Puppy retaliation.......

[mOmOfaBe]

Hi everyone,

I am having a problem that I thought maybe you all could offer some suggestions on how to handle:

Abe is getting very attached to me being home with him through the day right now, and he hates when we leave (i.e. when I take the children to school in the mornings) He always has a terrible anxiety attack, and lately has started to retaliate in the form of destroying things, his favorites being our makeup bags. The little bugger has figured out how to unzip them! He next takes all the goodies out and mutilates them! We have replaced makeup 2 times now!!!??!! This is getting expensive and frustrating.

What am I to do with this retaliation problem???!!

[janko77]

From what I remember, you have said that Abe is less than a year old.

During his first year, we always put Dudley in his crate whenever we left - if it was for a half-hour, or all day. Since both my wife and I work, he can be at home alone for as many as 8-9 hours at a time.

We just started letting him stay in the living room without crating him in the past month, and he has been well-behaved as far as we've seen. We haven't come home to any destruction or messes (except one vomit result recently), and we think he sleeps throughout the day on his favorite chair. Since we're gone, he can sleep uninterrupted if he likes.

I would say he is definitely retaliating or acting out when you leave. If he knows that when you leave, he can be free to do what he wants, he will. Up until we started leaving him out, Dudley knew we were planning to leave, but he never posed problems going into his crate. He knew that when we gone, it was "kennel time" for him. So, I think that whle we are not crating him anymore, he still does what he did before when we were gone... sleep! But, to be sure he doesn't raise a ruckus, we keep things that he shouldn't get into out of his reach.

Good Luck!

[CarCarDawn]

Hi! Riley used to be crated every time we left the house to avoid this kind of destructive behavior but since he is now a big boy - - just turned a year old - - I have been leaving him in my computer room when I go somewhere. This is a small room with a lot of windows, an easy chair, books, papers, etc. etc. I have never come home to any kind of mess! I leave bones and toys in there for him to play with and apparently this is his time to catch up on sleep. We have come home to find him sound asleep in the easy chair!!

[bradl]

We don't trust them loose in the house when we're gone until at least three or four years old. I trust our 9yo girl; I still don't trust our sweet 8yo boy. Definitely don't trust our 3yo girl. It depends a lot on the personality of the dog. Some seem to be 'old souls' at their very core and can be counted on to simply nap on the bed all day. Others are inclined to protection or patrolling and can be stressed by having to 'guard' the house against every person walking by on the sidewalk, every car that turns around in the driveway, every delivery, every squirrel or bird seen through the window, etc. If they're in an x-pen or crate they don't seem to feel the need to be on duty the whole time and can get some rest.

[kayharley]

Madison is 8 months and we always crate her when we're out. Our family schedules make it perfect for her because the most time she will have to stay in there is probably a couple hours....but she seems to like her crate so it's not a big deal.

Winne, 10 years, has full reign of the house and has never destroyed anything, even when she was young (well, when Madison was at the vets getting spayed a couple months ago, she took all Madisons toys and chewed them but I won't count that )

I agree with the comment on your dogs personality....I think it will be quite a while before Madison is left to seize and destroy!

[hallswel]

Rebel was kept in his crate until he was 18 months old and we finished the FL room . Now when we leave we put him in the room and close the baby gate. Hi little brother Hammurabi(Pug) is put in his create when we leave he is only 9 months old. Sometimes when we come home Rebel will be curled up in his crate with the door open or others he is sleeping by the gate waiting on us..

It's really funny when either of them gets tired or wants to be left alone they go into crate, or room as we call it, and the other leaves them alone.

[mOmOfaBe]

Thanks everyone for their ideas,

The only problem we have is that Abe was terrified of the crate from the "get go" every morning was a horrible mess and after about 2 weeks of a bath every day I declared him crate free! we were at our wits end!!

We started with blocking off most areas, and later gave him free run of the house except for some rooms (kitchen, etc) which we have blocked off, and he understands those rules and never has broken them.

I was going to school full time, and I took a semester off, thus I am home with him all day. It is since this change that he has taken exception to being left. I fear that if we were to try crating now at 9 months he would definately go backwards in training.

One more question. a lot of times if we all leave for a day of shopping or something, we give Abe a pigs ear, anyone else treat their dogs with those? and in this manner? We kinda figured it was something to occupy him for a long period of absence

[CarCarDawn]

Hi! My cairn cannot tolerate the pigs ears - - they make him very, very sick. I have found that a better alternative is a "kong" filled with frozen food. I stick Cesar's food in the "kong" - - freeze it and give it to him frozen. It takes quite a while for him to devour it and gives me some free time. I put one in his room when I leave the house for any length of time.

[bradl]

One more question. a lot of times if we all leave for a day of shopping or something, we give Abe a pigs ear, anyone else treat their dogs with those? and in this manner?

Personally, I would not want a dog to have anything like a pigs ear (or anything that could be a choking hazard) unattended. I'd feel safer with a medium Kong. I worry enough as it is about electrical cords and household poisons we may have overlooked.

For flying, driving, guests, vet emergencies, and bed rest, a crate is such a valuable tool I would hate not having it available. Acclimating a dog to a crate can be done at any age, especially if you work on it slowly. Feeding them in their crate (with the door open for the first few times) is usually very effective. Or turn it into a game, rather than a contest of wills. Later you can gradually close the door for one second, for ten seconds, for a minute, etc.

Or confine him to an x-pen with a crate (with no door) inside, stuffed with toys. Eventually he'll start using it as a den on his own. Betcha!

It sounds like you may also want to do some training on separation anxiety. Here's a typical article. Most puppy/training books address separation anxiety.

[Rob D.]

Why don't you put him in his kennel before you leave? Don't say good-bye that just addes to the caos. Put your coats some where he can't see you put them on and go. If he starts barking, keep going, once your out of the house and he sees that your not coming back right away he'll settle down. Murphy goes nuts every time he sees that he's not coming with us but once he can't see us he quiets right down.