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I have a doggie door in my kitchen and keep my dogs confined to a 3 room connected area (kitchen, dining room and entry way)- they do not chew up things in these areas. Every great now and then I will accidentally leave a door open leading into other areas of the house like the living room or the bedrooms and when i do my 2 year old dog will walk in there and pick up a random item in his mouth and take it outside and chew it up. If I am present in the living room or bedroom with my dog he will not chew anything, he only does it if i am not in there to catch him. I would like to eventually be able to let me dog in the other areas of the house but worry about the chewing issue. It doesnt seem feasable to spray all of my belongings with sprays, how can I correct or change the behavior? Its only one of my two dogs that do this and they both have plenty of chew toys available to them.
Answer
The problem is that they DO "have plenty of chew toys available to them"! They think everything loose in the house belongs to them.
You have to train your dog to leave your stuff alone! They're not born knowing what not to touch.
First, keep him in a dog crate anytime you can't supervise him - not because he's bad, but the same way you'd use a playpen with a baby. Keep him on a leash at all times and tie the end to your belt so you can supervise and train him. Keep only two dog toys out at any one time. If a dog has too many toys, he will think that everything loose in the house belongs to him. You need to teach him that everything loose in the house belongs to YOU.
Show him one item that he usually steals or chews up - if he tries to take it, tell him "NO!" and give him a jerk on the leash. Then take him to his dog toy, get him all excited and tell him "GOOD BOY!" when he takes his toy. Practice this every day with items that he is and isn't supposed to have. When he is perfect, you can drop the leash and let him drag it around - but keep him confined to the room that you are in, so you can keep an eye on him and correct him if he makes a mistake.
When he tries to grab your hand, do NOT pull away - that makes it a game for him. Use your OTHER hand to jerk the leash and tell him "no." Then give him a dog toy instead. Also, teach him to sit and be nice when he comes up to you - BEFORE you pet him. Make sure he's only being rewarded for good behavior!
Read some great books on training.
(Try not to pick books randomly - there are a lot of bad books out there also!) These are some of my favorites and you can get them on Amazon.com
What All Good Dogs Should Know â Volhard http://www.volhard.com/
Good Owners, Great Dogs - Brian Kilcommins
Dog Tricks : Eighty-Eight Challenging Activities for Your Dog from World-Class Trainers by Haggerty and Benjamin
Don't Shoot the Dog - Pryor
Training Your Dog: The Step by Step Method - Volhard
Dog Problems - Benjamin
Cesar's Way - Cesar Millan
Also, watch the Dog Whisperer on the National Geographic Channel. Cesar Millan is the best trainer I've ever seen on TV.
http://www.dogpsychologycenter.com/
How to train a difficult adult dog to quit screaming and crying?
Zonadow
We recently adopted a german shepherd from the shelter, we have no idea what his background is. Vet said he is roughly a year old, oldest about a year and a half. He was already potty trained and knew the sit command when we got him.
Whenever anyone leaves at all, even if others are home, he will whine, and scream and cry and pace and it gets so loud that you can hear him down the street and it hurts your ears to be near him. Whenever he starts up we calmly and firmly tell him "hush" and after a few times he gets that he's not getting anywhere by crying about it, but we can't tell him to hush if we all go out together and noone is home.
It doesn't matter if we crate him or not when we leave, so it's not the crate (he loves his crate anyway.) We can't give him toys or anything because he has a habit of stress chewing - he'll gnaw and chew until his gums bleed and his toy is destroyed completely, then he'll chew the remaining tiny pieces until there's nothing left but a mess for us to clean up when we come home.
Answer
German Shepherds are talkers; it's just part of the package. The reason he is crying is that he feels unsafe without his family around him, which is manifesting itself in separation anxiety that erupts as "screaming". These dogs are loud by nature and, with proper guidance and training, that can be a very fun thing.
As for the anxiety, it's best to ignore him when he makes a lot of noise. By telling him to "hush", you're letting him know that you're still there, which isn't really solving the problem when you actually have to leave. When you do come home, don't make a big fuss when you walk in the door, as that will start to heighten his anticipation of your arrival home and actually make his behavior worse. Calmly walk in the door, greet him softly and pat him on the head once or twice. Wait about 15 minutes before you do anything "fun" like go on a walk or even go outside so he won't relate your entrance to a fun activity (which will raise his anticipation again).
It's important that he understand that you will come back and he doesn't need to worry about that. Training him to think this way is a slow process and a little repetitive, but it can work wonders if done correctly:
Walk around your house and gather your things as if you were going to leave. Head to the door, and tell your dog "bye-bye" or "see you later", but always use the same words as if giving a command. Walk out the door and lock it behind you so he can hear it click. Stand outside the door and count to 60, if he doesn't cry or scratch at the door, go back inside and greet him as if you would after any other trip (directed above). Put down your things and repeat the same process every 10-20 minutes, giving the same command and increasing the wait time outside by 30 seconds. When you get up to about 10 minutes (which can take several days), it's probably safe to assume that he won't be crying while you're gone.
Generally, dogs can only focus on something for 10-15 minutes before they forget about whatever it is. He likely doesn't cry the entire time you're gone, but I would ask your neighbors about that and APOLOGIZE. Stress that you are working on the problem and you're very sorry for any disturbance he might be causing. This can make all the difference in the world.
Lastly, the stress chewing is easy to fix: get a black Kong from a pet store (or Amazon.com) and fill it with peanut butter and some dry kibble. More than likely, he won't be able to chew it to pieces, but he'll get the mental and physical stimulation of licking the thing clean, which can help entertain him while you're gone. You can also fill the Kong with a tuna puree that you freeze for several hours, if you don't want to give him peanut butter everyday.
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