Advice sought: Destuctive behaviour

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 >> Stay informed about: Advice sought: Destuctive behaviour 

"Him & Her" <contact.us DeleteThis @group.ok> wrote in message
news:rpOdnWLE3KDaLT3anZ2dneKdnZydnZ2d@brightview.com...
> Hi all,
>
> We recently took in a rescued Harrier. She is 11 months old and
> we are ( at least ) her third home. Her last one lasted around 10
> days.
>
> For the most part I am at home approximately 22 hours a day so
> she gets plenty of attention and 3 or 4 walks a day relative to
> other issues within the house. There are always several visitors
> a day and she gets fussed over by all of them.
>
> BUT, she is quite destructive. In the 2 weeks she has been with
> us she has destroyed ............
>
> 1 pair of my wife's slippers, (while we were in)
>
> 3 pairs of my trainers (while we were in)
>
> a box of medical supplies (I was out shopping, my wife was in
> the dining room)


Since all of these instances happened while you were home, I'd say you need
to observe her more closely and immediately remove articles that she is not
to chew and replace them with her own chew toys, each time telling her NO,
to the thing she isn't supposed to have. I always happily hand over the dog
toy, playing a bit with it to entice her into accepting it as HER fun thing
to play with.


>
> Countless hard plastic toys such as megabloks. She does seem to
> have a bit of a thing for plastic.


My rescues have always wanted my grandchildrens toys to chew on when I first
get the dogs. I repeat the same process above, taking the childrens toys
away and replacing them with dog toys. The grandchildren are NOT allowed to
play with the dog toys and the dogs are NOT allowed to play with grandkids
toys. I'd estimate it probably took me about two weeks of constant and
continual supervision to obtain results.

Now I am able to leave the dogs home, unsupervised, for hours without
incident. In the beginning we did lose a few plastic and especially wooden
blocks/toys, but no more. It just takes them awhile to understand which
items belong to whom.


>
> the dining room carpet. She was put in the kitchen behind a child
> gate at the weekend for 5 minutes while we got my wife in to her
> ambulance. She tore the living daylights out of the carpet by
> scratching under the gate. Whilst I am prepared to accept this
> was an accident in her attempt to get out to us, it is hard to
> ignore when paired with the other issues above.


When in doubt, put her in a crate when you aren't able to supervise her
closely is my suggestion. I don't recall you mentioning how long you've had
her, but my Gracie had been through a number of foster situations before I
got her. And it took her probably close to a month to really understand and
feel secure that she was staying here. Nobody was going to come and take
her away again.

It did take me a couple months to gradually train her that I would always
come back when I go away, leave the house. Once she became completely
secure, no problems. I had been warned she could be very destructive if
left alone in a house. So in the beginning, when I'd leave the house, I'd
crate her. After awhile, I slowly began leaving her out of the crate, and
leave the house for very short periods of time, gradually increasing the
amount of time I was gone. I'd say over a period of a couple weeks, I had
her completely trained to not destroy things while I as gone by using this
method.

td






>
> We have had many dogs over the years and have *never* backed away
> from one. Every rescue dog we have had has lived out their life
> with us but she is getting close as I can't afford to keep
> replacing footwear and carpets.
>
> Any suggestions as to how I might moderate her behaviour welcome.
>
> --
> Regards,
>
> Him & Her
>
>
 >> Stay informed about: Advice sought: Destuctive behaviour 

"Him & Her" <contact.us.DeleteThis@group.ok> wrote in message
news:rpOdnWLE3KDaLT3anZ2dneKdnZydnZ2d@brightview.com...
> Hi all,
>
> We recently took in a rescued Harrier. She is 11 months old and
> we are ( at least ) her third home. Her last one lasted around 10
> days.
>
> For the most part I am at home approximately 22 hours a day so
> she gets plenty of attention and 3 or 4 walks a day relative to
> other issues within the house. There are always several visitors
> a day and she gets fussed over by all of them.
>
> BUT, she is quite destructive. In the 2 weeks she has been with
> us she has destroyed ............
>
> 1 pair of my wife's slippers, (while we were in)
>
> 3 pairs of my trainers (while we were in)
>
> a box of medical supplies (I was out shopping, my wife was in
> the dining room)
>
> Countless hard plastic toys such as megabloks. She does seem to
> have a bit of a thing for plastic.
>
> the dining room carpet. She was put in the kitchen behind a child
> gate at the weekend for 5 minutes while we got my wife in to her
> ambulance. She tore the living daylights out of the carpet by
> scratching under the gate. Whilst I am prepared to accept this
> was an accident in her attempt to get out to us, it is hard to
> ignore when paired with the other issues above.
>
> We have had many dogs over the years and have *never* backed away
> from one. Every rescue dog we have had has lived out their life
> with us but she is getting close as I can't afford to keep
> replacing footwear and carpets.
>
> Any suggestions as to how I might moderate her behaviour welcome.
>
> --
> Regards,
>
> Him & Her

Have you tried a rattle bottle? Basically it's a plastic bottle filled with
stones or something similar that makes a loud noise when you shake it and
you use it when the dog starts to do whatever it is that you find wrong,
after a little while the dog gets the association between the rattle and
what not to do. You can also use water. Just fill a cup with water and when
the dog starts off doing what you find wrong just throw the water in it's
face, after a few attempts it'll start to get the message. I used the water
when my dog was destructive, only took about 4 throws with the water and
that was the problem sorted. I'm not saying it'll work for all but it's
worth a go if you haven't tried it before. There will be people think that
it's cruel but it's only water. Nothing ventured nothing gained as they say.

Redman
 >> Stay informed about: Advice sought: Destuctive behaviour 

montana wildhack wrote in message
news:2008013012390916807-montana@wildhackcominvalid...
: On 2008-01-30 12:14:43 -0500, "Him & Her" <contact.us RemoveThis @group.ok>
said:
: > Any suggestions as to how I might moderate her behaviour
welcome.

: Tether her to you so you can keep an eye on her at all times.
Give her
: some things she is allowed to chew. Crate train her and crate
her when
: you can't supervise her closely.

See answer to Julia.

: If she is constantly and closely supervised - and well
exercised -
: she'll have little opportunity to get into stuff. This is
probably the
: only thing you can do right now.
: One more thing, I'd suggest obedience training. That will help
her
: learn how to learn and will give her some different options for
: behaviors.

Certainly agree with you regards the obedience training. I'll
probably look in to agility training as well.

Any opinions on clicker training ? never previously had a need
for it but she might well be a candidate.

--
Regards,

Him & Her
 >> Stay informed about: Advice sought: Destuctive behaviour 

Him & Her wrote:
>
> Any opinions on clicker training ? never previously had a need
> for it but she might well be a candidate.


Clicker training isn't for every trainer or every dog, but I've had
great success and fun with it.


I'm not sure what you have against crates and putting temptation out of
the way while you're training, but with your 40+ experience of sharing
your life with dogs, it sounds like you can solve this problem without
them or other ideas from this newsgroup. The only other suggestion that
I can make is that you not say "Any suggestions as to how I might
moderate her behaviour welcome" and then tell us how unwelcome our
ordinary and sensible suggestions are. Wasn't there also something
about "nothing ventured, nothing gained," something you'd apply to a
rattle bottle but not a crate?


--Lia
 >> Stay informed about: Advice sought: Destuctive behaviour 

Redman wrote in message
news:5y2oj.19308$Ib6.1090@fe03.news.easynews.com...
: Have you tried a rattle bottle?

Gave that a go, took me hours to get the glass out of the carpet
when I threw it to the floor near her :o)

: Basically it's a plastic bottle filled with
: stones or something similar that makes a loud noise when you
shake it and
: you use it when the dog starts to do whatever it is that you
find wrong,
: after a little while the dog gets the association between the
rattle and
: what not to do.

In actual fact I watched a program the other night where the guy
was using one to modify the behaviour of a dog that was bonking
anything and everything. I then promptly forgot about it.

I've just made one since reading your post and it does seem to be
quite effective.

: You can also use water. Just fill a cup with water and when
: the dog starts off doing what you find wrong just throw the
water in it's
: face, after a few attempts it'll start to get the message. I
used the water
: when my dog was destructive, only took about 4 throws with the
water and
: that was the problem sorted. I'm not saying it'll work for all
but it's
: worth a go if you haven't tried it before. There will be people
think that
: it's cruel but it's only water.

Worth keeping in mind if the rattle bottle doesn't work.

: Nothing ventured nothing gained as they say.

Agreed.

--
Regards,

Him & Her
 >> Stay informed about: Advice sought: Destuctive behaviour 

Julia Altshuler wrote in message
news:7M-dnfwqoYhyKT3anZ2dnUVZ_siknZ2d@comcast.com...
: Start training her to love being in her crate when she's not
actively
: doing something with you, your wife, or a visitor. Put an
acceptable
: chewie in there with her.

We don't, nor will we ever use crates but she does have a basket
that she sleeps in, she has various rawhide chews / raggas /
balls etc in and around it.



: Begin basic obedience.

Already have.

: It raises confidence and decreases nervousness.
: Some walks can just be exercise and bathroom walks, but the
rest
: should be learning to do fun stuff like

: heeling, <- a work in progress

: sitting, lying down, <- Mastered

: and bringing back a ball on command. <- tends to get
distracted. Harriers are Hunt / Gun dogs and very keen to follows
a scent in preference to almost anything else.

: Do obedience training in the house
: too.
:
:
: Cut back on the fussing over when it's not attached to
something your
: dog can identify as a behavior you're encouraging. If your
guests want
: to fuss over your dog, they can do so but only as part of
teaching a
: trick. The trick might be as simple as shaking paws.

She does that too.

: In the mean time, pick up EVERYTHING and that you don't want
chewed on.
: The house should be absent of everything except acceptable
things to
: chew.

Absolutely not. In 40+ years of sharing my life with dogs the
only thing I have put beyond their reach is medication. We have
had chewing dogs before but it could always be associated with
something i.e. being left and was therefore something that we
could tackle. This on the other hand seems not to have a trigger,
unless it's the recent upheaval of new homes.

--
Regards,

Him & Her
 >> Stay informed about: Advice sought: Destuctive behaviour 

"Him & Her" <contact.us DeleteThis @group.ok> wrote in message
news:xbCdnQq-6brAUj3aRVnyvgA@brightview.com...
> Julia Altshuler wrote in message
> news:7M-dnfwqoYhyKT3anZ2dnUVZ_siknZ2d@comcast.com...
> : Start training her to love being in her crate when she's not
> actively
> : doing something with you, your wife, or a visitor. Put an
> acceptable
> : chewie in there with her.
>
> We don't, nor will we ever use crates


I used my crate only until she was trained, then the crate came down. You
have to have some way to control the behavior until she understands what is
acceptable and what isn't. Gracie came to us heartworm positive, so a crate
was necessary anyway to keep her confined during treatment. If she hadn't
been kept confined during treatment, there was a very strong possibility the
treatment could kill her. Sometimes crates are necessary. As I said, I
don't have crates up anymore. But when necessary for medical reasons, or to
keep a dog from chewing my house out from under me, I use them.


snipped>
> : In the mean time, pick up EVERYTHING and that you don't want
> chewed on.
> : The house should be absent of everything except acceptable
> things to
> : chew.
>
> Absolutely not. In 40+ years of sharing my life with dogs the
> only thing I have put beyond their reach is medication. We have
> had chewing dogs before but it could always be associated with
> something i.e. being left and was therefore something that we
> could tackle. This on the other hand seems not to have a trigger,
> unless it's the recent upheaval of new homes.


When I first got my dogs, I kept the grandkids toys picked up when they
weren't here, and kept close watch over them when they were out. Again,
UNTIL your dog is trained as to what items she may chew and which ones are
forbidden, it is a good idea to keep the toys, slippers, shoes, etc., out of
reach. My dogs leave them alone now, but in the beginning, before they
understood what belonged to whom, we kept them picked up. It isn't
something where you have to change your life forever. Only until this new
and obviously insecure dog understand the way of your home, who various
possessions belong to, etc.


td
>
> --
> Regards,
>
> Him & Her
>
>
 >> Stay informed about: Advice sought: Destuctive behaviour 

"Him & Her" <contact.us.RemoveThis@group.ok> wrote in message
news:Wd2dnXQ3manGUj3anZ2dnUVZ8rGdnZ2d@brightview.com...
> Redman wrote in message
> news:5y2oj.19308$Ib6.1090@fe03.news.easynews.com...
> : Have you tried a rattle bottle?
>
> Gave that a go, took me hours to get the glass out of the carpet
> when I threw it to the floor near her :o)

lol

Redman

>
> : Basically it's a plastic bottle filled with
> : stones or something similar that makes a loud noise when you
> shake it and
> : you use it when the dog starts to do whatever it is that you
> find wrong,
> : after a little while the dog gets the association between the
> rattle and
> : what not to do.
>
> In actual fact I watched a program the other night where the guy
> was using one to modify the behaviour of a dog that was bonking
> anything and everything. I then promptly forgot about it.
>
> I've just made one since reading your post and it does seem to be
> quite effective.
>
> : You can also use water. Just fill a cup with water and when
> : the dog starts off doing what you find wrong just throw the
> water in it's
> : face, after a few attempts it'll start to get the message. I
> used the water
> : when my dog was destructive, only took about 4 throws with the
> water and
> : that was the problem sorted. I'm not saying it'll work for all
> but it's
> : worth a go if you haven't tried it before. There will be people
> think that
> : it's cruel but it's only water.
>
> Worth keeping in mind if the rattle bottle doesn't work.
>
> : Nothing ventured nothing gained as they say.
>
> Agreed.
>
> --
> Regards,
>
> Him & Her
>
>
 >> Stay informed about: Advice sought: Destuctive behaviour 

> We don't, nor will we ever use crates <<<<<<<, RIGHT HERE IS YOUR
> BIGGEST PROBLEM!!!!

With a destructive dog they have to have either 24/7 supervision which you
can't do all the time or a crate which is a safe place to go to when you
can't be with the. If you want to get a hold on this issue you MUST use a
crate and work on training.

I never had to crate any dog I had till I got Lady. Like yours she took to
destroying things the second your back was turned. Over the last 2 years
we've trained her and eventually was able to quit using the crate. It
doesn't have to be a long term thing but it's your best tool to get things
under control now!!

Celeste
 >> Stay informed about: Advice sought: Destuctive behaviour 

Him & Her wrote:
>
> We don't, nor will we ever use crates but she does have a basket
> that she sleeps in, she has various rawhide chews / raggas /
> balls etc in and around it.

(snip)

>
> Absolutely not. In 40+ years of sharing my life with dogs the
> only thing I have put beyond their reach is medication. We have
> had chewing dogs before but it could always be associated with
> something i.e. being left and was therefore something that we
> could tackle. This on the other hand seems not to have a trigger,
> unless it's the recent upheaval of new homes.


This dog is obviously not like the other dogs you have had, and you may
need to treat her differently than you have treated your other dogs.
(For some reason, I am supposing that this is a puppy and you haven't
had puppies before, because all these behaviors sound like puppy
behaviors, and I went through the same things with my first puppy as
opposed to adult dog.)

If your poochie is doing things like shredding carpet, she really does
need to have a place where she can be put when she can't be watched
where she can neither get hurt nor hurt anything else. Crates are an
excellent solution that work for many people, but you could also put her
in a laundry room with no carpet and she won't scratch the door up. She
isn't going to automatically stop all these bad habits, and at least
while you are training her differently, she needs a "playroom" type of
place where she can have time-outs.

Seriously, before you write off crates, do some reading about them on
the internet. Dogs seem to feel they are their den, a safe haven, and
if they are trained to enjoy their crate, they go in them voluntarily to
spend time.
 >> Stay informed about: Advice sought: Destuctive behaviour 

Redman wrote:

> what not to do. You can also use water. Just fill a cup with water and when
> the dog starts off doing what you find wrong just throw the water in it's
> face, after a few attempts it'll start to get the message. I used the water

We have spray bottles all over the house to use to discipline the cats
AND the dogs. It works really well while you are watching them. You
pick up the spray bottle, and they KNOW what they aren't supposed to do.
 >> Stay informed about: Advice sought: Destuctive behaviour 

On Jan 31, 2:22 am, Samantha Hill - take out TRASH to reply
<fleetfing....TakeThisOut@TRASHgmail.com> wrote:
> Redman wrote:
> > what not to do. You can also use water. Just fill a cup with water and when
> > the dog starts off doing what you find wrong just throw the water in it's
> > face, after a few attempts it'll start to get the message. I used the water
>
> We have spray bottles all over the house to use to discipline the cats
> AND the dogs. It works really well while you are watching them. You
> pick up the spray bottle, and they KNOW what they aren't supposed to do.

My dog came from a rescue group that solely relied on spray bottles
for training. He got sprayed a lot while he was there. When I first
got him, if you picked up a spray bottle he would get as far away from
you as possible and just shake in fear. The more I think about it,
the less and less I like the rescue I got him from because they
clearly don't know what they are doing.

All of that to say if a spray bottle doesn't work don't overuse it
because every training tool can be abused. It took several months of
work to get him to tolerate being in the same room as someone holding
a spray bottle. Now he doesn't even notice them, but it took a lot of
work that shouldn't have been needed.

Nick
 >> Stay informed about: Advice sought: Destuctive behaviour