Posted: Mon Jan 30, 2012 5:34 pm Post subject: 'My Puppy/Youngster is trashing the house!!'
* Dogs when young may be angels. They may be devils as regards destruction and chewing. They tend to vary. But, one common factor is that every single thing they *get hold of* is because) and I say it with the greatest of understanding as to WHY we do it) we have set them up to fail.
* The reason most young dogs are OK as puppies given the run of rooms where there are a million chewable items, THEN start chewing and destroying is because it is habit forming. They don't think about it, then for some reason, a bit of extra time left or just an opportunity to a rapidly growing brain needing stimulation, and suddenly they do it to one thing, find it emensely fun, and most importantly, at the time noone is there to tell them its wrong, so therefore dogs are black and white, it must be OK to do!!
There is absolutely no trusting a dog because in trusting a young dog with a million things around it to rip up, tug about, tear to bits, chew up all we potentially create is a destructive dog. Be that at ten weeks or suddenly at ten months from a dog who previously had a halo.
* Crates are great but not for everyone. A crate is definately one answer. You remove ALL possibility of the dog doing wrong which really is entirely kind and sensible and the only foolsafe answer to NO destruction and breaking the habit that is starting (or has started).
Another answer which may appeal to some is just simply confining the dog to a 'safe' room. One that you have slightly resigned yourself to a bit of woodwork damage. Maybe the odd floor tile. A door handle or two on cupboards. Absolutely no rooms with carpets, reachable curtains, kids toys, remote controls, CD's, books, shoes, cables on the ground or soft furnishings!! So basically simply a kitchen, maybe a utility room, possibly a conservatory with chewable things removed. Stick the swing bin out of reach on a work surface is rule number TWO
Sadly you can't just think 'my dog SHOULD be able to be trusted' or 'My dog needs loads of room because I leave it for x hours a day'. No what your dog NEEDS is not to constantly put itself and your hard earnt possessions in danger by not having it safely shut in an area to call his own. Where wee on the floor doesn't matter. An upset tummy doesn't render a £500 sofa a right off.
The poor thing can't be trusted, in the human sense of the phrase, and the main reason being you are never there to tell it what its NOT meant to be doing so you absolutely cannot expect it not to. When we come home angry, they GENUINELY don't 'understand' your anger. They just feed off our angry vibes and think 'ohhhhh hes angry about something I must make myself as small as possible so he doesn't take it out on me/raise his voice/so I can try and aplease him' although the poor soul won't have a SCOOBY what he has done to deserve your anger as he may of trashed the cushion/priceless Elvis CD/DVD player cables 3 and a half hours before
So seriously, don't set youngsters up to fail. And teaching them to be happy in a room that you have looked around, thought about, removed the obvious from and pushed things to the back of worksurfaces in, is good for them, accepting their own space not the run of the place.
Later on you can introduce freedom slowly in small stages, but for the time being, from 8 weeks till, for us, at least a year old, confine to the kitchen when you aren't there, or another room, or a crate if you are all open plan and its impossible and you will both become much happier with one another. And remember, as dogs grow they can reach higher and higher They also sleep a lot less and crave a lot more mental stimulation than a young puppy. So remember to factor that lot in
good luck!
Di
Last edited by Diana on Mon Jan 30, 2012 6:05 pm; edited 2 times in total
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The boys!
Read: Wylanbriar Dog Blog on the website: Updated! 1st February 12´!
Its such a difficult thing to watch folks do. Get so upset and angry over damage when there is such an easy answer which is far kinder for the dog and you.
1) DON'T trust them. They don't understand the word 'trust' any more than a 2 year old child with a sharp knife in its hand.
2) Confine them. Crate or safe room.
3) Come home to smile at your dog every day rather than constantly feel like taking it to Battersea!! (And whilst i say that tounge in cheek, some people I used to deal with through working with Labrador Rescue GENUINELY had a dog who was destructive. Felt they had =to rehome it because they couldn't cope anymore. When told to just confine it felt that was 'cruel' and the 'destruction was showing me how little respect he had for me so he is better elsewhere'. people genuinely have rehomed dogs over this issue which is SO easily rectified.
Di
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The boys!
Read: Wylanbriar Dog Blog on the website: Updated! 1st February 12´!
Excellent advice. I always felt bad that Coco is shut in the kitchen when we're not around whilst so many others let their dogs roam the house but she is always happy in her bed when I return and has chewed nothing apart from a cupboard end which was started by our previous dog.
Great advise Di, you are so right, it is worth giving up the comfort of the living room for a short while. If they have not been anywhere other than their safe place they don't even realise what they are missing, I was quite happy watching the little telly in Mischa's safe space for a couple of months and it was much easier being near the outside door for a quick flit into the garden when she did her toilet spin or fancied a chew on the skirting.
Thank you. I do want to stress, when you are AROUND, with the puppy, so say everyone is sitting about of an evening. Maybe you come home to lunch for an hour. Or weekends etc etc, then of course have your puppy in the house with you. You can police it. Indeed you might even catch it about to do something you don't want it to do and be able to teach a sound lesson in what is right and wrong which is really helpful. Its not all the time. Just when you aren't there ..... I forgot to add that bit
Di
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The boys!
Read: Wylanbriar Dog Blog on the website: Updated! 1st February 12´!
All I would add, is that while you ARE there to watch the pup, teach it what it can and can't touch.
If you puppy proof your whole house and put away all your shoes, cushions, books, etc, etc which you will be leaving around eventually, then how is the dog supposed to know these things aren't to be touched, when you do go back to your old habits?
Instead, leave your usual "stuff" lying around in YOUR rooms (as opposed to the dog's safe room/crate) and then when the pup is allowed in, with you keeping an eye on it, you have the chance to train it to leave things alone. Treat those times when you have the pup in the rest of the house or garden with you, as a training exercise.
After all you may be able to have the tidiest, puppy proofed house a-going for a while, but what if you take the pup to visit Dippy Aunt Dora, who leaves her stuff all over the floor. Or if the dog has to go to stay with a friend/relatives and they have cushions, nice furniture, ornaments, etc. It needs to learn some things are off limits and it can only learn this if it has seen these things and been taught not to touch them.
Amen to that advice. This forum has meant our house has not been trashed at all, nothing broken or eaten that shouldn't have been, and Max has stayed safe and happy. This forum also helped me to show more trust in him when I was scared to take him to my mother-in-law's non puppy friendly house - but only after we had put in the ground work with him. My in-laws think I'm a control freak (well, I am I suppose), but we have a year old lab who has been to stay at their's four times and in self catering accommodation 3 times in his first year, goes to my mum's with us for dinner - all without a single accident or breakage.
It pays to work your butt off with them - they will be as good as we show them how to be I guess.
Not that we don't have other problems....but the house is good (touch wood, for now, don't want to tempt fate)
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, hope it helps others.
