First, I should let you all know that I'm new. We have three wonderful
dogs whom we love very much.

Ashe is the oldest- a black lab / pitbull mix. My parents adopted her
from the shelter 'cause she was slated to be killed the next day since
she's a "pitbull". (She was ineligible for adoption and they only keep
owner surrenders three days.) She was 6-8 months old then. My mom
argued with the staff, and they finally decided that if we wanted to
adopt her, she could live. So the next day, the day she was supposed
to be euthanized, she was spayed and we brought her home. She'll be
seven years old this spring. She was always given lots of attention
(and is an indoor dog), but she didn't truly come out of her shell
until we brought Zeus into our home.

Zena turned four yesterday. I adopted her from the shelter when she
was six and a half weeks old. She's my princess. She's spoiled rotten
and smart (can even put her toys away when she's asked, after she's
played). She seems to be half german shepherd, half golden retriever.
She grew up around cats and every single litter (or stray) rescue
kittens we've ever brought home since getting her have fallen in love
with her. The cats are attracted to her and always snuggle.

Zeus is our baby. He was found wandering the storm channel next to our
house. My husband got him out, and we gave him some food (he was
skinny!), pulled a ton of ticks out of his ears, and harnessed him
into the car to take him to the vet on my way to work to see if he was
microchipped. No luck. We put flyers up for two weeks, advertised in
the papers and online, and nobody claimed him. After two weeks, my
mom's english mastiff almost killed him (he went for the jugular, but
missed- Zeus had his neck ripped open and went through emergency
surgery that night). 26 stitches later, he was okay. But we didn't
know what to do with him. We wound up crating him in my bedroom (He'd
spent most of those first two weeks outside during the day and inside
only at night.) Unfortunately, with our busy schedules and Zeus'
destructive behavior, he wound up being crated at night and when we
were at work. We took him on walks, took him to the park, got him
vaccinated, etc. We spent time with him, but if we couldn't keep an
eye on him, he was locked up. We started him with training, but kept
switching training classes for various reasons.

After we got him neutered, I adamantly refused to put him back in the
crate. I knew he'd get bored, pull out his stitches. So we gave it a
shot. I'm thrilled that almost two months later, we've been able to
work around all of his problems and keep him out of the crate.

However, we're having two major behavioral problems that are really
challenging us to the point where we'd want to find him a new home
(but I don't think we would.. because we'd pass his problems to
someone else who might not be as accepting and calm as we are).

1. Whenever he gets diarrhea, he just lets loose. And then, since he's
already done one bad thing, he'll go ahead and relieve his bladder. He
did this in the new CAR on the way home from training two Saturdays
ago. He didn't pee afterwards, but he wound up getting walked home
more than a mile so he didn't get himself (or the car) more filthy.
Plus, my husband couldn't handle the smell.

And then, a few mornings ago- he was snuggling in bed with me at 4am.
My husband got up ten minutes later 'cause he heard a noise and wanted
to make sure Zeus wasn't getting into anything. He wasn't. He came
back to bed and three minutes later, we heard him urinating (on the
edge of the BED and partially on the mattress) and got up to discover
poop as well. Hmph.

He doesn't get diarrhea that much, but it seems that whenever he has
to go- he goes. The other dogs will whimper and whine and do ANYTHING
to get your attention if they have an emergency before they go in the
house. It's frustrating, but if we can't stop it- then oh well?


2. He is CHEWING on the bedding. The bed where he sleeps cuddled with
me EVERY NIGHT. One night, we put on a brand new duvet cover. We went
to work the next day, came home, and he'd ripped it up. Thankfully,
the down comforter was still okay! He's also ripped the edges off of
pillow cases and another duvet cover.

And then this morning.. We have a low platform bed from Ikea. We have
memory foam (two layers of 1.5") on top of it. It's covered with a
waterproof mattress pad (for when the animals have accidents) and then
a sheet. I leave the room at 7:09 am to use the bathroom and eat. I
come back at 7:15 AM and Zeus has pulled the sheet off, ripped the
mattress pad, and ripped apart chunks of both layers of memory foam. I
have a grocery bag FULL of the stuff, along with a few scraps of duvet
cover or pillowcase he pulled off. Memory foam is too darned expensive
(and so is the mattress pad) to let him keep ripping it up. I caught
him in the middle of it. He KNEW it was BAD. But he'd already done it.
I yelled at him and smacked his snout a little. I was so upset. He
slumped in the corner by the door, while I cleaned up. After I'd
cleaned everything up, put the sheet back on the bed, fixed the
pillows.. I called him over and pet him.

He's not alone during the day. He's with the other two dogs and a six
month old kitten all day. Sure, he's confined to my large bedroom
during the day- but he'd rather be inside than locked outside all day.
Plus, my mother's dog is deadly and would hurt any of the dogs if they
were forced to be around each other. So since it's still her house,
her dog gets the run of it while the other two dogs who were here
first don't get to be. The dogs are alone about 9 hours a day. My
mother will let them out in the middle of the day if they get antsy.
They spend five or ten minutes outside and then want in. The only way
we get them to stay outside longer is if we go out with them (which we
do twice a day).

Zeus gets walked. He gets solo attention. He gets cuddled all night
long, every night. He has plenty of chew toys. He knows what he's
allowed to chew on, because he'll pick them up in front of us and chew
on them when we're around. He's close to a year and a half now. He's
neutered.

He really is a great dog. He doesn't do this every day. He usually
chews if we've been gone all day or if we've been gone, come home, and
then leave (to eat dinner). We mostly curbed that by taking him on
walks by himself when we come home to get his energy out and to spend
solo time with him. But hmph. Eating the bed is NOT acceptable. It's
not something we can handle or afford.


Any suggestions? Any ideas to curb the chewing?

In article .com,
"blairie" wrote:

1. Whenever he gets diarrhea, he just lets loose. And then, since he's
already done one bad thing, he'll go ahead and relieve his bladder. He
did this in the new CAR on the way home from training two Saturdays
ago. He didn't pee afterwards, but he wound up getting walked home
more than a mile so he didn't get himself (or the car) more filthy.
Plus, my husband couldn't handle the smell.

Sounds like a stress issue. He didn't pee because he already did a "bad
thing". How are you making him comfortable with the car? Are you
asking him to eliminate after training, before getting in the car? What
time is training and do you feed him before or during training? Have
you considered crating him in the car, to possibly calm him, keep him
settled, and if nothing else, keep your car clean?

And then, a few mornings ago- he was snuggling in bed with me at 4am.
My husband got up ten minutes later 'cause he heard a noise and wanted
to make sure Zeus wasn't getting into anything. He wasn't. He came
back to bed and three minutes later, we heard him urinating (on the
edge of the BED and partially on the mattress) and got up to discover
poop as well. Hmph.

Maybe he was trying to tell you he needed out! His schedule should be
looked at carefully.


He doesn't get diarrhea that much, but it seems that whenever he has
to go- he goes. The other dogs will whimper and whine and do ANYTHING
to get your attention if they have an emergency before they go in the
house. It's frustrating, but if we can't stop it- then oh well?

I'd wonder why he was getting diarrhea that seems stress induced in at
least one circumstance. But diarrhea hits fast, and different dogs may
not feel the warning as much as others. And his housebreaking may be
lacking.

2. He is CHEWING on the bedding. The bed where he sleeps cuddled with
me EVERY NIGHT. One night, we put on a brand new duvet cover. We went
to work the next day, came home, and he'd ripped it up. Thankfully,
the down comforter was still okay! He's also ripped the edges off of
pillow cases and another duvet cover.

He wouldn't be allowed bed privileges if he was doing this in my home.
Have you considered crating him and teaching him to SLEEP during the
night instead of making trouble?

He's not alone during the day. He's with the other two dogs and a six
month old kitten all day. Sure, he's confined to my large bedroom
during the day- but he'd rather be inside than locked outside all day.
Plus, my mother's dog is deadly and would hurt any of the dogs if they
were forced to be around each other. So since it's still her house,
her dog gets the run of it while the other two dogs who were here
first don't get to be. The dogs are alone about 9 hours a day. My
mother will let them out in the middle of the day if they get antsy.
They spend five or ten minutes outside and then want in. The only way
we get them to stay outside longer is if we go out with them (which we
do twice a day).

I'm a little confused. 3 dogs in the house, and if he's confined away
from one, he's with one? The kitten is confined in the bedroom with
them too?

Zeus gets walked. He gets solo attention. He gets cuddled all night
long, every night.

That's not healthy. He needs to learn to settle without being cuddled
all night. All beings do.

Any suggestions? Any ideas to curb the chewing?

I would be crating him during the night until his sleeping habits
improved. What focused exercise does he get? Aerobic activity? What's
the household situation with your mother and her dog (sorry, a little
confusing, but the dynamics may be playing a large part)?

--
Janet Boss
www.bestfriendsdogobedience.com