Destructive Dog!

[juice]

Thanks jules, i need to learn, my last adult one arrived from a breeder with undisclosed dry eye from another state.

But what do you do if you don't want a pup ( because of the destruction , ha ha!!!).

ex show dog might be a better option as at least they go out and about ?

she is lovely, she smiles, and is a real clown, her and ozzie play everyday and she spins inside out not to hurt him, she is a a real lovable girl, which is whats stopping me sending her back.

[JulesP]

Good luck but know you have support to send the dog back. it is quite distressing to have your stuff destroyed.

[persephone]

Oh, Juice - it's so hard .

You are correct - she has grown up with an entirely different life ..she is perhaps just over stimulated with everything ....Hopefully, you can get a GOOD professional in to assist.

[Two Best Dogs!]

I lost so many things in the first few months. She just didn't have any idea what she was allowed to destroy! I had to completely bomb proof the house while teaching her which toys it is okay to play with. Then I started slowly introducing people things around so I could catch her "doing the wrong thing", take it off her and hand one of her toys.

I spent a lot of time teaching her to dig in an allowed area - even now sometimes I sprinkle dry food around there to encourage her to hang around in that place. Give her bones a lot.

But when I leave I hide most things. I have lost 3 chairs, a hose, so many plants and part of the couch (cleverly hidden with a pillow)

A behaviourist to help train you to train her is invaluable!

I think one thing that really helped, encouraging calm behaviour. I ignore Thistle when she is too excited - wiggle bum or jumping. She doesn't get pats or treats unless she is sitting or standing calmly, the tail going slowly or not at all. I do it in and out of the house too, reward and attention for being calm. Ignored or told off for being too excited. It sounds like you're doing that.

Good luck! There is also nothing wrong with realising you two are not a good fit and returning her, depending on how attached you are and how far you are willing to go.

[juice]

So today has been good!

I think getting firm with her did the trick, after her trying to trash the bed this morning and me luckily seeing her and telling her off, she has been good allday while i was working.

They are allowed in half the garage while i work with a little wooden fence blocking off the salon, so they can hear me, she settled down on a pile of bedding and slept the whole time .( i kept poking my head around to check ) :laugh:

She hasn't been over crazy excited, really calm.

I think overstimulated might be the problem as she stops alot on walks to look around at whats going on, she got very excited by a child screaming in a pram last night.

i think the destruction when we get home is because she is still hyped from the walk .

[The Spotted Devil]

juice - apart from management, behaviourist etc consider giving her cardboard boxes filled with some food that she's allowed to destroy - I make a big deal of giving my dogs permission to wreck - they don't touch anything else unless I've really neglected their mental stimulation.

[corvus]

Sometimes reacting even in a negative way can be a mistake. One of my dogs went through a period of raking his claws across live power boards if he wanted attention. He was quite right - that does get instant attention. I'm an "interrupt and redirect" person, because I think it is the least likely method to backfire, as long as you don't accidentally create behaviour chains. My rule of thumb for clever dogs is count to 10 between the interrupt and the redirect.

[karen15]

Juice, with my staffy I taught him a leave it command. When playing, mid game, I'd tell him to leave it meaning whatever we were playing with. Once he dropped it and backed off, we'd play again. Anything I told him to leave he wouldn't touch.

She sounds like she wants to be good, she just needs to know the boundaries. From her upbringing I would guess she was responsible for her own amusement. So she probably doesn't realise there's things you don't want her to do or touch.

[keetamouse]

Good luck but know you have support to send the dog back. it is quite distressing to have your stuff destroyed.

My worry would be "what you would be sending her back to"

[kamuzz]

Any update Juice - how has the last week been?

[juice]

I contacted a trainer and had a chat, and i think her problem is she doesn't know how to calm herself down.

giving her the kong made her worse as after she had finished she looked for something else and was still too wired.

she is still destroying stuff, lost the broom and dustpan this week. However she settled on a pile of blankets in the garage whilst i worked this week without looking at ways to get to me or destroy.

I have though about getting another crate for the garage whilst i work and she settles so well in the house in hers.

i had booked the trainer for this week, but then accident prone goofball smacked her eye on the corner of the blanket box in the lounge playing with ozzie and now we have a sore eye and are on meds, so put it off till she is better.