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#1
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Dog Chews Everything
We adopted a puppy about 5 months old. The first week she was very
docile but now that she is comfortable in her new surroundings she is getting difficult. If we leave her unsupervised at all she will seek out anything and everything she can put in her mouth and chew it. When we supervise her we are sure to dissuade her from doing this, give her a chew toy, and praise her for taking interest in it. But once we leave her alone, she ignores her chew toys and goes after anything else she can grab. I understand puppies do this, but it's gotten to the point where it is out of control. We have to crate her whenever we cannot supervise her, and I'm afraid spending hours at a time in the crate will start to feel like punishment, and she'll soon want to avoid being in the crate. (So far she has taken very well to the crate and seems to enjoy being there.) Any advice would be appreciated. |
#2
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On Tue, 19 Jul 2005 17:59:48 -0400 DaveR whittled these words:
We adopted a puppy about 5 months old. The first week she was very docile but now that she is comfortable in her new surroundings she is getting difficult. If we leave her unsupervised at all she will seek out anything and everything she can put in her mouth and chew it. When we supervise her we are sure to dissuade her from doing this, give her a chew toy, and praise her for taking interest in it. But once we leave her alone, she ignores her chew toys and goes after anything else she can grab. Then don't do that. It will take time for her to grow mentally mature enough for her to exercise more self control on her own. She is no more ready to be left unattended than a 3 year old chold would be. I understand puppies do this, but it's gotten to the point where it is out of control. We have to crate her whenever we cannot supervise her, Correct and I'm afraid spending hours at a time in the crate will start to feel like punishment, and she'll soon want to avoid being in the crate. (So far she has taken very well to the crate and seems to enjoy being there.) Work mostly toward being more vailable to her. If you are going to be absent for long periods have someone come in, take her out and play with her. It is a good job for a teen or college student looking for a study break. Often there are people who would love to spend time with a dog that they don't have to take care of full time. Any advice would be appreciated. There just aren't any shortcuts to the teaching and maturity process. The most important thing you can do is what you are doing. And that is combine as much supervised time as possible so she can learn what you want, and prevent the behavior from being ABLE to happen when you aren't present. When you no longer need to distract and redirect here when you are present then start gradually extending her freedom. For short periods or short distances. And provide a more or less dog proofed room where there is little to entice her to help her learn to deal with more freedom. -- Diane Blackman http://dog-play.com/ http://dogplay.com/Shop/dogplayshop.htm |
#3
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#4
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On Wed, 20 Jul 2005 09:54:26 -0400 DaveR whittled these words:
I work from home so I can be with her a lot. I do not bring her to my office because I assumed that it was important to teach puppies limits of where they are allowed to go. But I guess it is a better idea to let her come down here so she can be with me. The only problem is, I will not have time to correct all her bad behavior because I really do need to focus on my work. Work disruption is short term cost for long term gain. In the end if you pay the upfront cost you will have a dog who will quietly amuse herself and not disrupt your work at all. You have an awsome opportunity here. The situation can lead to a very confident dog. When the dog knows it can count on you, anxiety is reduced and it is better able to handle new situations. While she does need to learn to be by herself I'd work on that second place to the other issues, just because you can. My dog Tsuki was able to come to work with me daily. I feel it was nothing but a benefit. Because he was literally at my feet all day he got lots of practice at me redirecting him. The learning period was much shorter than for many other dogs because he had so little opportunity to finish a mistake. I had a crate in the office. If I needed to go to a meeting, or even to the rest room (at first), in the crate he'd go. I also didn't want crate=alone, so sometimes I put him there when I was there, let him out, put him in etc. Then I'd leave him free for short trips away. By then he was so used to office routine he'd just sleep. -- Diane Blackman http://dog-play.com/ http://dogplay.com/Shop/dogplayshop.htm |
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#6
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What you are doing so far is great. If you make the going into the
crate a "positive" thing by using a positive fun voice with lots of praise and lots of "good girls!!" it won't be a punishment thing for her. Dogs like having a special space and for that reason your puppy likes it in her crate. As she gets older and grows out of chewing you can still use the crate (maybe a bigger one) without the door unless you are in a situation where she needs to be confined. Dogs pick up on our emotions and attitudes. If you have a good attitude about the crate so will she. What you are doing is good. Alot of mistakes people make is allowing negative behavior to continue thereby establishing bad habits at a very critical age/stage in their puppyhood. She will grow out of chewing eventually. Just continue what you are doing with lots of patience and love. If she is crated while you both are at work, be sure you can come home or have someone let her out periodically during the day to strectch her legs and do her business. Long extended hours in a crate is not good for her bones and she needs to be able to relieve herself. Good Work. CB |
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