the floor, or it will be chewed on. This one time, at Narrabri, we lost our electricity. Sooki chewed through the vacuum cleaner cord and tripped the power circuit. I've posted this photo before but it was an easy thing to teach. Edited January 4, 2012 by Tralee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tilly Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 (edited) Lots of mental stimulation / training / exercise should help ... but some dogs are just destructive for the fun of it ... my two can be completely exhausted having spent the whole day hiking/swimming/training/working but then left alone for 2 hours and you come home to a disaster area. We lost two heavy duty metal beds last night ... dog thought it was fun until this morning they couldn't work out where to eat their breakfast as there was no beds to eat off It is a good thing I love my boys ... otherwise they would make nice rugs ;) Edited January 4, 2012 by Tilly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
persephone Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 Confining a dog works... but I think it also makes for more frustration /greater need to be active /experience things... THESE folk have good stuff , and yes, pups/dogs experience a lot of their world with their mouth ... they don't have fingers to enjoy sensations.. so a mouth does it . provide lots of interesting textures/noises/tastes that mouthing/chewing provides .... What do you and pup do together? You are a the computer.. she is trying to entertain herself in teh yard ...... How much time do you spend interacting with her (NOT counting bed/cuddles) ? ps: feeding treats with colourings etc in may not be the best idea . an iceblock with fruit pieces/kibble in may be fun and better for her ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest donatella Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 We play with toys and tennis balls and chasies. We go for plays at my mums house, I'm thinking about enrolling her in obedience classes this year as I did it years ago as a teenager with my family dog and she at the ripe old age of 15 still looks at me with adoration and still knows all her tricks. Perhaps something like that 1 night a week would help with the mind stimulation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
persephone Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 Working mind and body needs to be done every day . Now, YOU are teaching her how to behave for the next 12 years . Every scrap of time/education counts , to build a confident and capable dog Chasey and chasing a tennis ball is ok.. for relaxing play.. but it really is not teaching her much of life/the world .Take her for a drive if you are too scared to walk .Let her look at things ... buy her a carry bag , even. She will benefit so much from smelling/seeing the world ..every new experience/scent/sound/touch is building her brain and her character and adding to experience , so she will cope well later in life when you move, and she has a whole new world .....etc etc .. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest donatella Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 Ok, good advice! we have a dog beach not far from here and i was going to try and get her used to the water (the last few times she didn't like it) but again its all new experiences. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
persephone Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 Some dogs never swim/enjoy water . It's not essential ;) (Hamlet has never swum in his life ..and he sees the river most days .) Daily short training sessions though, IMO are essential . For communication /education/gratification - for both parties!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dancinbcs Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 Use puppy pens or Bunnings compost panels to confine her to area where there is nothing to destroy but her own toys. Puppies don't get their last back molars until about 9 months so she is probably still teething, but some dogs are just chewers all thei lives. Basically it is a matter of not allowing them unsupervised access to anything of value until you are certain they will not chew it. Always praise when she chews her toys and reprimand as soon as she looks like chewing anything that is not her's. Put pepper sauce of Vick's Vapourub on anything she shows interest in that you don't want chewed. If you allow her access to chew your things she will learn it is acceptable and keep doing it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kavik Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 Training does not have to take a lot of time, is fun and will help with your problem, you can do them at home in your spare time. I did a short session with all 3 dogs this morning before it got hot . Tricks and games are lots of fun, and can be useful too. There is a trick section on the forum I think, or people can give you ideas. I am currently doing SG's Recallers - a new game 5 days a week to try! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest donatella Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 Thing is, she's VERY intelligent and picks up tricks easy. I've just at home taught her sit, drop, shake hands and high five all of which she picked up really really quick. I'll check out the trick section for more, she loves showing off her tricks, i don't even need to say the words sometimes just put my hand up and she high fives me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
persephone Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 'training' .. can be all sorts of things too getting dog to stand still for ear cleaning , learning tricks, doing recall... fetching the paper or picking up dropped pens .. anything! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
persephone Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 Thing is, she's VERY intelligent and picks up tricks easy. I've just at home taught her sit, drop, shake hands and high five all of which she picked up really really quick.<br style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: verdana, tahoma, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; background-color: rgb(238, 242, 247); "><br style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: verdana, tahoma, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; background-color: rgb(238, 242, 247); ">I'll check out the trick section for more, she loves showing off her tricks, i don't even need to say the words sometimes just put my hand up and she high fives me weell, you now have a helpful solution .......... more education ! Lots of it!! Keep her guessing ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kavik Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 ok fun tricks spin beg/sit pretty walk backwards bow hold object target your hand with nose/other objects with nose target things with paw more complicated put object in box retrieve object more obedience oriented drop on a mat sit or drop while you are moving/at a distance stand for exam front/come fore (come and sit in front of you) finish (go to heel position - fun to teach! either around your back or swing/flip into position) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Panzer Attack! Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 (edited) Hi donatella, I feel your pain, I also have an intelligent teen and when he was at that age he was a nightmare! I walked him twice a day for 15-20 minutes each time (no longer cos I didn't want to overexercise him), but mostly trained him to do things. From then until now he's learned to fetch, obedience heel, jump thru a hula hoop, sit, drop, stand, spin, wave, dance (he does a kinda flip while standing on his back legs), touch, 2o2o, jump on and off things, search (I'll show him something, hide it and say "where is it?" and he's off looking for it) and his recall is pretty good now. He also knows boring house routines like "get out of the kitchen" (haha), "go to your bed", "in your crate", "leave it alone" etc. While he was young I watched him like a hawk and tutted whenever he went to eat something 'wrong' and would put a toy or a chew in his mouth. He's pretty much perfect now and he's turning 1 ( !!!) at the end of the month! He only chewed a couple of cords when he was a baby, thank goodness, but I 100% attribute that to my being slack. I worked full time hours for most of his puppy-hood and he's turned out fine now. He will only start chewing on banned items if he is bored, so I take it upon myself to make sure he doesn't become understimuated. Buy a clicker and look up youtube clips of dogs doing tricks, you'll never run out of things to teach her! E x edit: I tried doing everything by the book for the first couple of months, he had kongs, 100 stuffed toys (slight exaggeration), all the Busy Buddy range and it did nothing to help, he is fairly high energy and needed the mind stimulation. Even walking him twice a day was not enough, not by a long shot. Edited January 4, 2012 by Panzer Attack! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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